MG: eponymous

didn't know where to put my arm

eponymous (guess i was feeling cheeky when i started this sweater): pattern-based on Elizabeth Zimmermann's seamless raglan. knitted to my measurements; negative ease around the bust; postive ease around the upper arms. body knitted from the bottom up in the round, then cardiganized with a steek. sleeves knitted top down from provisional cast-ons at the yoke. yarn-four skeins (100 grams) of Araucania Nature Wool in color #03 (100% wool). thank you, Kitty Kitty! :) needles-4.25mm clover circular (US6) for stocking stitch in the body; 3.75 addi natura circular (US5) for ribbing in the body; 3.9mm clover mini circulars for upper sleeves; 4.5mm clover mini circular for lower sleeves; 2.25mm clover DPNs (US1)for ribbing on cuffs.

trying to show you the decorative de/increases

MG: button-ready

i have sleeves. they are not really as bulbous as they appear in the photo; it's probably the perspective and the way they are folded. four sleeves' worth of knitting resulted in these two. i knew i wanted relatively fitted sleeves at the top then gentle sloping outwards to a puff at the cuffs, but it took some trial-and-error knitting. knitting everything in one piece and being able to try on the cardigan as i went was extremely useful. there are yarn-over increases along the inside of the arm, and i exploited needle-size changes to help shape the sleeves. i like them.


i have buttonbands--neat and trim buttonbands. photos below. words on picking up and finishing the steek at Zimmermania.

[800x600version here]

i need buttons. but i don't know which sort.

MG: i steeked

eponymous is moving along, and i steeked! photos below; details at Zimmermania.

MG: zero to sixty

from knitting stagnation to two knitalongs: i've joined Socktoberfest 2006 and Zimmermania. Zimmermann-worshipping and project details over here.


bluefaced leicester spun thinly for practice and stress-relief. spun and plied in what's becoming my default techniques: from the fold, point-of-contact longdraw; navajo-plied 3-ply; varying grists of laceweight; about 320 yards. for scale, the index card in the photo is 3" by 5".

my navajo-plying is better! after good advice from Andrea about not overthinking, i returned to the basics. i reread the Plying Chained Singles article (scroll down), treadled slowly on the largest whorl, and carefully watched the forming twists. my weakness lies in maintaining adequate tension on all three strands at all times and stopping/starting the travel of the twist while making the chained loops. and in general, i feel extremely unsure about how much ply i would like in my yarns.

query: when you check balance by the number of times a hank twists on itself, do you do it before or after setting/washing the yarn? if before, wouldn't the length of time the singles and/or plied yarn sat on the bobbin affect the amount of active twist seen? i'm thinking if i work for a balanced skein coming right off the wheel, the hank might actually be underplied, since my singles usually wait on the bobbin for a long while. what do you think?