Continuing "Sparks" & Swatches

I re-wrote my last post many times before I published it.

It was a little bit agonizing, because I was trying to be honest about what I am not so good at; yet, I also tried to write a post that was (at least a little bit) worth reading.

As I wrote that post, I was reminded that I DO like to write about my design "sparks" and my swatches. A few of those posts have actually been my most popular.

My friend, Ann, took this photo of me wearing my first design sample for my new summer top.

  
Not so bad. I was "pleased" with the way this turned out. I have named it Pinstripe Box-Top #1. The shaping and sizing came out as planned.

This,

Alchemy Yarns, Silken Straw [100% silk], 153c - Spider Orchid

  
my yarn and it's color, were my real design "sparks". I first shared this photo with discussion of the colorway, Spider Orchid, in my Early Spring post.

For me the colors drew a comparison to the blue spruce trees (which have lightened in color with the heat of summer) in my front yard.

Not long after I decided that I wanted stripes on my summer top, I walked into Gosh Yarn It and I saw a great little yarn for my blue spruce stripes. I quickly knit the swatches in the first photo.

ITO, Gima 8.5 [100% cotton], 408 - Aqua

I am considering my Pinstripe Box-Top a prototype, and I am planning to make another with some Shibui, Pebble in my stash. I have made a bit of progress this spring and summer getting to a point where I can finally release a garment pattern.

I leave you with an image of the neckline and armhole details.

 

I hope your knitting of late has also been rewarding, enjoyable and successful! ♥♥♥

A Straightforward Zipper Insertion -- The Stitching

For some helpful tips on pinning a zipper into a sweater, see my last post, A Straightforward Zipper Insertion -- The Pinning.

Stitching the zipper into my Everyday Cardigan -- even with a few stops to attempt to get helpful photos -- took only a bit more that an hour.

USE A BACKSTITCH WORKED BY HAND FOR MOST ZIPPER INSERTIONS.

That is my #3 BIG something that really is a part of 'everything you need to know' about inserting a zipper of your own.



Sewing a zipper in by hand prevents the stretching that can happen when using a sewing machine on a handknit fabric.

Whenever I work backstitch, I always think of it as 'one stitch back and two stitches forward'. The backstitch, as shown in the illustration, is commonly used in hand embroidery to create a line.

You will start on the wrong side by securely stitching one end of the zipper to the sweater. Then work one or two small stitches above that. (Try not to let any of this show on the right side.)

Bring the needle out to the right side. Locate the column of stitches that will be your stitching guideline. As I mentioned in my last -- The Pinning -- post, the "well" where the I-cord is attached to the front of this sweater will perfectly locate and hide the stitch line. In this next photo, I am just using the needle as a pointer to show my planned stitch line.

Beginning the backstitch looks like this.

The steps you will be repeating:

1) Insert the needle in about one half of a row of knitting before where the last stitch came out.

2) Guide needle out two whole rows above where the last stitch came out.

3) Draw out needle to complete the stitch.

Remove pins just before you get to them. Check the wrong side fairly often to see that the stitches are appropriately located near the center of zipper tape which was you pin line.

When you get to the end of the zipper you will need to turn back to the wrong side to securely stitch the end of the zipper as you did at the start.

My project, named Everyday Sweater, really is all that.

Randomly I Write (About Saturday)

1. Mr K and I went to a beautiful and extremely enjoyable wedding on Saturday evening.
2. The bride and groom, our friends, are just a bit younger than us but older than most wedding couples.
3. We had to get up very early on Saturday to make it to the wedding.
4. The wedding was not far from our home, but we were vacationing last week in North Wildwood, New Jersey.
5. Most east coast weekly rentals are from Saturday to Saturday.
6. If you leave an Atlantic shore point at any time from mid to late morning on a Saturday, you can expect a very -s-l-o-w- ride.
7. We left much earlier.  
8. Part way home (actually at a mid to late morning time) we stopped to "check in" on our children.
9. One of our children was moving into a new place on Saturday.  (We could not help, because "We had a wedding to go to".  But all was well... help was on the way.  BTW:  The new place is pretty cool.)  We had a late morning outdoor brunch with our other child (who lives not very far away in another pretty cool place.)
10. How did these (once very tiny and totally dependent baby) children get to be such accomplished and fun to visit young adults?  
11. We rested at home for a bit before I began to put my outfit together.
12. My latest FO is "The Color of Flowers".
13. I finished (seaming) it the day before we left NJ (Friday).
14. I wore it to the wedding.

Project Name: The Color of Flowers

Pattern: Vine Street Tee by Amy Herzog

Yarn: The Fibre Company Canopy Fingering
Color Name: "Guava" 

Latest FO: On Me & On My Camera

My linen vest is now a FO.

These photos were shot by Mr K on Saturday, and edited (cropped) by me on Sunday.

I have a new camera that has a lot more options than my old little Cannon PowerShot SD600 with 6.0 megapixels.  My new camera is a Fujifilm X10 with 12.0 megapixels.  I will be learning more about all of its features as I go, but it does power on with a amazingly sharp 'auto' mode.  Doubling the number of pixels not only makes an incredible difference in the clarity of the images, but also allows for a major kind of cropping, which, in this case, made me feel like a professional photo editor.  (No, these are not perfect; but really, they were pretty effortless, and are already better than what my old camera would take.)

Anyway, back to the vest... I did work hard to finish this early enough in the season to be able to wear it often this summer.  My modifications were minor, mostly affecting the length, and are described on my Ravelry project page.  I went with the color 'ash', as was used by the designer, because it will go with every color that I normally wear.  The vest could be dressed up, but more often I will wear it dressed down and combined with other casual everyday clothing.  After I finished a last bit of steam pressing on Saturday morning, I put it on with what I was wearing for the day.  Unexpectedly, Mr K became an available photographer when an appointment of his was postponed by a half an hour.

And would you believe that I wore the vest all the day long?  I really do like it.  Must be because it is linen.

The house of...

For about a week now I have been thinking (but only in my own head) that this "Kern household" is really the "Carolyn Kern House of Design".  A bit of a stretch, but all of these things have happened this week:

I finished my work on a super secret project for a design to be used by a very famous (to the online knitting community) yarn company.  That yarn was amazing!... It was such a fun knit!... I will share it with you when the time is right.

A nice little cube of a box came in the mail.  Inside of it was probably about three times the yarn that I will need to make another super secret project that will appear in a widely distributed print magazine next year.

I think the idea that, as soon as one goes out, the next one is already here, has gone to my head (but it's OK, because mostly I keep it to myself).

Just yesterday, I received one of those polite emails with the words, "thank you", "we had so many great submissions", "can't use them all", "don't have room for yours" and "hope to work with you in the future".  It is true that rejection letters are just a part of the whole process.

And...

This house is also a family home with Christmas coming... I have a lot of work ahead me!  Today there was some shopping and there will be sugar cookie baking.  For various reasons, we will not begin to decorate until next weekend... there is still a wreath with autumn leaves on my front door.  I will be cooking two rather elaborate traditional dinners.  (I always do.  It is one thing that I take in stride.  One step at a time, and really worth all the work.)  There is a lot more gift shopping, and all of the gift wrapping, as well as one very special birthday coming up soon!

Whew!  I can do this though, just one day at a time, and every day with some knitting in it :-)

I like to include at least one photograph in my posts.  Here is my latest  (non-secret) FO, Tartan Mitts made in Titus yarn by Baa Ram Ewe, project name: Sir Titus Tartan.

I will be giving them to my daughter for Christmas.  (They are not a surprise.)  I am keeping the red ones for myself!

 

Harper's Bazaar: Paired Accessories

I have had a pattern published in Knitscene Accessories 2012, and one in Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2013.  A pattern of mine that is included in Quince & Co., Scarves, Etc., also appeared in Mollie Makes, Issue 14.

It should not surprise anyone to know that I have sent out many submission proposals to similar publications that did not get selected for publication.  At this time, I enjoy designing accessory projects.  I look for ideas in many places.  Sometimes I like to search current fashion images online.

In a search for "fall 2013 accessories", just weeks ago, I ended up finding a story from Harper's Bazaar, "Perfect Pairs: 10 Sets of Stylish Winter Accessories".  It is by Chrissy Rutherford and is dated November 27, 2012.  I bookmarked it thinking that one day I would like to share it here (with you).

This image is on the cover page where Chrissy wrote, "This winter forgo your boring black knit accessories and opt for this season's offerings of vibrant colors, rich textures and fun patterns.  Don't fret... we've done the pairing for you."  Here are a couple more of these...

I found these pairings oddly enjoyable.  I kind of thought, "I'll bet I could do that."  I like to put things together.  Here are a couple more...

When I saw an old purchased tartan scarf in my old scarf box not very long after I bookmarked the HB article, I knew that my own pairing was in the works...

 
Introducing... my latest FO, "Pop of Red" Tartan Mitts, paired with my "Old Scarf Box" scarf.  What would Chrissy think?

My Scrunchable FO

I had only two FO's in June.  (I will be quiet about one of them.  It is my own design, and when the time is right, I hope to release the pattern.)

The June FO that I am writing about today is my Hakusa which I nicknamed "Scrunchable".  My two favorite FO photos are:

Finished June 15, 2013

Pattern: Hakusa Scarf by Kristen Johnstone
Size: Large

Yarns by Habu Textiles:

 A-20/21 1/20 silk stainless steel, Color #8 (pale gray/green), 2 cones
N-75 2/48 Fine Merino, Color #3024 (deep forest), 1 cone

Project Notes:

1)  The cast-on with the single strand of superfine lace-weight metallic yarn requires a great deal of patience, as does the first few rows, but any determined knitter can get through that...  (:-))

2)  The unique triangular shape is created by increasing 1 stitch every 6th row on the RS end of row, and deceasing a total of 3 stitches every 2 rows on the opposite edge.  On RS rows this includes a sl1-k1-psso on the heels of another sl1-k1-psso.  I found this to be too bunchy, and I knit a stitch in between.  The finished edge is still a bit "pulled" looking as you can see in the photo below.

I think that I have enough yarn left to make a second Hakusa in the smaller size (which I would call a neckerchief).  This really is a great mindless grab-and-go project once you get past that pesky beginning part.  I have already started, and have several of the decrease rows completed.  This time I have added even more stitches between the decreases working all RS rows as in:  K3, ssk, k2, ssk, k to end.  It looks a lot smoother.

3) A final note:  I slipped the first stitch on every row before the decreasing began and then only on the WS rows after that.
Knit Rows (before decreasing):  Wyif, sl 1 pwise, move yarn to back, knit.
Purl Rows (for entire project):  Wyib, sl 1 kwise, move yarn to front, purl (purling 2 tog at end once the decreasing starts).
This makes a more finished edge, but is definitely not needed on knit rows once all that decreasing begins.

Happy summer knitting!

April FO's: 3 of 3

3 of 3

Finished April 20, 2013

Betty 

Pattern: Betty by Marie Wallin
Yarn: Rowan Pure Wool 4 ply 

I wrote a little while ago about how I acquired this yarn in post called Destiny.  I like a fine-gauge wool sweater in early spring, but it will be far too warm very soon.

    

 

April FO's: 2 of 3

2 of 3

Finished April 10, 2013

'Mineral' Beauty

This is, by far, my favorite of the three SWIRLS that I have made.
It is the shortest and it is as light as air.
'Mineral' is the yarn's color name.

Pattern: Sheer Beauty by Sandra McIver

Yarn: Shibui Knits Staccato & Silk Cloud

I bought this yarn at Gosh Yarn It! and I made this swirl as I taught a series of classes there on making a SWIRL from the book KNIT, SWIRL! by Sandra McIver.  My students were awesome!

2 of 3

on

1 of 3

Not bad.
 

April FO's: 1 of 3

I somehow got quite far behind on posting about what I am currently working on (WIP = Work In Progress) and even more behind on what has been finished (FO = Finished Object).

I had the idea to post about my three April FO's, one each, on the last three days of April... but now I am behind on that as well...

1 of 3

Finished April 5, 2013

A New Shell

I love, love, love this shell!
  The fit is very forgiving.  The armholes and neckline are quite flattering.
I would definitely use this pattern again.

Pattern: Trace by Kristin Spurkland

Yarn: Tahki Yarns Ripple

The yarn is a thick-and-thin cotton "tape" yarn which contributes a super amazing amount of texture.  I purchased it at Gosh Yarn It! about two years ago.  The first shell I started with this yarn was about 3/4 done when I ripped it all out.  As happens sometimes in knitting, it just was not working.  I am so glad that I started a-New.

FO: Tweeds in Balance

Pattern: Equilibrium Cowl by Carolyn Kern

Yarn: The Fibre Company, Acadia

Ravelry Project Page: Tweeds in Balance

There is something amazing that happens when beautiful tweed yarns are used in colorwork.

This project began and ended in October.  I worked on it at Rhinebeck.  I wore it to Gosh Yarn It! when Courtney Kelley and Kate Gagnon Osborn -- knitwear designers, teachers, authors, and distributors of The Fibre Company yarns -- came with their trunk show on November 3.  I bought their newest book which they autographed for me.  It was great to meet them.

FO: Hélène

Hélène is French for Helene.

Do you like my November 26 photo of my October FO?

I was playing with the light.
It is "sideways" sunlight.
  It comes into my lower level family room
for an hour or so
just before sunset.
Even in the winter.
But only on a sunny day.

The second photo was shot outdoors in October.

Pattern: Hélène by Véronik Avery

Yarn: Quince & Co Sparrow, 100% Linen

Ravelry Project Page: Helene

Do you remember this bit of lace with the fading, end of the season, flowers?

So pretty.

(I would guess that Véronik Avery speaks French.  She lives in Quebec.
I once met Véronik.)

This was an interesting and unique pattern.  It was knit sideways in two identical pieces.  They were to be joined on each side with three-needle-bind-off from neck to bottom of sleeve... I tried that (stitch counts were not identical)... and I decided that a regular woven seam would be easier and faster... at least for me...

I enjoyed the yarn.  Though I have not often knit with linen, Sparrow is probably my favorite linen yarn to date.

FO Friday -- Before Summer Ends...

"Summertime Shawl"

Pattern: Annis by Susanna IC,

Knitty, Spring + Summer 2010

Yarn: Louet Euroflax Paris, steel grey

approx 1/2 cone, 290 yd.

Have a good holiday weekend if you live in the US!