I didn’t use a pattern but there are many variations available on Ravelry.

The next sweater is a garment I’m absolutely thrilled with. I knit Amy Christoffer’s Acer Cardigan in Bittersweet, a rich brown that looks just like dark chocolate!

I shortened the sleeves and fussed a bit with the finishing–I changed the button band to a sewn-on button band, used a one-row buttonhole (WHICH ROCKS) and changed my mind twice about the buttons themselves. I started with minty green vintage plastic, thinking of mint chocolate chip ice cream the whole time.

After ignoring the sweater for a few days I realized I’d be much happier with a more covert, sorta steampunk button, a thin bronzey number. I experimented with using a different color thread for each one, but then I just switched to tomato red on all of them (the rainbow gradient was looking a bit grade school). And now, it’s perfect. The yarn is so so soft, and because it has no wool in it, I was able to wear it all day in August! It has a lovely worn-in t-shirt feel, and a soft tweedy look.

Have you read this far? I’d love to repay the kindness by offering one Acer Cardigan sweater kit (1 pattern + Remix to knit it) to one randomly chosen commenter! Please comment below with your thoughts on the trend of greening your knitting. Have you tried any “green” yarns? Have you recycled any old sweaters? I’d love to hear about it.

Fine print: One entry per commenter. Employees of Berroco not eligible. Contest ends at midnight (EST) on 9/9/201o.

From left: Gudrun/Shetland Trader, Melissa/Knitting School Dropout and Cirilia/Skrilla Knits

CR: What’s next for Cecily and Melissa?

We plan on working together again. That’s all we’re saying!

I designed a dress called Kiloran. It was an absolute joy to work on from the initial inception to the agonizing wait for the debut issue.

In the past couple of years I have really tried to figure myself out as a designer. One item or shape I return to again and again is the dress. I think I like the design challenge of making something that won’t stretch out of shape or look shapeless and unflattering. Two things that are vitally important are yarn choice and the judicious use of seams. I am all in favor of knitting things in the round and avoiding seams when possible, but in certain situations, a seam or a bound-off edge can add much-needed structure. Kiloran features several seams and where it makes sense, easy circular stockinette.

I was first inspired by dramatic open necklines seen on the runway and on Princess Anne of Battenberg of all people. The loose, elbow-length sleeves and fitted empire waistlines gave way to full skirts, sometimes with generous bustles. Precisely the kind of dress I’d want to wear in early fall! Here is my mood board for the dress:

The knitting seemed to zip along, I’m not sure if it was because I was working with the very well-behaved 3-ply Ultra Alpaca in a new shade that I adore (Candy Floss Mix is a strange, evocative dusty pink) or if it was because I had discovered my new favorite film while working on the dress. “I Know Where I’m Going!”, directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger in 1945 is funny, wistful, gorgeous and endlessly entertaining–I finished the dress in under two weeks time, unusual speed for me that I completely attribute to Powell and Pressburger’s masterpiece.

The front lace insert is knit in Ultra Alpaca Light:

I’m really hoping to knit a Kiloran for myself this fall, perhaps in romantic Flannery Red…though I do love the Candy Floss colorway I used (this is a back view of the bustled skirt):

CR

Now, I happily and productively use my device , every single day! One of the most productive things I do with it is draw sketches.  To keep organized here in the design office, we sketch everything we are making and put them all together on sheets we call croquis. I used to draw these with pencil on white paper held over a drawing of a model, so I could easily draw in the same scale and from the same viewpoint every time.  That’s my model on the left.  I’ve used her for a while.  Years ago I used to print the sweater drawings on self stick paper and paste them over her, like paper dolls.  I transitioned to just using the sweater.  You may recognize the sweaters from our Blackstone booklet (#298).

I can still draw over the same model if I want to,  its easy to get a scan of her into the iPad, but while trolling for new apps I tripped across the following method of making a sketch:

1 – I use teen targeted fashion app FashionSketch to make a model and outfit to serve as a base.

2 – Next I apply  the photo editing program Photogene to transform the image into a black and white “drawing” and crop the image.

3 – And then I use SketchBook  to draw a sweater and add a layer of white to erase the lines “under” the sweater.

–Norah

Just so you know, no one aked me to review my iPad or the programs and I paid for them all.

So, I instantly bought up 2 of them. One for John, since he was building our house, and one for me, because I needed something to wrangle a variety of needles, scissors and other paraphernalia along with a project or too and have it all easily portable.

The resulting house.

Well, those nice folks who make the Nantucket Diddy Bagg caught wind that was a fan and comped me the newest model I admired the most. It’s made from the super sturdy canvas, like my first one, but it’s shorter and has longer handles, making it convenient and comfortable to carry.  I’m a little embarrassed that my longing look begged it off of them, but so glad to have it. Here it is in use:

The sweater was presented to Mo at a taping of Wait , Wait Don’t Tell Me and  the show posted a fun video of the sweater presentation on their site. Berroco gets mentioned here, as do I , but you have to really listen for it. When you get to the Wait Wait site, look for the video link, down a bit on the left.

Meanwhile, Mo was working on his other gig  on CBS and produced a piece for CBS Sunday Morning. He even learned how to knit! So, FINALLY after a year of wondering if was actually going to happen

..and NOW you can watch our friend Andra speedily knitting the finishing on Mo’s sweater.  I can’t seem to embed the flash video from the CBS site, so a link will have to do.

Why are these words usually capitalized? It is so they jump off the page, hopefully flagging down the eager or careless knitter who might skim right by without noticing. This instruction is just one of the many reasons you should make a habit of reading a pattern, or at least a pattern section, before getting started. You can identify all sorts of things: techniques you might be unfamiliar with, supplies or notions you might need to have handy, areas you might need to modify and in this case, concurrent shaping directions that you need to be aware of. Norah and I would like to show you when this direction comes into play, as well as our tips for keeping track of it all.

I’ll use this week’s free pattern, Botany, as an example. AT THE SAME TIME crops on in the directions for the back, when you’re shaping the shoulder and the neck:

Shape Neck and Shoulders:  Next Row (RS): Bind off 1(3-3-3-5-6) sts, k until there are 7(7-9-11-11-13) sts on RH needle, join another hank of yarn and bind off center 36 sts, k to end.  Working both sides at once with separate hanks of yarn, bind off 1(3-3-3-5-6) sts at beg of the next row, then 2(2-3-4-4-5) sts at beg of the next 4 rows.  AT THE SAME TIME, bind off 2 sts at each neck edge once, then dec 1 st at each neck edge every RS row once.

I like to make a list, or in this case a table (I have terrible handwriting and it wouldn’t help to show you my list):

I read through the pattern directions and list what needs to happen on each row for my size (first, I noted that I’ll need to bind off 3 stitches once, then at the beginning of the next 4 rows, a total of 5 times). I’ll also need to bind off 2 stitches at the neck edge, on the left neck edge on the RS rows and the right neck edge on the WS rows). After I’ve completed these rows, I need to decrease once at each neck edge but only on the right side rows, which is reflected in my list. I just cross off everything after I’ve done it and before I know it, I’m done! Easy.

Norah’s notes:

I like to make a diagrammatic representation of  AT THE SAME  TIME.  I make a quick sketch of the piece I’m working on, especially when 2 or 3 things are happening at once – like armhole, neck and shoulder shaping.  This way, I don’t have to keep searching in the written instructions for the the armhole shaping or the neck shaping, which I might easily get confused if I wasn’t reading carefully. I can glance at down at my sketch and know what’s next.

Anais, the pullover sketched above, has armhole and front neck shaping happening at the same time and then shoulder shaping pops in at the top, when you may or may not have the neck shaping completed.  I very roughly drew an armhole, neck and shoulder, and then wrote in the shaping, using my own short hand. On the armhole, 5 means Bind off 5 stitches, and -1 x 8 means I make the one stitch decrease 8 times (the every RS row is implied because that’s normal). We all have our own quirks, so you use a notation you understand.

I think of the edges of my piece separately while I am knitting and take each edge as it comes.  So, on the pullover above the first thing that happens on a RS row is the armhole. I look at the diagram, do what it says at the armhole. Then I work to the neck and do a neck decrease on one side, then the other side, then finish the row.  The neck shaping and armhole shaping are symmetrical so I didn’t bother to draw out the second side of the neck or the second armhole. You could cross out or check off each bind off or dec as you do it so you’ll know what you’ve done already and know where you are.  I never seem to have a pencil handy, or I am too lazy to get up so I always look at my work to see how many decreases or bind offs are already completed to determine where I am in the shaping.  Sure, sometimes I need to look back at the written pattern to see just how I was supposed to work that decrease , but my diagram speeds things along and helps me keep my head straight. –NG

I hope these methods will help you in developing your own note-taking habits. A little bit of paper, a pencil and some planning can prevent a LOT of ripping.

Cheers,

CR

From left to right and top to bottom:

1 – Looking for new yarns to buy is fun any time, but imagine being able to gaze out this window at the same time.

2 – One booth at the yarn fair  (Pitti Filati) was built around theme of kilims.  I like the faded earthy colors.

3 –  Beautifully and neatly wound pre-dyed top awaits its fate.

4 – Modern day spinning machinery,  I love the repetition.

5 – Multiple vats of top are set in motion.

6 – Monanorah, or is it the Norahlisa?  Silliness at the show

The highlight of my trip was the natural history museum.  The special exhibit of crystals just may have had a great influence on NGvol7.