So I just got done with a project that has been languishing for quite some time – my tree jacket sweater! I originally started this one back in … ohhhhh …… October of last year. We took some time off, so to speak.



(not the prettiest picture ever, and I am vain, so I made it small)

I’m completely in love with it. I’ve already decided I’m wearing it for the next several weeks.



pattern: Tree Jacket by Zephyr Style (I’m not sure why all the images on their site seem to not be working, but whatever, there’s the link)
size: S
yarn: Knit Picks Andean Silk in barn red
needles: US8 Denises

I have a couple comments about the pattern. For one, I made it a little longer because those Zephyr patterns run a little short on me. Also, I followed the altered lace pattern for the body that I found here. The lace pattern, as it is written in the pattern, will bias. I saw a lot of pictures of Tree Jackets with biased lace, and although some people liked it, I did not. I don’t think a curving lace pattern would have looked even remotely flattering on my body. I’m a little confused though, because I did knit the collar in the biasing lace pattern and although it was mighty twisty, it came right out with some wet blocking. So now I’m wondering if I could have knit the whole sweater with that lace and just blocked the bias out… Oh well, I’m fine with the lace as it is so whatever. All I’m wondering is, am I just seeing tons and tons of unblocked Tree Jackets or does the bias not block out for everyone like it did for me?

So the photo shoot for this sweater was a fun one. I was blocking it on a mat on the floor of our office, and although Yoshi avoided the sweater when it was wet, the minute it became dry she just treated it like her own personal hand-knit dog bed. Case in point:


exhibit A


exhibit B


exhibit C: diggin those claws right in

Oh sigh. Why do I even bother trying to keep the dog hair off things.

And finally, any Arrested Development fans out there? Because this is one of our favorite moments in the show:


(yes, that picture is not mine. but at least I’m not stealing bandwidth.)

Oh, but is that one ever mine. Ha ha haaaa!!! Peto suggested that I stuff my sweater, but I didn’t want to stretch it out.

I am making a concerted effort this year to buy less yarn, use what I have, and finish things. So far I’m doing well! This is my first finished object of 2008 and I have yet to buy any yarn. Of course, we’re only 22 days into the year, but I need to constantly congratulate myself in order to keep this up.



Some of you may have noticed these socks are knit sideways… What fun! I loved this pattern. Here are the specifics (I wrote basically the same things on my ravelry page for this project), with my comments:

pattern: sidewinders: a perpensockular pattern, from nonaKnits
yarn: Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Crazy Color 4-ply / 4-fädig
needles: US2 circulars
stared: 12/27/07
completed: 1/21/08

size: My foot measured up the longest length available in the medium width. I was very careful with my gauge swatch. I had the proper stitch gauge, but my row gauge was a little bit off, so I decided to knit the wide-width sock to make up for this. The socks fit pretty well, but if I did it again I would make the medium width so they would be a bit more snug.

mods: dear God, if I could have figured out how to modify this pattern in some useful way on my first time through, that would just be unholy, wouldn’t it. It was exciting to follow a pattern sort of blindly – that’s something I rarely do. Apparently, I like to mess with stuff, as Abbey pointed out (hi Abbey!). I couldn’t ever tell if I was going horribly awry or anything because it was impossible to tell what was actually going on most of the time! That felt weird. But thank GOD, everything turned out great.

regarding grafting: My seam isn’t beautiful, but it’s not because of my grafting, it’s because of my cast-on. I did the provisional cast-on on another circular needle of a slightly smaller size (it was an addi turbo US 1.5). When I’ve done provisional cast-ons in the past I’ve had to be careful to keep it loose, otherwise I can’t get the needle through the stitches later on. Well, I should have made this one tighter.

Would I knit this one again? Absolutely!!! What fun. I’d love to make ones with a sole and heel in garter stitch (why can’t I remember if the bottom of a sock/shoe is a soul or a sole? graduate school is really breaking me down.) for added squishyness. Also, I saw a comment on one of Nona’s posts wondering if she had considered working up both sides from the cast-on – in other words, starting at the seam on the back/bottom, working up both sides, and meeting in the middle instead of starting on the back/bottom and working all the way around your foot. That sounds like a great idea to me, so maybe I’ll try that next time. And if you’re the person who wrote that brilliant comment on Nona’s blog and by some freak occurrence you are reading this, please let me know, so that I might acknowledge your brilliance.

And for amusement purposes, here’s one of my reject photos from this shoot. Here’s what happens when I try to take pictures of my own feet:



Pretty.

eta: Who knew – I finished some red/pink/orange socks just before the start of Project Spectrum 3.0! Cool.