Michigan Winter

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Jen

The His & Hers Michigan Winter Pullovers are finished !

Interesting improvisations I’ve done, with ‘His’ v-neck. I was pulling my hair out trying to figure out how to do it, never having done it before. But now I think it looks very unique ~ steeked on the body, then after shirt-yoke was finished up to the steek in front, I transfered the live stitches on to waste yarn while I continued the yoke across back to be grafted together. Finally I cut the steek, and then picked up the steek stitches , back edge, and live stitches all around for a K2/P2 rib.

‘Hers’ crew style neck was a cake walk ! I really love the tweedy look for these, sparkling with flecks of buff, browns, black, ivory, and occasional bright-colored Donegal nebs. I wonder do they do look a little long in the arms? Yeah, I guess, partly because they are sagging a bit off of the hangers (I know, not the ideal way to display a handknit garment such as these) however, I assure you these sweaters were custom measured, and I stayed true to the wearers’ measurements, but I believe I added an inch (or two) to the sleeves to ensure they weren’t too short, and the end result is, well, much longer sleeves. But we’ll see when they are slipped on Him & Her.

Here is the back !

Just look at that spectacular design of Elizabeth Zimmermann’s,

the seamless shirt-yoke . . .

A close-up detail of how the decreases go into the yoke. . .

Lastly, my mark, I like to sew on the label just above the rib, in the back . . .

Now these his & hers pullovers get shipped to Michigan, to keep warm two very dear young homesteaders in their first year of settling & farming, undoubtedly shivering in the soon-to-be snowy winter landscape.

Rosanna & Felix

* * * * *

Yarn : Knit Picks Wool Of the Andes Tweed ( 80% Peruvian Highand wool, 20% Donegal Tweed) . Worsted weight.

Needles: size US#8 circular.

Pattern : Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Seamless Shirt Yoke sweater, in “Knitting Without Tears” ~ somewhat modified throughout.

Details on Ravelry here

All posts about this project here

Tweedy & Autumny

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Jen

Finally the rain clouds have come and rained and everything is moist and the forest smells wonderfully spicey with Autumny smells. We’ve had rain this week enough to soak the forest and give the moss a good drink and I just love rain ~~ just look at those clouds !

I went for a knitting walk with this blue lump of a sweater, with about a half ball of yarn at the start, thinking I’d have plenty for a long walk. I managed to get all the way back to the house, and ran out of yarn *just* as I walked in through the door, just enough to splice on to another ball ~ I call this a grand knitting coincidence !

I’m almost at the section of the Michigan Winter Sweaters (thats two) where I must fuss about with a tedious new technique ~ the seamless ‘shirt yoke’ that I have never tried ~ which will involve knitting back and forth on a lopsided saddle shoulder which is wider on the back than the front, and knits itself into the body as it goes. This horizontally eating up the end of the vertical stitches, is making me nervous, because I’ve never done a seamless saddle-shoulder, but sounds exciting all the same ! Bless Elizabeth Zimmerman for writing the instructions out so dearly, but still I am not at all confident, because I really just am not a very good reader-of-knitting-instructions… don’t be surprised if I come back here and calling for help in another post soon.

Knitting In The Wild

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Jen

I have been knit-walking rather obsessively lately. Some days I go out twice, and I am elated to say that as a result I am both knitting and walking an incredible amount more than before. In fact, I just can’t ever see myself ever again idly walking the mornings away without my fingers making silly loops, one after another. I know, actually rather weird when you think of it. So here are some photos from this morning…Nearby, where Emma’s absolute favorite trail takes us, we greet the nearby mountain tops on the other side of a steep and narrow canyon …

We like to hop over to the canyon precipice to take a peek down into the abyss…

(( and to sniff at what the wild coyotes have been up to ! ))

Right at the precipice. Lichen covered volcanic rock, and grass as dry as papyrus, until it rains, which it hasn’t yet. We’re having our Northern Californian Indian Summer, where typically in October just after you feel the cool of Autumn, we get visited by the hot clear days for another week or two.

My temporary knit-walking bag, an old rather small hip pack I dug up this morning from the ‘gear closet’. I have been experimenting with all kinds of methods to hold the ball of yarn while I knit and walk ~ from stuffing it into various pockets, or inside the front of my shirt, or under my arm, or in one of Emma’s treat pouches, to wearing one of my felted knitting bags slung over my shoulder. I have yet to design a ‘ hiking knitting bag ‘ but this seems to do fine for this morning.

A shot from one of the high vineyards, overlooking the SanFranciscoBay to the south, however in the bright morning light, and camera’s focus, you can’t see any details in distance.

Is that a tweed sleeve hanging on a Cabernet trellis ?

Two sleeves done & dusted, two more to go, for Two Michigan Winter sweaters. Then I can join them to the bodies and begin the Elizabeth Zimmerman seamless hybrid ‘shirt style’ yoke I’ve been so looking forward to settling into.

Mountain Knitting

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Jen

Making really good progress with the ‘his & hers’ tweed pullovers.

I am calling them ” Michigan Winter “.

How could I already be nearly finished with the main body of two full-sized sweaters in one week? I’ll tell you how, because Emma and I have been doing a lot of walking this week, being sure to get in at least one walk a day, short or long, and well, I’ve taken my knitting along each time, and I tell you folks, it adds up !

Just as I’m plowing through these young homesteaders’ pullovers, I myself am getting fit as a farmer, and Emma is delighted about all these hikes too, as we go slower, further, longer, and linger at delicious smells in the forest duff.

Autumn in Northern California brings the leaves falling late,

but the Madrones are always first to drop theirs, beginning in July !

I love the terra cotta tones of the leaves as they turn on the ground, before the first rain comes.

As we meander up the ridge, my favorite once bloomed in purple wild sweet peas look so pretty,

even as dried as parchment paper.

I sometimes have to fix a dropped stitch or untangle the yarn,

and Emma waits patiently in the golden grasses.

Here we are up into the steep section of the climb, and if it were a clear day without foggy haze in the distance, you’d see SanFranciscoBay, and the GoldenGateBridge beyond the hills…

Emma always finds a stick to befriend…

Approaching the top of the ridge, SonomaCountyLeft and NapaCountyRight….

Finally at the precipice of the peak, overlooking the valley below.