Honeycomb Cowl

It has been a busy Fall without a lot of quality time for knitting, crochet or any other fiber pursuits. However, in anticipation for the very cold temperatures I knew would be coming my way (it is currently two degrees outside), I decided to make a cowl. It took me awhile to finish, but here it is.

I made it with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran wool that I found on sale at my LYS. The yarn feels wonderful up against my skin, so I can wear it with anything. The pattern I used can be found on Ravelry for free. Check out this link on Ravelry for information: Suzknittyspinner - Honeycomb Cowl.

Back to Aran Knitting - Honeycomb Cowl

If anyone is still following my blog, I am sure you have been wondering if I had given up for good. Sorry it has been so long. Not only has this summer been very busy with my kids' activities and my work, but I also suffered from a running injury and have been in physical therapy. Trying to recover has really been my primary focus. I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, though, so here is hoping I can get back to blogging on a semi-regular basis.

In the meantime, I have been able to keep up with a bit of knitting. I finished all four pieces of the sweater I am designing myself (Aran and Lace Cardigan). They are waiting patiently to be blocked so that I can try to get them to meet my measurement guidelines. They appear to be a little small at the moment, but if they block in the same way the swatch did, everything should work out well. I have been a bit nervous to test out my theory, though, so they sit in the corner calling to me. Maybe once I finish up the two five-week summer classes I am teaching, I will get up the courage to bite the bullet.

While I have been procrastinating about blocking the pieces of my sweater, I have begun a new project to have some fun. Here is the beginning of my Honeycomb Cowl (knit from this Lion Brand pattern). (Notice I changed the title! I bet you aren't surprised.)

Below is another photo to give an idea of the size of the cowl. Keep in mind that I intend to use the blocking process to get it to relax quite a bit to meet the desired dimensions. I always knit the type of fabric I like and then rely on blocking to get the piece to fit in the way I like as long as the blocking doesn't distort the pattern in any way. Since this is a cowl, I have a lot more flexibility.

I am really enjoying working with Debbie Bliss's Cashmerino Aran for the very first time. It has a lovely soft hand. I realize that this means it could grow and might pill considerable, but I will keep these factors in mind when blocking and when wearing it. Since it is a cowl, I am not too concerned about pilling. There doesn't seem to be too much abrasion when wearing something on your neck. However, softness was a primary consideration for me since I hate to have any scratchiness next to my neck.

What has everyone else been working on this summer? I would love to hear about your projects in the comments.

Busy Week - Not a lot of New Stitching Going On!

This has been an incredibly busy week for me for some reason. I always talk about how we have ebbs and flows in life and that when I have the ebbs, I try to take advantage of them by indulging in my crafts as much as possible. Unfortunately, this was a week where it felt like an entire sea flowed towards me, both at work and at home. I am steadily making my way to shore and hope to get back to some quality crafting time next week. I also hope to have something fun to show you then. 

Until then, I will just provide a little tease of something I have been working on quietly lately. I am trying to design my own sweater. Only once before (in 20 years of knitting) have I ever knit a sweater without a pattern, and it was a basic high-waisted rib, fitted cardigan for my daughter who was a pre-teen at the time. It was pretty simple, but I was pleased to accomplish the decision-making process and the math involved in the shaping at the time. This time, I am spicing things up a bit by trying another cardigan (this time for me) but by adding a motif with various stitch patterns to it. I have the back almost completed and am having a really good time working my way through this process. Here is a picture of the swatch I made to test out my ideas. 

Is anyone surprised that the first motif I designed myself contains the honeycomb stitch? :)  In case you were wondering, the yarn is Cascade 220.

Proud Mama

The day that I have been dreaming about ever since my precious baby girl as born, over 16 years ago, has finally arrived -- she has become a knitter! I have had a plan to entice her into this lifestyle for quite awhile. Of course, my motives were selfish since I dreamed of spending hours upon hours of quality time with her, sipping tea and stitching as we had some mother-daughter bonding time. 

I began to put my plan into action when she was only 4 1/2 years old. Being the avid reader of all things Elizabeth Zimmerman-related, I was very familiar with Meg Swansen's (E. Z.'s daughter) story of how she became a knitter. Elizabeth taught Meg early, but as Meg tells the story in her book, Meg Swansen's Knitting, she only knitted in fits and starts until she was a young adult. It was at that point that she became passionate about the craft, and this began a truly incredible collaboration between mother and daughter. Most of us know the rest of that delightful story, but if you don't, I highly recommend that you check out some of Elizabeth Zimmerman and/or Meg Swansen's writing and videos.

So, I envisioned my daughter and I developing a crafting relationship that emulated this famous mother/daughter pair. When she quickly got the hang of knitting at four and half, I thought, here is my knitter -- only to see her put down her needles the next day never to pick them up again for many years. Then at around eight years old, she picked them up again, showing enough enthusiasm for the craft to inspire me to buy her own little crafting bag with measuring tape, needle-sizer, a pair of scissors, a knitting instruction book for girls, needles and yarn. She began a simple garter-stitch scarf, knitted on it with zeal for a couple of days, and then quickly became bored. After that, her little bag sat in a corner of her bedroom for several years until one day in a flurry of spring cleaning, she decided that she would never again want to knit, and so she was going to get rid of all of her knitting "stuff." Of course, this saddened me, but in the back of my head, I thought, "She doesn't know what her future will hold. One day, she will still pick it up again." A little voice inside me did wonder if maybe knitting just wasn't her thing since I had noticed that as artistic and crafty as she is that she gravitated towards projects that could be planned and executed in a day, which led her to sewing and making other small crafty projects for a time. 

Alas, the day finally came in the last month when my patience seems to have paid off; she asked to pick up her needles once again to make a cute wool headband that she saw in an advertisement. She had originally asked me to find a pattern and to make the headband for her, but before I had the chance to begin it, she suddenly came to me and said, "Mom, do you think I could learn to knit the headband myself?" This was music to my ears, as you can imagine, so I replied, "Of course. Let's get started." The next day, I bought her some luxurious wool to get her properly hooked and to make sure she loved every minute of this experience, reviewed the knit stitch with her, taught her to purl and then to combine knit and purl to make seed stitch, and off she went! She picked it up like no time had passed since her last knitting session and even worked on training her hands to tension the yarn over and under her fingers in the way I have always done, so she could pick up speed. Before I knew it, she was knitting away every time I saw her with a spare moment. She even mastered it enough to knit while watching T.V.  

It is indescribable the joy a knitting mother feels when seeing her daughter with needles in hand and yarn flowing thought her fingers! I am in heaven. Not to mention, it is a blast to have someone right in my own house with whom I can talk "shop."  Here are the results of her glorious efforts! 

Pretty good for a newbie, I must say with a mother's proud heart.  My delight continues, since she is now asking to make herself some leg warmers! We are off to our LYS tomorrow.

In case any of you are wondering what I have been up to lately, I am working steadily on my husband's sweater and the Granny Stripes Afghan. However, in the meantime, I quickly knitted this wonderful hat for a co-worker to help him deal with this incredibly frigid weather we have been having. The pattern is a free download on Ravelry called Men's Ski Hat. I used Berroco Vintage yarn so that he could wash it easily. The stitch definition was great, yet the hat is very soft.  He loves the hat and wears it, which is the best a knitter can ask for, isn't it?

Unfortunately, I am also working on another hat for a friend of my sister's who is starting chemo today. I am so glad to be able to make these hats for those who need them, but I certainly wish I didn't have cause to make them. I will show you the hat and share which pattern I made when it is finished. It is looking really nice so far, but there aren't enough rounds to show it now.

Happy knitting and crocheting!

The Benefits of Swatching

I am a big proponent of swatching. I can hear some groans, but please listen to what I have to say. After reading about these benefits, you might actually see the ways it can be fun as well as helpful. The numerous benefits to swatching are as follows:

•  To determine gauge: This is the most common use for making swatches. I find it especially beneficial when I am using a new yarn (or even more importantly my own handspun yarn), and I want to see what needle size gives me the best hand to the fabric made from the yarn. I typically knit to recommended gauge on the ball band, but it is still nice to test out different needles to see which one gives the fabric the best look and feel. I always knit my projects to the gauge that looks best for the yarn I am using rather than to the recommended gauge by the designer. If the gauge that the designer has suggested is important to the overall look of the design, I will find a yarn that works well at that gauge rather than to try to make the yarn I have match the gauge (for example, if the design call for bulky weight yarn, it is probably best to use it since the bulky yarn might be providing the trendy look of the garment). Yarns will tell you what they want to be knitted into if you make a swatch, which brings me to my next point below. 
• To determine project choices: If you are like me, you probably have some yarn in your stash. I haven't accumulated a large stash, but as a result of having left-over yarn and yarn that was intended for a particular project in which I may have lost interest, I do have some yarn that needs a project. This is where swatching can be really fun! I begin to get ideas for projects to choose for different yarns in my stash, but I first make a swatch to determine gauge and to be sure I like the look of the pattern in the yarn I am choosing. Sometimes, I find that the yarn doesn't look as good as I thought it might in a given pattern, so it is back to the drawing board. This process can be inspiring since it challenges me to think differently about the yarn and gives me a good excuse to pull out books from my collection or to peruse Ravelry in hunt for the perfect project. I love this stage of knitting more than any other. The photo below illustrates the process I use and the way that a certain yarn can look a lot better in one stitch pattern than another:

The top row of swatches (2) were made to test out the yarn (Brown Sheep Nature Spun in Chuck Berry) for Lisa Lloyd's Staghorn aran sweater from A Fine Fleece. The first of the two is a swatch I actually made for another pattern choice before I changed my mind and decided to try Staghorn; however, it used the same cable motifs (XO and Staghorn), so it gave me a good indication of what those motifs would look like in this yarn. The other swatch is the filler stitch for Staghorn (double moss). After making these swatches, I wasn't loving the look of either of them in the Chuck Berry colorway. This yarn has a beautiful, deep color, but there is no tonal variation. I had envisioned Staghorn in a yarn with some heathering or subtle tone changes. So, I decided to try another swatch for another pattern. The result is what you see below the first two swatches -- the central motif for Lisa Lloyd's Halcyon Aran. Isn't it stunning!

I am pleased with the result of the yarn for Halcyon since that design seems to have a sharper, crisper look to it that is highlighted well in a yarn with one tone. I had also seen an example on Ravelry in a deep red that made me realize how nice this design would look in the Chuck Berry color I had. As you can see, swatching really paid off in this instance, and it was also a very enjoyable process. I felt like I had conquered a challenge since this yarn had been on may hands for several years. It was the left over yarn from an afghan I made and for which I seriously over bought extras. Swatching saved me from running out to buy more yarn and gave me the satisfaction of being able to knit from my stash.

And now for the last use for swatching:

• To test out you own designs: I have done very little knitting of my own design over the years, but I do like the challenge of creating something entirely my own. It is definitely something I want to spend more time on in the future (maybe once the kids move on and I regain some free time!). If you intend to do any designing of your own garments, though, swatching is essential. It helps you to test your ideas, test the yarn choices you make, and to figure out the math needed to calculate the design. IF you are considering doing your own designing, I recommend this great book by Deborah Newton, Designing Knitwear, in which she writes a dissertation on swatching!

I will definitely continue to swatch in the future, and I hope that some of you might consider trying it if you haven't done so before. It can be a lot more fun that you might have imagined.

Recent Finished Objects

Lately, my knitting obsession has taken hold again after a knitting slump of sorts. I have always knit regularly, but in the last few years my progress was slow and nights would go by where I would just feel too tired to do much of anything. I missed my knitting, but I couldn't manage to do more than an hour or so a week, spread out over the entire week. This was mainly because of a job change and the active lives of two teenaged children. Luckily, I am out of the knitting slump and have been inspired to put the finishing touches on three sweaters that had been hibernating. Here they are -- all finished within the last month or so:

Must-Have Cardigan

This is a great pattern, and you can see on Ravelry how many knitters have loved making it. Mine is just one of many! This is a good Aran sweater to begin with if you haven't tried one before. New knitters should be able to learn how to manage multiple cable panels fairly easily since none of these cable panels are challenging. Since the cable crossings fall on rows that are multiples of one another, the pattern provides an interesting yet smooth-going knitting experience. I used the cabling without a cable needle method, which I learned from wendyknits years ago, as I do on almost all of my cable projects.  For more details, check out my Ravelry Project page under the Ravelry username, suzknittyspinner.

Ravensong

This is one of Lisa Lloyd's fabulous designs from a favorite knitting book of mine, A Fine Fleece. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in knitting Aran sweaters, spinning yarn, or even if you are just looking for beautiful sweaters and garments of all types. I had the pleasure of working as a test-knitter for Lisa years ago when she wrote this book. She is a wonderful designer and writes excellent patterns. If you check out the book, be sure to look at the sweaters I test-knitted: Espresso (pink), Harriet (black), St. Patrick (natural), and Gaelic Mist (purple). I also knitted one of the Road Not Taken scarves. 

I am so pleased with Ravensong since it is beautiful, fits well, and is the kind of garment you can wear to work, out for an evening, or even with a pair of jeans. For more details, check out Ravelry (suzknittyspinner's project page).

Trinity Vest

Another great design by Lisa Lloyd from A Fine Fleece. I have read about knitters who are dedicated to knitting their way through the whole book, and I am on my way to doing so. Lisa has such a great eye for combining stitch patterns that one might not think about, yet they look awesome together. This is just one such example with the combination of another traditional Aran stitch, trinity stitch (sometimes called blackberry stitch) and braided cables. I especially liked her use of three braided cables on the back of the vest to compliment the trinity stitch motif. When I wore this vest to work, I received so many compliments. It is a great piece to add to any wardrobe, and it was easy to knit. I encourage you to try this vest if you are new to cable knitting and would like to make something that will knit up quickly and fairly easily. Another bonus to the design is that it does not require much finishing work (except picking up for the button bands and neck, which might be challenging for a new knitter but is something that one should learn how to do since it opens up so many possibilities).

That is it for show and tell, everyone. This might be the most show and tell I will do for a while, but let's hope my knitting progress speeds up again this year. I am currently finishing up some socks for my son, an infinity scarf for my daughter, and another pair of socks for her, too. I will show those off soon, but then I look forward to beginning two more Lisa Lloyd designs that should be a lot of fun to discuss.

Have any of you knitted a Lisa Lloyd design or another cabled sweater? If so, please share your experiences in the comments.

Why I Started This Blog

I have been thinking about beginning my own blog for years now. I remember discovering knitting blogs back in the days when they first began. I read every blog I could find at that time with WendyKnits being my favorite (and I still love it). Even then, I considered starting my own, but the lack of easy technology at the time made me hesitate, not to mention my busy work and home life. Lately, something has been telling me, "now is the time -- don't hold back," so here I am.

My brief stitching story:

I have been a knitter for over 20 years, having begun my passion for fiber arts as a crocheter.

Like many of us, I began crocheting as a young girl at the knees of my great grandmother. She was an extraordinary crocheter, who produced dozens of afghans, table clothes, and dollies. Unfortunately, I gave up crocheting soon after learning, but luckily, I came back to it in my 20's. The little, unloved scrap of tan crochet she used to teach me sat in a corner of my childhood bedroom closet and called to me often on visits home. I finally took it back up, learned everything I could to make my own afghans, and then learned knitting a few years later.

Knitting is my first love now and has been for many years. I still crochet occasionally, but most nights (and even during moments of the day when I can sneak in a few stitches here and there), I can be seen sitting on my comfy couch knitting with one of those glorious afghans covering my lap.

A few years back I learned to spin, too, and have gotten proficient at spinning a worsted weight yarn on my Ashford Double Drive Traveller. Some day when I have more time, I would like to learn and practice this awesome craft more, but right now, my busy working life as a community college professor and my personal life as a mother of two wonderful teens doesn't leave much time for anything else but portable knitting and a bit of exercise.

Why the title of the blog?

I can hardly remember a time when stitch patterns did not fascinate me. Some people love color more than anything; others, like me, love stitch definition above all else. My very first knitted object was a scarf form my husband, and I chose to knit it in seed stitch (with black yarn). Seeing those little bumps of yarn develop before my eyes just fascinated me. It still does. I progressed naturally from seed stitch to knitting a textured sweater with a repeated pattern of triangles, made from a combination of knits and purls, and some mock cables, made with twisted stitches, to my passion for cabling. Knitting Aran sweaters is my true love. I have made several over the years, and I will share them here along with their stories as time progresses. Of course, I will talk about other subjects besides Aran and textured knitting on this blog, but I would guess that many of the posts will naturally relate to that subject matter since it interests me so much. 

So have you guessed what the name of the blog means yet? The honeycomb stitches refer to one of the most recognizable Aran stitch patterns, often found in the center panel of an Irish Fisherman sweater. 

Image taken from http://www.realmenrealstyle.com/the-aran-sweater/

According to the legend (some doubt its veracity) of Aran knitting, each of the stitch patterns have different meanings. The honeycomb stitch is said to represent hard work and its reward (The Aran Sweater). This stitch appeals to me for several reasons:

• Appearance: It is well defined and intricate-looking, yet easy to knit
• Meaning: I consider myself to be a hard-worker in all things I do: teaching, knitting, crocheting,   spinning, exercising, and most importantly, mothering.
• Gender: This stitch looks great on garments worn by both men and women

The honeycomb stitch pattern is just one of many Aran patterns I love. As time goes on, I will introduce you to more of them and consider what it is that makes each one special. For now, here is the central motif from the first sweater I knitted containing the honeycomb stitch -- made for my son when he was a wee one:

Classic Aran by Jade Starmore from The Children's Collection

Lastly, peppermint tea is a favorite drink of mine, especially in the evenings when I want to unwind from a hectic day. It calms me, settles my stomach, and serves as the perfect accompaniment to an evening of knitting and spending quality time with my family. You could say that knitting honeycomb stitches (Aran knitting) and sipping peppermint tea are two my “favorite things.”