Vogue Knits for Winter

Since finishing all my Christmas knits, I’ve been knitting accessory projects from the more recent Vogue Knitting issues.  Sometimes their pattern collections hold nothing of great interest for me, but lately they’ve had some really nice patterns, for which I’ve had the perfect yarn!

Fall 2010

First, let me say that I am addicted to British-inspired knitwear.  Hello, my name is Bennett, and I have a problem!  For this reason, I found this issue was fantastic with all the Fair Isle patterns and Union Jacks everywhere!  Most enticing was a fair isle slouchy hat patterned in vines and flowers.  This hat was love at first sight.  I had visions of myself roaming around downtown with it, where strangers ask me where I got this fantastic hat and I tell them that I knit it myself.  Vogue knitting calls and asks me to become a sample maker and pattern contributor.  I quit my day job and spend the rest of my life knitting.

When trying to find the yarn to make this perfect child of fashion and warmth, I realized that the yarn it is originally knit in, Knit One, Crochet Too’s USDK yarn, is no longer sold anywhere in the right colors.  The closest yarn weight/colors that I could find were in KnitPicks’ Telemark yarns.  (Incidentally, this yarn was fantastic!  I was a little unsure of what I was going to get, but each skein was of good quality, and the yarn itself was very similar in feel to Cascade 220, but in a sport weight).  As I knit, I started to realize that the hat I was making was becoming increasingly larger than the picture of the hat in Vogue.  At this point I decided that I would just shrink the hat down a little for a better fit, since I was knitting in wool. 

From this project I have learned that either I knit bigger than gauge when working with Fair Isle charts or, Telemark is not the same weight as USDK.  Also, I have trouble working a rib pattern in Fair Isle that has any elasticity.  I still love my hat though.  Especially when it does not fall off my head!

Holiday 2010

A few years back, at the Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair, I purchased 5 skeins of Cuzco sport weight alpaca in cream.  I had this vision of myself knitting this beautiful halter top from Vogue’s fall 2004 issue and wearing it to winter parties.  This did not happen for one major reason; I chose to knit the garment a size too small.  About halfway through knitting miles and miles of tiny cables, I tried it on, only to make that realization.  Some knitters would keep going and give the halter to someone else.  Other knitters would rip back and start over again.  I threw the knitting back in a bag for the next 4 years.  It turns out that this was a good turn of events, as I now know that 100% alpaca worn next to my skin is very itchy.

I never forgot the yarn, though, and would idly think of it when flipping through patterns until this year’s holiday issue in Vogue.  There is a picture of a model in fancy party dress (what parties do these holiday models go to?) with a light, lacy golden cowl.  Do not ask me how I knew the alpaca would be perfect for this pattern, but it was.  I flipped back to the pattern requirements to find that not only was the yarn was the exact right size, but I had enough of it!  Fate takes a hand.

The pattern called for me to use bigger needles and double the yarn throughout.  It knit up very quickly, even through the increasing lace pattern.  The finished product did not look very impressive, but I remembered my earlier foray into the magical world of blocking, and did not lose heart.  Once blocked, the lacy leaf pattern of the cowl came out beautifully (although Vogue did not recommend blocking, I do!).  But don’t let the lace fool you; the cowl is very warm too!

Winter 2010

The Cover of this issue appears to be a warrior winter princess in a beautifully cabled cream hat in worsted weight yarn.  My interest was drawn and I cast on with a Cascade 220 Quatro in blue (I love a cream winter princess hat as much as the next girl, but I don’t have cream worsted at the moment). 

The finished hat is beautiful and looks (except for the color) just like the hat in the magazine.  The pattern itself was fairly easy to follow, but I do wish there were pictures of the hat from the back, as well as graphic indications of how to sew the hat together.  I felt as if the pattern writer had put a great deal of trust in me that I would look at the hat pieces in my hands and figure out what to do with them.  Admittedly, I did figure out what to do, but I like a little more direction.  The body of the hat knits up fairly quickly, and would look pretty as a hat by itself, without the flaps (maybe I’ll try that later this week).  If you don’t like seams, I wouldn’t recommend knitting this hat, as there are 5 finished pieces which you seam, plus 3 pom-poms. 

A Holiday Knitting Odyssey

Like all knitters, I’ve spent my December finishing projects which I probably should have started earlier.  I know it’s easy to feel unmotivated by any wool in July, when it is 95 degrees, but this is no excuse for leaving gloves and hats and scarves until two weeks before Christmas!  So here is the good news: all presents were finished and wrapped before presentation! 

For my man, I knitted a black, cabled cap out of merino to match the gloves I knitted him for Valentine’s Day two years ago.  When he unwrapped it, he put it on immediately, but I haven’t seen him wear it since and it is now stuffed in his car with the gloves.  I am unsure if he is wearing any of his knitted clothing, or if they are only in his car to prove that he could wear them if he wanted to.  (He is a manly-man, above wearing any sort of heavy winter clothes because he “gets too hot.”  Too hot?  In the Chicago winter?  I suspect a conspiracy against my knitting habits). 

For my sister I knitted long evening gloves in a green merino (Claudia Hand Painted Yarns in the fingering weight) entitled “Eat your Veggies.”  And, since I overestimated the amount of yarn necessary to knit the gloves, I knitted her a matching lace cowl.  The cowl was a delight to knit (apparently I knit rather quickly when marathon-ing Harry Potter movies, and when it is two days until Christmas) and the pattern was very easy.  Like most lace patterns, it called for blocking at the end, a “suggestion” which I usually ignore when knitting.  My previous opinion being, when something is knitted, it’s done.  The end.

However, as I’ve been knitting more complicated projects, I thought I’d stretch myself and see what this blocking was about.  Using the blocking instructions (found here: http://www.eunnyjang.com/knit/2006/12/how_to_be_happy.html) I carefully soaked the cowl and pinned it to the floor (no blocking board here) with “T” pins to the exact pattern measurements from the pattern.  Fast-forward one day and my cowl was dried and perfectly measured, ready for seaming!  The final product was more precise than when it was just off the needles, but not hugely so.  (I’ve since blocked other projects with wonderful results).

Knitting her gloves was not so fun.  I swore two years ago, when I finished my man’s beautiful black gloves, that I would never knit gloves again for two reasons.  1. There are too many threads left at the end of each glove: one for the cast on, one for the cast off, and 2 for the next four fingers, with a total of 10 loose threads per glove.  This is 20 threads for two gloves, if you’ve measured the finger lengths correctly.  2. If you do not measure the fingers correctly, and knit each finger too short, you must add more yarn to the fingers, and thus another 2 yarn ends to be sewn into the glove. 

However, this summer, at the Stitches Midwest festival, I found Annie Modesitt’s Romantic Hand Knits book, and the beautiful elbow-length lace gloves.  I knew, holding the book, that my sister would love them.  She is a classic beauty with long, dark hair and delicate features and a sophisticated, quirky sense of style.  I had visions of her as Audrey Hepburn, eating a bagel at Tiffany’s in these gloves (never mind that she lives on the west coast).  She would wear them everywhere on campus and her friends would all want pairs for themselves!  I had to knit her gloves for Christmas. 

Inspired by the lacy pattern, I found a soft merino in green (her favorite color!) and set to work.  As I knitted, I slightly altered the pattern, but did not write it down because “I’ll remember when I knit the second glove.”  Then I got to the hand and put the project down for a few months, coming back to finish it a few weeks ago.  At that point, I used the measurements for my mother’s hands (since they are about my sister’s size) and finished the first glove.  Miraculously, all the fingers were long enough, although I did have to rip back a few rows because some of them were too long.  Then I started on glove no. 2.  Halfway through the arm, I realized that I hadn’t made the same adjustments to the pattern I made with glove 1.  I cursed under my breath and ripped back 30 rows.  However, I persevered and finished glove 2 with minimal angst.  I even inserted elastic in the casing at the cuff of each glove so that they will stay up on my sister’s arms.  Thrilled with my success, I started to sew in all the loose tails.  All 50 of them.  “Aren’t you done with those yet?” asked my dear boy, quite helpfully, after an hour.  I glared at him and at the gloves for good measure.  This did not make the loose threads disappear faster. 

On Christmas morning, when my sister opened her box I reflected on how all the angst and loose tails had been worth it, to make her the best gloves ever.  She would want me to knit her a pair in every color!  She pulled back the tissue paper to reveal the masterful gloves.  “Oooo!” she exclaimed as she put one on.  Her face fell.  What had I done?!   “The pinky fingers are too short.”

I’m never knitting gloves again.  I mean it this time!

The Best of Christmas

                Since Christmas has come and gone, I’ve received and given several gifts.  Here is my list of the best, in no particular order:

1.       Borders Gift Card: I ask that you always consider a gift card for the special teachers in your life, especially one to a books/music store.  You may be helping them to purchase better materials for your child’s classroom!  This is especially true for arts/music teachers, whose budgets have been slashed this past year.

2.       Flannel Pajamas: What can I say?  I love matching pajama sets!  I would probably wear them to work if I could.

3.       Opera!  CD featuring the horns of the Berlin Philharmonic:  So. Amazing!  What else can I say?  Each recording features a fantastic all horn arrangement and incredible playing.  You will be amazed by the Berlin Horns’ incredible individual and ensemble playing.  As a bonus, the last track features a blooper reel from the recording studio featuring some epic missed notes and lots of German/English talking.  I find this especially inspiring for student hornists, who might think that professionals never make mistakes! Click here for their web page on the Berlin Phil website.  Click here for their CD.

4.       My sister: So she isn’t really a present, but she’s back from the west coast for the holidays, and I’m glad to see her!  Since college, we have gotten along a lot better (especially since I stopped being such a mean older sister).  I can’t believe that she’s going to graduate at the end of this term!

5.       Cabling needle: I have been wanting one of these since I lost my last one in the old arm chair in my fraternity house’s basement. 

6.       Snow boots: They are waterproof.  And fuzzy.  Enough said!

7.       Family and Friends: They are also not presents, but it’s been great reconnecting with all of them this holiday!  It’s always nice to be reminded of the people who love you.  And congrats to my friends who just got engaged!