Bubbles in Progress

After pausing on the kneesock last weekend, I went ahead and picked up the Little Bubbles sweater.

This sweater is knit from the top down. In the picture below, the green rows are the neckline. You can see one set of the pattern repeat with the yellow bubbles.


While this was the product of one night knitting, it was my second night on this project. The first night didn't go so well... my cast-on was a little uneven and my "make one" increase method was flawed. I was originally using the "knit into the strand between two stitches" technique which left little holes at each increase. Mind you, there are A LOT of increases as the sweater starts taking shape. You add at least 30 stitches at each increase row and there are 5 increase rows. So, I ripped out the first night's work and began again. I achieved a much more even cast on and my "knit one in the front and back loops" increase method (aka Bar Increase) gave me much better results.

One of the surprises of this pattern was the "bubbles" technique. I worked a similar colorwork pattern last summer when I made a baby blanket for my niece Cora:

The difference in the bubbles pattern is that instead of slipping the outline (yellow) stitches as I did in the blanket, you actually DROP the main color stitches and pick up the outline (brown) stitches. As a beginning knitter, one of my biggest fears was dropping stitches and now I had to do it on purpose! I quickly got the hang of it though. Here's a shot of the drop in progress...

Four rows of green stitches unraveled to reveal the brown stitch below.

Pick up that brown stitch and scoop up the dropped green stitches on your way back up. Then knit into the brown stitch, trapping the loose green stitches on the inside of the sweater.

My knitting pace, which is not incredibly fast, results in one row of bubbles per night. So, this is where I stood after two nights...

And after four nights...

And after five nights...


That's where I'm at right now. I've done the last row of bubbles and I've completed all of the increases. What began as 69 stitches per row is now 243 stitches per row! I've also realized the limitations of trying to re-purpose my size 2 sock knitting needles. They are 12" and 16" circular needles (I knit socks on two circulars instead of double pointed needles) which are great for the small circumference of a sock... but the 16" is not long enough for 243 stitches. So, I've divided the stitches onto both of the size 2 needles. You can see a needle sticking out near the top of the photo.

I'll be knitting again on Wednesday with the mom's and I'll take my knitting along on our 4th of July travels. I'm excited to see how the sweater body takes shape... looking forward to all those stripes!

Sock, paused

Here is most of my first kneesock. I didn't finish the top (2x2 ribbing) yet. I want to make sure that I have enough yarn to make the second sock as high. I may even add another 1/2 pattern repeat to the top of this one, if the yarn supply is good.

When I purchased the yarn, I had each color wound into two equal sized balls (by weight) so that I'd have a good chance of making equal length socks. I also knit them from the toe-up for this same reason.

So far, the biggest challenges in this project have been working on tension, especially in the single stranded knitting (aka fair isle) on the foot. You see some real shifts from the beginning - strongly teal - into the ball of the foot where I am more evenly switching between colors. I had some similar issues as I made it up the leg of the sock. I had started the project on size 2 needles and slowly began knitting more and more loosely on those same needles as I got up to the calf. I switched to size 3 needles for one pattern repeat and then finished the top four or five inches on size 5 needles. Again, I had to knit more loosely as I worked through the widest part of my calf.

The best thing about these socks is that they are made for me! The worst thing about these socks is also that they are made for me... the harshest critic, with the thickest calves!

We'll be seeing the socks on the needles again in about a month.

Bubbles Sweater, update

So, I bought the kit and it arrived yesterday. I think I'll try to finish up one of my kneesocks over the weekend and then dive into the sweater. Exciting... my first sweater!

I've done scarves, hats, blankets, wrist warmers, socks, mocassins and a little clutch purse. This will be my first shapely garment. I'm planning to do work in progress posts, so look for those beginning next week!

Bubbles Sweater

I really want to make this sweater. It is sold as a kit from KnitPicks with yarn included at a very reasonable price. The catch is that I want to use my stash yarn, not the KnitPicks yarn, and I want to make it larger than the biggest pattern size (12-24 months). I really just want to get my hands on the pattern and adjust it for my yarn and Mather's size. Unfortunately, they don't seem to sell the pattern separately.

Maybe I should just buy the kit and make a smaller sweater for a different kid in the KnitPicks yarn? Then, with the experience of having made it once, I could then move forward with the adjustments for Mather.

Welcome!

Welcome to Momily Knits! This is the online home of my crafty side.

I've been knitting for a year and a half. My first failed experiments were guided by Stitch 'n Bitch and my first successful experiments were guided by ImagiKnit. That's not to say that Stitch 'n Bitch isn't a good book - it is in fact a great book - but I needed more hands-on visuals to get me going.

Nowadays, I take occassional project-based classes at ImagiKnit and knit with a group of moms twice a month. Most of my projects have come free-hand from my own imagination with a sprinkling of a few free online patterns and one book pattern.

I've amassed quite the collection of yarn odds and ends, thanks to a garage sale loving friend, and hope to use some of them soon. The only problem is that very few have tags identifying the fiber... to wash or not to wash, that will be the question! And what the hell do you make when you know you can't wash it?

Stay tuned for photos of past and present projects. Feel free to chime in and help inspire future projects.

Until then, knit and purl baby... knit and purl...