Tuesday, May 26, 2009

School's Out and I'm Knitting



Here is the Old Man Sweater I finished over Spring Break. It's large, shapeless, and still in need of buttons, but it's exactly what I imagined. Knitted in three pieces (Sleeve, sleeve, body/collar) out of double strands of rough spun silk on size 10 needles.

This is an extreme modification of a pattern because I couldn't find a pattern for the picture in my head. It is roughly based on the Kyle sweater patter at knittinghelp.com which I can't find anymore. That pattern was a pullover in 5 pieces. I wanted a cardigan and knitted the shawl collar as I progressed.



This is the Koolhaas hat pattern from Jarred Flood of BrooklynTweed.blogspot.com.

As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to knit it. After I started knitting, I thought it would certainly look better in a solid color (as all of Flood's examples are) and decided that all the little cables may be more trouble than they're worth. It's made from Swoon brand, I think it's silk and cotton, size 6 and 8 needles, switching to size 7 dpns in mid-decrease. (I thought I was buying size 8 dpns, realized when I went to use them they were 8 inch size 10 dpns and pulled out the 7s.)

My friend Paddy had knitted this one and gave me the heads up of how to do it without a cable needle, which certainly helped reduce the tediousness.

Both projects look better in person, because I'm NOT a photographer. I'll bring the hat to the stitch and bitch Wednesday to show it off.

Now I'm still avoiding Sarah's socks, drooling over a Meg Swansen book of knitting patterns, and struggling through my first attempt at intarsia.

In progress or to get to:

A fringed nut bag because Steve killed the most bunnies.
Sarah's Socks
Tammy's Pick Pocket (birthday present)
A Tumbling Blocks intarsia Kaffe sweater
An easy Vogue sweater project with Cat.

1 comment:

Diana said...

Love both hat and sweater! Will you be able to come to Rustic Tarts and Old Farts this year? June 7th is the date, 1 pm to whenever. Email me at diana (at) tlcphotography (daht) com!