Lempi sweater

I created this post in July, 2024, but for some reason, never posted it. Gah! So here it is.

I can't believe I have not created a primary post about this sweater. The knitting has been long done, but I didn't consider it complete until it had buttons. I've taken it to spinning guild meetings sans buttons, but it could not go to the county fair without them. So now it is officially DONE.

Pattern: Lempi, by Tiina Kaarela
Yarn: Cascade 220, naturally dyed with a variety of materials and methods (see list below)
Needles: US8 (US6 for ribbing)
Modifications: quite a few!

I started this project in June, 2023, and sewed the buttons on June, 2024. Instead of rewriting what I posted on Ravelry, I will just copy and paste what is there.

The pattern is written in Finnish, translated to British English, and I'm struggling a bit with the instructions. Also, my gauge seems to be off, so I am knitting a swatch to double check.
The neck is *way* tighter than the photo, too.
***** The swatch reveals that even after blocking, my gauge is off. But I like the fabric that results from using US8 needles. So instead of going up a needle size, I'm going to knit a size larger.
So, I started over, but using US6 instead of US4 for the collar. Also, used an alternating long tail cast on and went right into the ribbing.
***** Some of the instructions are foreign to me. Instead of a "wrap-and-turn", they call for a "double stitch". And I could not figure out the buttonhole instructions, so I just did the usual YO-k2tog.
***** Too many errors, so ripped back almost to the beginning. Now I am using wrap and turn instead of the DS.
***** Again, with the errors! I was knitting along, fat, dumb, and happy, when I realized I had skipped two buttonholes. I tried dropping stitches and repairing the problem but ended up ripping back about 50 rows. And THEN I screwed up the spacing of the increases, so had to rip back about 8 rows to fix that. *sigh*
***** 8/21/23 - FINALLY reached the ribbing. This will be long enough to be a sweater dress.
***** Pockets. Ugh. For some reason, I have 22 stitches on one side, 23 on the other. I am going to do a k2tog on the "long" side, to even them up, as otherwise the stitches work out for knitting in the round. BUT after the pickup round, the "front" edge will be purl so that the fabric will bend, and at the next round, will purl two stitches at either "end" of the pocket, so it will fold along the edges without bulk.
***** Done with knitting and blocking, just need to sew on buttons and fix a hole that opened up under one arm.
***** Sewed on buttons made from deer antlers - UGH. Replaced them with buttons from JoAnn.
***** THIS SWEATER WON BEST OF SHOW AT THE ALLEN COUNTY FAIR OPEN CLASS COMPETITION!!!

And now, for posterity's sake, here are the details about the naturally dyed yarn:

Yarn	Material	Mordant	Modifier
Cascade 220	Dahlia (dried)	Cold alum	Iron
Cascade 220	Sycamore bark	None	None
Cascade 220	Sycamore bark	None	Iron
Cascade 220	Onion skins - Combined dye bath exhaust	None	None
Cascade 220	Dahlia (dried)	Cold alum	Acid
Cascade 220	Sycamore bark	Cold alum	Alkaline
Cascade 220	Dyers coreopsis	Cold alum	Alkaline
Valley Yarn Wool	Queen Anne's Lace	None	Iron
Valley Yarn Wool	Queen Anne's lace	None	None
Cascade 220	Onion skins -Secondary dye bath exhaust	Alum	None
Cascade 220	Dyers coreopsis	None	Alkaline
Valley Yarns Wool	Queen Anne's Lace	Alum	Iron
Cascade 220	Tomato vine	Alum and cream of tartar	Ammonia
Cascade 220	Dahlia (dried) exhaust	None	Iron
Cascade 220	Tomato vine	Alum and cream of tartar	Iron
Cascade 220	Dahlia (dried) exhaust	None	Acid
Cascade 220	Onion skins - Primary dye bath exhaust	Alum	None

Wool season approaches

Consiously or unconsciously, I tend to knit with cotton during the warmer months. It's tough on my wrists and finger joints, so I'm glad to leave those projects behind for some wool. And I'm looking forward to wearing wool, too.

Since I follow Purl Soho on Instagram, I get exposed to lots of pattern ideas, including some from new-to-me sources. My latest "find" is Laine Publishing. I'm particularly interested in this sweater:

So I bit the bullet and ordered the issue that includes this pattern.

Dyeing: I wrapped up both the amaranth dyeing and the rudbeckia dyeing this past week; separate posts to follow.
Knitting: The daughter-in-law's socks are done but for the weaving of the ends and blocking. My son's have half a toe started.
Spinning: I'm back to spinning the Romulan Romney, having completed the last batch of plying; I'm getting tired of the white, but am in the final third of the roving.

This past week, my SO and I visited the Orchard Gallery to meet and listen to the featured artist. Dawn Gerardot's work is primarily what I will call "art quilts". (Alas, she has no online presence.) Her works and her talk were very inspiring and informative. Only one of my fiber friends came, but the local quilt guild showed up in force. That is another whole fiber-oriented area that I choose to avoid, but I did come away with some ideas.

Oops

I confess that I can be a bit rough with my handknits when it comes to washing them. The superwash items (think socks but also one sweater) hold up well, but I need to be more careful with the other wool items.

The funny thing is this sweater had so much positive ease that it felt too big on me, although I liked that it hid my fanny. Now it is more form fitting, and a bit felted so it will be warmer. However, it is also much shorter. Not sure what I will do with it going forward.

Knitting: The heels are turned on the pinkish socks.
Spinning: Trying to get back to my daily spinning practice, with the New Zealand Romney; 100g spun, 800g to go.

Pre-blog I attended a fiber festival in Corydon, IN. For some reason, I looked for it online and discovered it is now called the Southern Indiana Fiber and Arts Festival. Clicking on an old blog link about the Fiber Event at Greencastle revealed that it is now the Greencastle Wool Show. Not sure why the names changed, but it may have to do with targeting a particular audience. The Jay County Fiber Arts Festival may be adding "Crafts" to its name, but I know it is to attract more people. Times change.

An additional oddity is how the Corydon and Greencastle festivals have become conflated in my memory. It's hell getting old.

Winter ponderings

While I have not been weaving, I have been *thinking* about weaving. Tea towels are a popular item for weavers to make. One member bemoaned the fact that she has never woven one, but maybe someday she would. Another member piped up, "Or not." Just because everyone else is weaving something doesn't mean YOU (or I) need to follow the herd. So my thoughts about weaving are going in the direction of what do *I* want to weave.

(For the record, I have woven some hand towels - three different sets - and I think that is all I need to do.)

Crochet: I finished the crocheted Emotional Support Chickens; separate post to follow.
Knitting: The Window Cat is almost done. I made a little progress on the ice dyed socks while waiting in the pick-up line at my granddaughter's school.

Spinning: The maroon merino is all plied; now I just need to skein it and set the twist on all of it.

Yesterday I wore the many-colored "coatigan" to a spin-in. I think I have not posted a pic of it on me. So here it is, in all its glory.

I plan to wear it to this week's weaving guild meeting and next week's spinning guild. Before you know it, spring will be here and the winter woolens will have to be put away for another season.

More

After last week's post, I thought of yet another sweater I want to knit: a cuff-to-cuff one (pattern in Ashford's Wheel publication) using handspun. Then this colorful one showed up in my FB feed and looks like one that would use up a lot of this and that.

I don't want to buy this sweater, I want to knit it!

Suddenly granny squares are in, so now I am also looking at crocheted sweaters. A fiber friend created the following (she called it a "hexagon" sweater):

Photo courtesy Lorinda Browning

When I shared the above photo with another fiber friend, she responded with this one:

Borrowed from FB

As if that is not enough, Knitty featured a cuff-to-cuff crocheted sweater recently. There are a LOT of possibilies out there for handknit sweaters!

Knitting: It's cold outside, so I started knitting a balaclava to protect my (facial) cheeks. Still working on the ice dyed socks.

My SO presented me with a handknit sock that had become damaged.

Challenge accepted!

Are hobbies just a distraction?

I like to knit and spin and (sometimes) weave. BUT. Sometimes I think that my hobbies are just a distraction, something to keep me entertained as I grow older. But what else would I want to do?

Well, there are a few things I want to tackle before I'm too old to do so: sort through all the photos I somehow "inherited" when my dad passed away; transcribe my journals; and play tennis.

Back in the day, I taught my son to play tennis, and he went on to be the number one seed on his high school team. So when my granddaughter showed an interest in tennis, I thought I could teach her as well. She has taken a few lessons from parks and rec, but needs to practice more.

Well, I am discovering that I need to practice even more than she does! I can't race around the court like I used to, I get out of breath rather easily, and my shoulder gets tired. But it is something I really enjoy doing, so I'm going to continue, just to have fun.

Knitting: The socks are about halfway up the calf now. I finished the knitting part of the L-Bag - it's large enough for me to wear as a skirt! Now I'm knitting a 12"x12" square to felt along with it, to use for pockets.

Spinning: Still working on the three-color braid.
Weaving: I am sort of finished with the circular weaving from last week. I have a tendency to go too far and ruin something, so I stopped where I am. I may do something more with it, but I'm letting it rest for now.

Here is a sweater I would love to knit or even purchase. The picture is from the cover of the local parks and rec fall catalog. I think it is a style that would work with my lumpy body.

Has anyone seen this sweater anywhere?

At the fair

Saturday was the first ever Fiber Fling at the Allen County Fair. When I organize these knit-weave-spin-tat-whatever events in public, I worry that those who sign up won't show up (half of them did) and/or that no one will come see what we are doing (it was hot, the building we were in was air conditioned, so a good number of families came through). We all had a good time, the home ec club was happy to have us, and they want us back next year.

I learned a few things. We were there from 10am to 2pm, but not very many fair-goers show up until the midway opens at noon. So next year, we will shift to a 12 to 4pm slot. Also, we need signs saying who we are. Hopefully, next time we will have tee shirts advertizing the guilds.

I also want to mix up the fiber arts a bit more. There were four spinners and a spindler, two weavers, a basket weaver, and a tatter. We could use a crocheter, a knitter, and rigid heddle and inkle weavers as well.

A (very) few guild members entered the Open Class competition, and we were basically competing against each other. My sweater won Best in Show! The buttons were purchased and sewed on just in time.

The judges include written comments about each item they rate. In past years, it was obvious that they did not know much about fiber arts. So several of us cobbled together some guidelines, which I delivered just before judging. I included my email and phone number for questions and feedback, but heard nothing. However, I can tell by this year's comments that they used the guidelines.

To get more guild members to enter the Open Class competition, we plan to have a program covering the guidelines and the registration forms. Hopefully, that will prod more fiber artists to enter.

Knitting: The non-matching socks are finished; separate post to follow. The L-Bag is about an inch from the decrease rounds for the bottom.
Sewing: The shorts I used for yardwork lack usable pockets. Using a tutorial from One Hundred Acts of Sewing, I added a patch pocket to each pair so I can at least have my cell phone with me. A learning experience.

Spinning: I got a LOT of spinning done at the fair - hope it is not too kinky, as I tend to spin too fast at spin-ins. I'm almost done with the dark brown roving.

Besides the fair, several of us spun at a local farmers market this past week, in part to raise the profile of the guilds, in part because of a deal the spinning guild has with parks and rec. We were inside a big barn with the vendors, and it was HOT with nary a breeze. On Friday, I tried to purchase some cooling neck gaiters at Dick's Sporting Goods, but they had sold out the day before. You snooze, you lose!

Exposed!

Today is the reception for the weavers guild exhibit at the Krull Gallery in the Allen County Public Library. Alas, I am not attending. A couple of days ago, I was exposed to Covid. I feel fine (except for some post-nasal drip that is common this time of year), but decided I did not want to take the chance of spreading the cooties.

The program at Tuesday night's spinning guild meeting was about felting, both dry (needle) and wet. I took a couple of needle felting classes from the woman who demonstrated at the meeting, but she has some new tricks up her sleeve, including an electric needling device that really speeds up the process. They are available on Etsy, if you are interested.

The wet felting demo involved bubble wrap, coarse roving, a whole, unwashed fleece, and tulle, all layered and squirted with Dawn and soaked with hot water, then wrapped around a pool noodle. This bundle is rolled back and forth, opened and repositioned and wet some more, then rolled some more, etc. The end result is a small fleecy rug.

Knitting: I ripped out the tops of the two original socks, skeined them on a niddy noddy, soaked them for 20 minutes in warm water, and they still smelled like perfume. I just passed the point of inserting waste yarn to hold a spot for the pockets on the Lempi sweater; I tried it on to check the lenghth - it will come down to my fingertips, practically a sweater dress.

My local Kroger sells clothing, and while passing by that section the other day, I saw this sweater:

What a clever idea for creating a light-weight garment, I thought to myself, especially when one doesn't have enough yarn for a full-blown sweater. I'm tucking this concept away for a future project.

Veronika cardigan

I'm not sure what it is about this cardigan that I don't like. Even though it came out fine, it just does not look good on me. It may be my lack of boobs makes it hang funny in front. Or maybe it is the color. I have worn brown before but that was before my hair turned gray. Black used to make me look like death warmed over, but now I can wear it; maybe the reverse happened with brown.

Front

Pattern: Veronika Cardigan by Shannon Cook
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers in colorway 9408
Needles: US9
Modifications: None

Back

One of the members in my weaving guild knit this pattern and wore it to a meeting. I could not take my eyes off it. The opposite direction of the pattern between the front and back intrigued me. If others think the color is okay, I might reuse the yarn and knit a regular cardigan incorporating these details. Maybe.

Folded in half

It is not unusual for one of my fiber projects to turn out fine but not look good on me. I get interested in a stitch pattern or a construction technique or something and away I go. Maybe I should stick with bags and rugs and things I can hang on the wall.

Getting better and better

What a great xmas we had! (At least, from my standpoint.) My daughter cleaned, my son's girl friend cooked, all I had to do was sit and eat and enjoy family. I think I am going to retire from hosting holidays.

Knitting: This is about all I am doing, as I race toward the sock deadline. Usually, I knit a color band on each sock each day, but I've had to double my output in order to reach the deadline. I should be hitting the cuffs around Jan 1, plenty of time for a Jan 6 delivery date.
Needle felting: I placed an order with Living Felt, so once that arrives, progress on Dill will continue.

My son and his girl friend gifted me with the best ugly sweater ever!

I plan to wear it to January fiber meetings, as I don't want to save it until next xmas.

Spinning for projects quandry

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been spinning with projects in mind - a rug and a sweater/wrap. I have two spinning wheels, a Kiwi2 and a Joy2, both from Ashford. I am spinning the fat rug yarn on the Kiwi2, the sweater yarn on the Joy2. This way I can work on both project yarns without having to swap out bobbins.

Single, on bobbin

The sweater roving is pink and gray, feels like a mixture of breeds (hopefully, I will find something with the name of the fiber on it) and is kind of coarse. Despite a fair amount of VM (vegetable matter), it spins up nicely. It did bleed a bit when soaked to set the twist.

A little bleeding

Lately, I have become enamored with three-ply, which is good for the fat rug yarn. I'm not so sure about using three-ply for the sweater, though. The pattern calls for worsted weight yarn, but my three-ply is more like aran or even bulky. Not that I couldn't adjust the gauge and knit it with a heavier yarn, I'm just not sure I want to.

7-8 wraps per inch

Three-ply yarn knits up smoother, especially in stockinette, because the yarn is round; it also pills less than 2-ply. An alternative to knitting with the aran weight yarn would be to spin finer singles and 3-ply those into a worsted weight yarn. That is an option.

3-ply

When plying singles, invariably one bobbin runs out before the others. When that happened with the 3-ply, I plied the remaining singles into a 2-ply. Now I have samples of each, to knit swatches with.

9 wraps per inch

2-ply on left, 3-ply on right

The Veronika cardigan pattern has a lot of positive ease, so gauge is not critical. Since I don't really like a lot of positive ease, I plan to knit the smaller size, in which case I might care more about gauge. Also, I don't want to run out of yarn since I won't be able to buy more of this roving.

2-ply swatch, in purl ridge stitch

About 30 rows per 4", aiming for 26

After swatching the worsted weight and hitting the stitches-per-inch gauge, I thought, This is it! But I am having second thoughts, so I will knit up the aran weight, to see if I like it better. Also, I am playing around with the idea of widening the stockinette area between the garter ridges, then knitting the garter ridges in a contrasting color, like black.

16 stitches per 4"

Decisions, decisions.

Shetland

I started watching Shetland, a British TV series that takes place in the Shetland Islands (duh). I'm not sure which I like better, the accents or the knitwear.

Classic ribbed turtleneck pullover.

Shawl collar, drop sleeve cardigan.

Crew neck, raglan sleeve pullover. With cables!

I'm a little confused about what may be called a "jumper" or "Gansey" or "Guernsey" in the UK. No matter, I like all these sweaters. The show is pretty good, too.

Big Watson Sweater

Dogs have weird bodies, yet we try to design sweaters for them that are based on sweaters for four-leggeds. And every dog body is different, so patterns invariably don't quite work. In these parts, it does get cold occasionally (although lately at unseemly times, like NOW), so those of us with short-haired dogs persist.

Pattern: Big Penny Sweater, by Corrinne Niessner.
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Chunky, in "Denim"
Needles: US10.5
Modifications: see below

Watson is a medium-sized dog, but the medium fleece jacket I bought for him, while long enough, does not go around him very completely, as he has a deep chest. So I knew I would have to make at least some modifications to the pattern. I started by mixing and matching the stitch counts for both sizes in the pattern, going for the smaller number for length and the larger for girth.

And yet I still had to add inches to the girth while extending the back and also ending the main part of the body soon enough so that he doesn't pee on it. I didn't seam the top inch or so, as it is too bulky with his collars. My plan to reinforce the leg holes also had to be abandoned, as the holes are a bit snug and misaligned.

At some point I will probably custom design a sweater for him, but since winter is almost over (DESPITE THE SNOW FALLING FROM THE SKY TODAY), I will postpone that project.

Ruby red sweater

I chose the yarn for this sweater several years ago, started knitting last July, took a hiatus for xmas hats, and finally wrapped it up a week or so ago. And I am very pleased with the results (although I could certainly learn to take better photos!)

Pattern: Drop shoulder ski sweater by Barbara G. Walker, with some input from Denmark pullover with simple patterns by Donna Druchunas
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash, colorway 893 'Ruby'
Needles: US7 mostly, with some US8
Modifications: see below

I don't know at what point a handknit garment crosses the line and becomes one's own design. My intent was to follow the Denmark pullover but knit from the top down and knit flat instead of in the round, and things went to hell from there. I swatched the stitch patterns recommended for the Denmark pullover but none of them sang to me. I switched to ringwood stitch for the body and sleeves. However, Walker's invisible cast on was not invisible, so I added some seed stitch to the shoulders. And since swatches lie, the fit was too snug, so I added seed stitch insets at the sides.

I duplicated the seed stitch for the tails (back one longer than the front) but didn't like it for the cuffs, which became 1x1 ribbing. Tried the ribbing for the neckline but it didn't work, so switched back to seed stitch. Before blocking, I was not satisfied with the collar and the sleeves seemed too short. After blocking, the collar was fine but the sleeves grew - I may shorten them.

I'm not a fan of superwash yarn (except for socks) as it feels too stretchy, like it lacks spine. But this was the color I wanted and the finished sweater is very comfortable, with nice drape. Too bad my "experienced" body is so lumpy.

Progress report

I tell people that the most important character trait or talent a knitter needs is persistence. It takes a lot of stitches to make even small things, like socks. One must keep putting one stitch after another, until done.

I'm not done yet, but the sock heels have been turned and the front of the ruby red sweater reaches almost to my waist.

Then, inspired by the first meeting of the local weavers guild for the 2016-17 season, I started warping the loom for a blanket, to be woven in three panels. Per usual, this project has been a learning experience *already*. I used a warping board, but since the back rod/warping stick on the Ashford is not removable, one needs to jury-rig something if following the instructions in Inventive Weaving on a Little Loom. Instead, I cut the loops and threaded them through the heddle one by one.

I *was* going to try to weft with a gradient of grays, but decided it would be too challenging to get the three panels to match. I'm going with "natural" instead, but may add a row or two of something colorful, to help me keep track of the rows. The weft yarn won't arrive until Thursday, so I have been stretching out the warping stage, to keep my motivation motivating.

WIPs and pieces

I was knitting in public the other day, at the Little Turtle branch of our local library system, when a woman stopped to ask what I was knitting. Usually it is non-knitters who initiate such conversations, but this woman (whose name I neglected to get) is a knitter and a spinner. In fact, she invited me to the local spinners guild, which I know about but have yet to attend. She also clued me in on how to knit tube socks for kids: use this spiral pattern so they are more likely to stay up.

Now I am itching to finish the current socks so I can try out the spiral ones. This pic of Vintage Kitchen is just before the heel turn, one of which I completed today. Heel turns require good light and a quiet atmosphere so I can hear myself count. Rarely do I finish more than one a day.

I was hoping to hang out with the knitters in Slow TV National Knitting Eve, but the dialog is in Norwegian, necessitating the reading of subtitles. Some knitters can knit without looking, but I am not one of them, especially when working a heel turn. I watched a bit, but decided I would rather knit to acoustic music from Spotify.

The top down sweater is coming along, slowly but surely. I work the front until I reach the end of a skein, then work the back to the end of a skein. The pattern is six rows long, and I can listen to a book on CD while working it (current listen The Plague of Doves, by Louise Erdrich).

So I have a big project for knitting on the sofa and a portable one for hauling hither and yon. When the sweater is finished, I plan to complete the stalled poncho. Then there is another sweater's worth of yarn that might become a cabled pullover. And then I added a sweater to my queue today that is knit in fingering weight yarn. I think my knitting eyes are too big for my needles!

One step forward, one step back, X 3

Too bad I didn't read the Fringe Association post on incorporating a stitch pattern in a top down sweater. If nothing else, it may have spurred me to plan better. It probably would *not* have helped me deal with picked up stitches being a half stitch off, though.

And that is the lie about the so-called invisible cast on. When one picks up the stitches from the cast on, to knit in the opposite direction, they will be a half stitch off. This probably does not show (much) when knitting stockinette or garter, but loudly shouts its existence when there is a stitch pattern involved. I tried several ways of finding satisfaction with the shoulders of my drop down sweater, but finally settled on knitting an inch or so of seed stitch across the top of the shoulders, to disguise the half stitch shift.

Amazingly, I can fit my fat head through the neck hole!

Second guessing gone wild

So. After deciding to knit my drop shoulder top down ski sweater in moss stitch... I started it in the large checks that I thought I did not like. And guess what - I was right, I do NOT like the large checks. So I started over, with the moss stitch. And guess what - I was wrong, I do NOT like the moss stitch. So I swatched again, this time using the ringwood stitch i previously used for a pair of gloves and a baby sweater.

Now THIS I like! If you are ever knitting a sweater and find yourself thinking, It would be easier just to BUY a sweater, STOP and change something - the yarn, the needles, the pattern, SOMETHING. I was freaking out a bit about starting over for the third time, but I am so glad I did.

While second guessing the stitch pattern, I was also second guessing the size. Fortunately, Fringe Association posted about measuring other sweaters as a guide for determining stitch counts. I piled up a bunch of store-bought sweaters but was not sure I liked what they were telling me. Then I pulled out a handknit sweater and tried it on, to determine the ease. Perfectly zero. I usually wear something fitted under this sweater and it works fine. Let's measure it.

Just what I expected.

The next question is, How much ease do I want in my new sweater? Given swatching is a gamble and arithmetic is a lie, causing my sweaters to turn out larger than I plan, I am going to aim for zero ease on this sweater, with the expectation that some positive ease will magically appear. Perfectly logical, right?