Queen Anne's Lace

Finally!  I know a lot of you have been waiting to see this finished!  And so have I!  Thanks to being stuck in the house the week before last to wait for my HVAC guys, I powered through and finished it up, spending a whopping 5 hours that day finishing the second sleeve, weaving in all the ends, cutting the neck steek and picking up the neckband stitches, and finally knitting and tacking down the neck.  By the time I finished, I was too tired to be elated!

As you can see, while it is a gorgeous piece of knitting, it's not the most flattering of garments.  I knew that going in - I mean, it's square dropped shoulders!  I did reduce the sizing from the smallest size by one pattern repeat (I worked 7 repeats around rather than 8).  This shaved about 5" off the circumference of the sweater - one pattern repeat is the width of one of those diamonds you see.

What with all the progress posts and videos along the way, I don't think I need to say much else!  If you want to look back on any of it, you can click the Starmore button in the category cloud at right.  My Ravelry notes are minimal, as the only change I made was to the stitch count on the body.  I used all the original yarns and colors used by Alice Starmore - you don't mess with perfection!

You can see here how wide the sleeves are.  The 40" final bust measurement fits me perfectly in the hips.  Ahem.  If I were to do it again, I'd make the sleeves narrower, but that's really the only other change I'd make.

Here are two photos that show the patterning well, although you've seen it ad nauseum by now.  I decided after seeing these photos that super pale lipstick does me no favors ;-)  It looks like I have no lips!  So I switched back to red for the last few.

Yes, the sweater makes me look a lot heavier than I am.  But that's OK; you can't believe how cosy this thing is.  Scratchy, yes.  But so lightweight and WARM!  Toward the end, working on it was the same as having a snuggly blanket on my lap, which is why no knitting on this happened over the summer.  I'll likely be wearing a chambray shirt under this, but for these pics I just tossed it on, as I was doing a marathon photo session that day.  You can probably tell that by the time I got to this sweater, the light was gone.  But I think you get the idea.

I have a good idea what my next Starmore will be - oh yes, there will be more in my future!  Take a gander at some of her newer designs on her website.  I'm thinking of giving myself a kit for my next birthday :-)

Starmore Sweater: Cutting Open a Steek

The weather has turned cooler, and that means I've gotten back to working on my Starmore sweater.  I spent a fair amount of time on it yesterday and managed to finish the first sleeve. 

This morning I cut open the steek for the second sleeve, and took a video while I did so.  It looks like the last video update I did on this sweater was a year ago, and there were some comments in between asking to show how the steek is cut.

I apologize for the poor focus - I had the camera to my left side, which meant I couldn't always see the screen to see if I was in focus!  But I think it's clear enough to give you the general idea.

So you see - nothing to fear!  If fear of steeks has kept you from working a Fair Isle sweater, fear no more!  If it's the massive amount of work involved though - well, I'm afraid there's no way around that. 

Starmore Progress

I didn't work on my Starmore sweater much over the summer - it's now a huge mass of wool fabric and it gets a little hot having it pooled up on my lap!  But once the temperatures cooled down a little I picked it back up, and on Oct. 1 I finished the body.  A few days later, I cut open the first sleeve steek and got started on the sleeve. 

I've managed to be fairly consistent for the last month.  I try to do 4 rows a day; some days I don't have time to pick it up, other days I work 8 rows.  Starting immediately from the top of the sleeve, there are 2 stitches decreased every 4th row, so it gets quicker as I go along. I'd say I'm about half way done with the first sleeve now.

This morning it was nice and sunny, so I took some update pictures.

Body + sleeve from the back

Sleeve; the entire body has been steamed, but the sleeve has not.

Uncut steek on the other side

Cut steek from the inside

Close-up of cut steek:  because Shetland yarn is "sticky" it doesn't unravel.

Body fabric from the wrong side - still very pretty!

Close-up of floats.  I (almost) never float across more than 3 stitches.

Front neck steek

Body + sleeve from the front

Now that this piece is looking more sweater-like, I'm getting excited to finish and wear it.  I really want to have it done for this winter, so I'm trying to keep up my momentum.

I'm thinking about doing a video on 2-color stranded knitting.  Anybody interested in seeing that?  I'll warn you that my method is to hold one color in each hand, so it works best for those who are comfortable with both English and Continental knitting.

A Lucky Find

Yesterday, Hubby and I went out for brunch with a group of friends in a neighborhood we hadn't visited before.  Since I ate a little too much, we decided to walk part of the way home, and along the way we came across a used bookstore.  Hubby can't resist a bookstore, so in we went.  While he pored over the CDs, I checked out the selection of craft books, and discovered this:

Now, this book is currently in print - it was reissued by Dover in 2011 - but instead of paying the list price of $21.95, I paid $10, and it's in brand-new condition.

I got really excited because inside were pictures of a sweater I've wanted to make for years:  the Oregon cardigan.

I'd only ever seen this as a kit sold by Virtual Yarns, Alice Starmore's website.  After perusing Ravelry, I saw that it was also published in Vogue Knitting Holiday 2007.  As I flipped through the book, I thought I saw the charts needed for this design, so I brought it home with me.

On further inspection though, it turns out that only the leaf chart for the bottom border is included.  However, there are very clear photos which will enable me to recreate the main pattern.  It's even on the cover of the book!

I'm glad I bought the book even though it doesn't have the pattern I was hoping for.  There are tons of great charts included, and tips on designing a sweater using them, so it's a great addition to my Alice Starmore collection.  And the Oregon sweater is way down the road for me anyway:  I definitely want to finish my Queen Anne's Lace before starting another Starmore.

I haven't shown that sweater since last August!  I did a good job of working on it consistently til about mid-December, but have only done a couple rows since then.  But I'm really not that far from being done:  I'd gotten all the way to starting the neck shaping.  Here is the current state of affairs:

What a gorgeous pattern.  Alice is truly a genius.  Here's my armhole steek:

And the beginning of the neck shaping:

I should really turn off the TV and get back to this!

Starmore Update

It's been not quite a month since I last posted on my Starmore sweater, and I've managed to finish the second repeat of the chart!  Now it's really starting to shape up and show the overall pattern:

Total length is now 16", and width is about 40".  I haven't mentioned it before, but I'm doing a "custom size" on this sweater.  The pattern only offers 2 sizes:  finished chest measurements of 46" or 52".  When the book was published in 1996, very oversized sweaters were in vogue; now, not so much.  The chart is a 44-stitch repeat, so I took out one repeat to get my finished size down to 40".

Only 6 more rows, and then I get to start the armhole steeks.  So exciting!

QAL

You might think that I've been doing nothing but sewing lately, but you would be wrong.

I've finally finished the first pattern repeat of my Queen Anne's Lace, so the flower and diamond pattern is apparent now.  I love this sweater!  I'm so glad Linda convinced me to pick it up.

I have to do one more repeat of this motif and then another six rows before starting the armhole steeks - that makes a total of 50 rows.  I'm hoping to get to that point by the beginning of September.   I'd really like to be wearing this sweater this fall.

My "knitting station" - a.k.a. the couch

The piece measures about 10" at this point.  It's becoming kind of hot to work on it!  But I'm persevering.

I gave it a good steaming this morning so I could see the fabric as it will be when the sweater is finished.  That's one of the things I love about steam blocking!

 

 

"Artsy shot"

In less happy news, I think my computer may have died.  I'm going to set up some posts for the next few days, but that combined with Niecey-poo coming tomorrow may make posting sporadic for a while.

Ready for the next repeat!

More Starmore

A few weeks ago, when I wrote about starting my second Alice Starmore sweater, Erin left a comment telling me about an interesting book on the subject.  I placed it on hold at the library the same day, and was able to pick it up last week.  Thanks, Erin!

Sweater Quest by Adrienne Martini

In Sweater Quest, writer and knitter Adrienne Martini recounts her experience in knitting Alice Starmore's design Mary Tudor.  I was especially interested in this because I knit this very design almost two years ago - it's the sweater Linda and I did for our first knit-along.

Mary Tudor cardigan

Martini not only relates her experience with knitting this design, but also discusses the controversy surrounding Alice Starmore and her fierce protection of her intellectual property, which came to a head in the early 2000s.  I was only peripherally aware of the situation at the time, despite working in a yarn shop; but I do remember hearing whispered rumors, so it was nice to finally have them explained!

close-up

My current Starmore undertaking is coming along slowly.  I'm a little more than half way through the bottom border.  Since starting on the first of June, I've been averaging working on it about 3 times a week, knitting about 3 rows at each sitting.

Queen Anne's Lace pullover

The leaf design of the border is becoming apparent now:

Queen Anne's Lace rib and border pattern

I've been holding the grey/white mix in my left (dominant) hand and the contrast yarns in my right hand.  When working stranded knitting with one color in each hand, it's common for one hand to be dominant*, which causes that color to come to the forefront.  I'm going to have to decide if I want to continue this way, so that my work reads as a grey sweater with red/blue/purple designs, or change hands to get a red/blue/purple sweater with grey designs.  I'd originally thought I wanted the grey to be dominant, but now I'm not so sure!

my Starmore kit

* I learned this last year from Tasha and her Vintage Knitting College - thanks, Tasha!

Starmore beginnings

I've managed to complete 8 rows of the ribbing of my Queen Anne's Lace pullover since casting on last Friday!  Four more rows to go, then I'll get to start the first chart.

I'm hoping that you'll be able to see it in this picture:  the rib alternates between the Shaela/White color and a contrasting color, four rows of each.  I've done four rows of Burnt Heather and four of Mulberry:

The color gradation is very subtle, but I think that's what makes Starmore's designs so effective.

I ended up rewriting the pattern to take it down a size.  The smallest size given yields a 46" finished chest measurement - a little too roomy for me!  I do want a roomy sweater for layering over other things, but I think my new measurement of 40" will be more in line with my frame.  So this is 300 stitches.  As you can imagine, it takes a while to complete one row!