Tag Archives: Dreyma

Dreyma is dreamy!

Posted on February 15, 2021 | 10 comments

DH’s Dreyma is as dreamy as its name, and perfect on a snow day!

This yoke is so fabulous. And the built up neckline is much better than where the ribbed neckline ended before. Most of whatever T shirt DH wears underneath is covered, which is way better aesthetically.

I gave the body of the sweater a pretty relaxed fit, just like his other favorite sweaters. He’s been wearing this constantly over this snowy weekend!

We don’t get much snow in Portland, so we make the most of it when we do! One or two snowfalls per winter. And then usually freezing rain on top. But on Saturday it was still fresh and perfect. I brought out my nearly 40 year old ski equipment, and toured the neighborhood instead of using the basement treadmill. Of course I wore my ancient Pippi Hat. I really need new boots, which means new bindings, too; these are very old school.

DH’s ski boots are no longer with us, so we walked, too.

The neighborhood was full of joy. So many smiles after being locked down.

The neighborhood sledding street, busy as always.

And the witch hazel is in bloom.

This is not the only unicorn I saw. The best was a XC skier in a unicorn onesie, complete with a rainbow tail!

How’s your weather? And what am I knitting next? There’s a new design idea on the needles, and a revamp of a previous one. Two projects is probably my limit!

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Dreyma neckline drama

Posted on February 8, 2021 | 9 comments

Dreyma came off the needles the other night, and we had another check-in with DH. The extra stitches in the sleeve helped a bit with the wonky wide neckline, but there was still a lot of undershirt showing at the neck. Horrors! That’s like my bra straps showing. No thank you. I looked through Ravelry project pages, and others had this issue, too.

Because Dreyma is knit from the neck down, I couldn’t just add to the ribbing at the neck. Or could I? I thought about the following options:

  • Slip stitch crocheting along the back and shoulder, just under the ribbing. That would be easy, but I didn’t think it would be enough to bring the neckline up as far as it needed to go.
  • Picking up stitches at the bottom of the ribbing, and just knitting a taller one that would sit in front of the old one. Doable, but thick and maybe awkward.
  • Cutting off the ribbing and working it bottom up. But the very first round after the ribbing had increases in it, and I didn’t want to mess with those. It could have been disastrous.

Nope, nope, nope. But what if I *did* pick up and work in the opposite direction? The stitches would be facing the other way: the knit stitch Vs would but up against upside down Vs. That actually wasn’t too obvious; you’d have to be pretty close to notice the Vs. But there’s a horizontal line at the pickup. Like this.

Definitely noticeable. Could I hide it? I recently saw a neckline on Mary Scott Huff’s blog, where she has a herringbone braid under her neck ribbing on the dress she’s designing. If I picked up stitches, immediately jumped into a herringbone braid, and then continued with ribbing, that would hide the pickup line.

Except…I decided I didn’t want a Latvian braid on this Icelandic-style sweater. Although I do love those braids.

Ultimately, I decided to try 3 rounds of ribbing, followed by 8 rounds of stockinette. The stockinette will roll and show the purl side. The Dreyma pattern actually begins with a choice of either a rolled neckline or a ribbed neckline. I just happen to have both, by accident. The rolled edge comes *almost* down to that pickup line, close enough that you don’t notice the pickup seam. (I could make it taller, but I was worried it would then do all its rolling way above the pickup.

The sweater is soaking in the blocking bath at this very moment. I can tack the rolled edge down to the pickup line, if I need to. Hoping I don’t. It looks much better on DH now. If there’s any residual undershirt peekage, I’ll try adding slip stitch crochet around the shoulders and back neck.

Bonus: This sweater is super cute on ME, too, as an oversized tunic. FO pictures soon!

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Sleeve Island Dreams

Posted on February 4, 2021 | 3 comments

The end is in sight! I finished one sleeve, and am well on my way on the second one. Actually, I’ve knit two sleeves already. I realized I didn’t like the fit of the first one when it was 2/3 finished, so I started the second one, adding 6 stitches over all. That’s the finished sleeve you see. Then I ripped the first one all the way back to the yoke and started it over to match the second sleeve. I wish I had added 8 stitches, but I made a math error, and I’m not going back!

We’ve decided to skip the patterning at the wrist; it’s just a place to snag fingers on the stranding inside. This isn’t a particularly grippy yarn (Berroco Vintage Worsted), so it’s definitely a consideration.

But you know this means my mind is wandering along to the next project. I’m swatching!

This isn’t the real yarn for this project; I just wanted to know what would happen, and get an approximate gauge for fingering weight yarn.

It’s really a square; it’s just easier to manage on a circular needle when it gets this big. I’m thinking of a pastel floral garden. I started another block in a dark green single ply from my stash, and it’s just not living up to the dream, so I’m doing a little online yarn shopping…

What’s on your needles? Something new, or something that needs to be finished? Or both?

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Posted in classes, Knit, pattern design

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Introducing: Leafy Origami HAT

Posted on January 27, 2021 | 2 comments

It’s been a very busy couple months, but I’m back on track. The Leafy Origami Hat is ready to rock and roll!

The Leafy Origami Hat is 2-color brioche, knit in the round from the bottom up in worsted weight yarn. It was inspired by my Leafy Origami Cowl, and it features a smaller version of the leaf stitch pattern that falls into mountain and valley folds, just like origami.

The beginning of the round moves forward and backward on several rounds, making this a challenging brioche pattern. I’ve made several video tutorials to guide you through the increases, decreases, and moving the markers. The stitch pattern is adapted from the Under Dutch Skies stitch pattern in Nancy Marchant’s book, Knitting Fresh Brioche.

I’m having a pattern launch sale, use coupon code leafylaunch for 15% off the pattern through Feb. 2, 2021. This code works on both Ravelry and Payhip.

This pattern is available through Ravelry, link here.

This pattern is available from my Payhip shop, link here.

Thanks to tech editor Meaghan Schmaltz, and test knitters Ann Berg, Debbie Braden, Megan Drake, Elizabeth Forester, and Jacqueline Lydston.

I love these leaves. I’m still knitting on my mega-cowl version, but it’s on the back burner until I finish DH’s Dreyma sweater. I just started the first sleeve!

It’s amazing how much progress you can make if you concentrate on one project, and that’s why I’m pretty much a monogamous knitter. Two projects at the most, so that there is always a mindless project and a mindful project. I’ve had 3 projects on the needles lately (Dreyma, Leafy Origami, and Katie’s Kep) which means I’m not good at getting progress on all of them at the same time! But now Dreyma is on the stockinette sleeve portion, which is truly mindless, and I’m using that for Zoom meetings and home knitting. It’s too big to take on appointments outside the house now.

Don’t forget, my Gauge Swatch Hat pattern is free; you can download it from this blog post where I extol the virtues of hats as gauge swatches.

What’s your strategy for managing your projects?

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The Bridgerton Knitting Incentive

Posted on January 24, 2021 | 7 comments

Well, I didn’t finish DH’s sweater in time for his birthday yesterday; I got sidetracked by that new smaller leafed Leafy Origami Cowl. I decided to set the cowl down and do some mad knitting on the sweater.

Four episodes of Bridgerton later, it was long enough to consider hem options. DH doesn’t want patterning at the hem, just ribbing, so I had a bit more knitting to do. No problem. (For those who know that I was saving Bridgerton as treadmill incentive, I decided getting this sweater done was more important. I’ll pick a new incentive.)

The hem is just 1×1 ribbing, and I’m using Patty Lyons’ “What the Flip” method of transitioning into the ribbing so that the hem doesn’t flip up where the stockinette meets the ribbing. Basically, on the first round of rib, slip the knit stitches (purlwise with yarn in back), purl the purl stitches, and then work k1p1 ribbing on subsequent rounds. Easy enough! I don’t know that this hem was going to flip, but why not just avoid the whole issue?

The hem should be done tonight, and then I’m headed for Sleeve Island.

Even without his new sweater, we had a good day. We went to Mt. Tabor for a walk/hike to the top of this extinct volcanic cinder cone. Volcano in the city!

There are several city water reservoirs on Mt.Tabor that will eventually be decommissioned in favor of new covered reservoirs, but these are so pretty.

The kids made lasagna Bolognese from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s Food Lab book, and it was fabulous. Lots of interesting ingredients including anchovies and fish sauce for perfect umami flavor.

I made a pear tart and bourbon caramel sauce for dessert, both old favorite recipes. All was traded back and forth on the porch, since we’re still distancing. Looking forward to a Covid-19 vaccination someday soon.

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VKLive from both sides again, and Inauguration Day 2021

Posted on January 20, 2021 | 4 comments

I had a great weekend teaching at VKLive. I love teaching, and it was especially fun to teach my revamped YO? YO! Fun and Fancy Elongated Stitches class. I got to become reacquainted with some of my favorite designs.

I also had the chance to be a student again, this time in Laura Nelkin’s Beaded Brioche class. Two of my favorite techniques in one class!

Laura explained how she decides where to bead her brioche stitches (hint: make a pattern swatch first and visually decide where you want them). She went on to show how to either place beads via crochet hook or pre-string them. The beads in this sample are placed, but I used my trusty Bead Aid. rather than a crochet hook. In real life I’d like more contrast than there is here, but I was working with leftovers from other projects.

I usually place my beads *before* working a stitch, and couldn’t visualize how to do this on a brioche knit stitch. Laura places her beads *after* working the stitch. That makes a lot more sense for brioche; then it’s just like placing beads in any other knitting. Easy peasy! I’m looking forward to adding beads to my next brioche shawl or scarf.

I also attended the Rowan High Tea (BYO beverage); it was fun to learn about all the ways tea is enjoyed in different regions in the UK. And I knit this peach while watching! It’s stuffed with yarn scraps that I collected while sewing in ends. Reduce, reuse, recycle! The pattern is free from Anna Hrachovec at MochiMochiLand, if you’d like to knit your own peach. Mine is knit with Malabrigo Worsted on US3 needles, so it’s not as tiny as hers. You can see it in the second picture, which gives a better sense of scale. I used my Flexi-Flips which made it work up very quickly; I was done before the tea ended!

I‘ve finished the colorwork on DH’s Dreyma, yay! I worked the short rows using the German short rows that I learned in classes with Bristol Ivy and Ana Campos at December’s VKLive. One thing that was slightly confusing was that we learned to make and resolve short rows either on the right side (knit) or the wrong side (purl) but we didn’t discuss resolving short rows made on the purl side but resolved on the knit side when knitting in the round. I found this tutorial by Patty Lyons which worked fairly well, but one of my short rows resulted in a hole…that I’ll just sew up later. Git ‘er done!

I’ve divided for the sleeves and body, and it’s just stockinette for miles for a while. This is perfect for knitting while waiting for classes to start, or during Zoom meetings, or even while reading. But I must admit, I was too captivated by the inauguration ceremonies this morning to knit. Congratulations to President Biden and Vice President Harris!

Pearls and pjs

Leftover bacon/arugula/pear/blue cheese pizza with poached egg for breakfast. Soooo good. My favorite aunt (the one who taught me to knit!) sends me pears every year, and these are spectacular.

Have a great day!

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Posted in beading, classes, Knit

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Multiple WIPs, oh noes!

Posted on December 21, 2020 | 8 comments

I usually have one or two projects at a time; that’s plenty for me. I work better when I’m a bit obsessive. But my two current projects are both stranded colorwork (Dreyma and Katie’s Kep), and that means paying attention to a chart, all the time. Sometimes that’s not possible.

So here we are with brioche again, a perfect multi-tasker project for me. I decided I hadn’t had enough of this color combo yet; Malabrigo Rios in Volcan and Azul Profundo. I gave two friends the previous cowls in this color combo, and I decided I liked it so much I wanted to use it again.

Debbie Braden, one of my Leafy Origami Cowl test knitters, said she was wearing the small cowl as a hat with her ponytail coming out the top. Hmmm. I think I can actually make this close up on top, gracefully. I’ve gone so far as to chart it, and now I have to see if it works in real life. If not, I’ll rip off the top, and finish as a cowl for Mom-in-law. It’s a winner, either way.

Here’s another non-charted project from the weekend. I made a little bow with my other 32 ft strand of fairy lights. US 9 needles, again. I made a stitch holder for the live stitches, using a piece of guitar string. After that I realized that I probably have a stitch holder somewhere that would have worked! Oh well, it’s all good.

I’ve got a lot of food gifts to make in the next few days, which will be a good changeup from knitting. My forearms are still reminding me that I knit too long on Dreyma last week, so it still looks like this:

DH wore the hat over the weekend, so I guess we’ve done our gifts early! (Mine is the board in the leafy hat-to-be picture.)

Are you a mulit-WIP or monogamous knitter? Are you scrambling this week, or completely chill?

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Dreaming of Dreyma

Posted on December 18, 2020 | 7 comments

I was putting away my blocking the other night, so I checked my gauge on the newly blocked Gauge Hat. It did relax just a bit, and where I had 20.5 st and 26 rounds/4 inches, I now have 20 st and 26 rounds/4 inches. I can work with that! The row gauge is spot on. The prescribed stitch gauge is 19 st/4 inches, so I’m choosing a size (43.75”) that will give me the size I want (41.6” at my gauge).

And since I did the math for the sweater, I accidentally cast on. I wasn’t planning to start yet, but you know how it goes. I used the German twisted/Old Norwegian cast on, for a little extra heft (but still flexible) at the neckline. (Little plug for my HiyaHiya interchangeables: I now have this on a combination of the 40” cable plus the 16” cable. It grew too big for the flat lay picture before I realized it! The yoke includes body and sleeve stitches, which makes it bigger than 40 inches.)

So here’s hoping my gauge swatch hat didn’t lie to me! But I can always adjust the body circumference up or down 8 stitches, after the yoke is done. (8 stitches because of the pattern that goes before the bottom ribbing is a multiple of 8; you can see it on the hat.)

This is a reminder: Put down your knitting and stretch! I knit a lot on this last night (just one more, one more, one more round of patterning, so seductive) and realized that my forearms were feeling a bit achy due to tendinitis. Something about the way I hold this particular project, I guess. Knitting with fairy lights bothered my elbow after a time. Kay Gardiner of Modern Daily Knitting shares her thoughts, via shoulder injury, in a post this week, too. It’s going around. Listen to your body, so you don’t get an injury that takes a long time to heal!

I’m about to start the last contrast color on the yoke. Not right now, though. Break time!

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