nonaKnits

No One's Hiding Nothing

Patience and endurance along with a sense of responsibility are critical qualities for a knitter.  You see without them, we would have ever growing piles of knit sweater pieces and zero -- zilch -- finished sweaters.  I took these qualities to heart last night and seemed my Project 11 sweater together.  Although the model for this Vogue Knitting pattern had to seductively pose her arm to hide the sloppy neck shaping, nona required none of that -- I modified the neckline to use symmetrical decreases.  Last night -- as an added bonus -- I even changed out of my pajamas to bring you these pics.

nona's got nothing to hide!
You know the mouse drill by now, don't you?
Plus, move the mouse in and out of the picture real fast to see me dance

Over So Soon?

Sometimes at the end of a fabulous book or a wonderful knitting project I feel a bit sad, not ready for the pleasure to end.  Tonight nona's feeling this way about Project #11 -- you know the project I'm talking about, the one with the model hiding the sloppy neck shaping. 

Sigh -- All the knitting is finished and the pieces are patiently waiting to be seamed together.  The yarn made this project for me.  I used Rowan Kid Classic and Kid Silk Haze held together for the body and Kid Silk Haze on its own for the ruffle.  While the Kid Silk Haze is an obvious yarn star, the Kid Classic should not be overlooked.  This soft airy yarn knits up well at several gauges.  For this project I pushed it up to a US 11 to produce a fabric that read bulky but was really supple and drapey.  As an ex-yarn-snob, I suggest you track down a bit of this yarn and give it a try -- you won't be sorry!

What's She Hiding?

nona loves puzzles -- two of my favorites being Sudoku and "What's She Hiding".  While many of you know of the infamous Sudoku puzzles, "What's She Hiding" is a more obscure game tinged with hilarity.  Curious?  To play, pull out any knitting magazine or pattern book and figure out what flaw the model is hiding with her ingenious pose or jaunty accessory.  Let's play a round, shall we?

Here's the picture of Pattern #11 from Vogue Knitting's Fall 2005 -- you know, the pattern I'm currently knitting.  Can you tell me what the model is hiding and how? 

For the answer, continuing reading...

Answer

Did you notice how our beautiful model is massaging her neck with eyes half closed is rapture?  Perhaps, you think, she is showing off her ruffly, contrasting cuff.  But alas no, what she's really doing is hiding the neck shaping - gasp!  If you look closely at the left neck shaping -- the side not hidden by the arm -- you can see that a right slanting decrease -- k2tog to be exact -- is used to follow the angle of the neckline.  Unfortunately, a right slanting decrease is also used when shaping the other side of the neck, probably resulting in a choppy line.  Why, oh why was a left slanting decrease not used instead?

If you knit this pattern and would like to wear the sweater without your right arm glued to you shoulder, I suggest you make the following easy adjustment to the front neck shaping directions.  Where the original directions read:

Next (dec) row (RS) Work to 8 sts before center, k2tog (neck dec), p2, k4; on 2nd half, k4, p2, k2tog (neck dec), work to end.

I suggest you substitute:

Next (dec) row (RS) Work to 8 sts before cent, k2tog (neck dec), p2, k4; on 2nd half, k4, p2, ssk (neck dec), work to end.

I know nona will.

Projects in the Air

"Wait until you see my latest knitting project", my friend exclaimed.  Our knitting group was spending Friday evening together drinking wine, potlucking, and -- of course -- knitting.  I, myself, was just casting on a variation of Vogue Knitting's Fall 2005 Pattern #11 using one strand of Rowan Kid Classic held together with a strand of Rowen Kidsilk Haze.  I love this pattern but was hesitant to knit such a bulky sweater.  My yarn combination -- knit on US 11 needles -- creates an drapey, airy fabric that still reads bulky.  "Isn't this great", my friend continued as she pulled her project out of her knitting bag.  What a kick to see that she too -- unknown to either of us -- was knitting Pattern #11. 

The back of nona's Pattern #11sweater

Sometimes a pattern just gets in the air and we all start knitting it -- it must be some cosmic phenomenon.  Either that, or its a good pattern.  You decide.