Posts filed under 'Chai Pullover'
Here are the official “I’m finished” shots of my pullover knitted with Artfibers Golden Chai yarn.
Pattern: I’ve been calling this my Chai Pullover, but it’s actually called Belle Epoque. This is a design of Kira K, manager of Artfibers. I got this pattern free with purchase of yarn.
Yarn: Artfibers Golden Chai in color 23. I used aproximately 6 balls of yarn.
Needles: Addi Turbos size 6 for the body and upper half of the arms. Addi Naturas size 4 for the ribbing on the bottom half of the arms.
Started: Way back in May of 2005.
Finished: March 28, 2006.
Read all about my progress here.
Here is another shot of the front.
And here is a shot of the back.
What can I say about this sweater? We have been through so much together. But I learned so much from this knit. The first time I knitted this sweater I followed the directions, knitting it flat and then sewing the pieces together. The second time around I knitted it in the round. I cast on the amount of stitches for the front and back, minus two (because there is no sewing up of side seams). I then followed the directions for the body decreases as given for both the front and back. When I got to the arm shaping I divided the front and back. I kind of used the pattern for the Vintage Camisole as a guide for this. When I finished both the front and the back I sewed the shoulder seams (the only sewing I had to do!) and then knitted the collar in k1p1 ribbing, as the pattern says to do). Then I picked up the stitches for the arms and knitted down. I followed the regular pattern backwards. It was really easy because there is no shaping on the arm, and I ignored the shoulder shaping. Knitting this in the round was definately the way to go. It made it go much faster and I think I even used less yarn. I think my knitting looks better, too since there was no purling (except for the k1p1 ribbing, which doesn’t look the best).
After washing it the second time with Eucalan, it did stretch very slightly. But, just in case, I knitted the arms slightly shorter than I wanted them. In the end, they turned out to be the perfect length.
And, finally, I *heart* this yarn. I will probably use it again for something else. It knits into a beautiful lightweight fabric with fantastic drape.
March 29th, 2006
I finished knitting the Artfibers Chai pullover on Sunday. Here is a mirror-in-the-bathroom shot of me wearing it pre-blocking. I was really nervous about washing and blocking this sweater a second time because of my horrible fiasco the last time I knitted this sweater. Somehow, in the washing of the sweater, the silk got stretech out waay too much. I was so depressed about it. It had turned out so beautifully and I messed it up somehow. The last time I hand washed it and I think it just got too water-logged. This time I used my washing machine (thank god for them! I didn’t have one last time…). I filled it up (on the “small wash” setting) and poured about a teaspoon of Eucalan wash in. Then I put my sweater in a lingerie bag, put it in the wash, and let it soak for thirty minutes. Then I just used the spin cycle to spin the water out. I am happy to say that there was absolutely NO stretching! See:
As for my opinion of the Eucalan wash, I don’t know that it is any better than using what I would normally use. I did like that you don’t have to go throught the process of rinsing. The sweater does come out smelling really nice and clean. It’s hard to say if it feels any softer because silk is already soft to begin with. I am going to try it on Butterfly when I am done because the Kureyon that I’m using for it is, like, the opposite of soft.
Speaking of Butterfly, I finally picked it up again and I finished the left front panel. NOt much to say about that. Except that I am really enjoying the pattern.
I mentioned in my last post that I would post some thoughts on a new yarn store I visited in Los Gatos last week when I was there. It’s called Yarn Dogs. It opened last year about the same time that Commuknity did. In fact, this woman that I worked with at SCU is close friends with the owner of the store and that’s how I learned of it’s existance. I have been wanting to visit for a long time and was happy to have found the opportunity to do so.
The store is dog friendly, so when I walked in I was greeted by the store’s mascot, an adorable little doggie. He came up and said hello, wagging it’s tail. It was so adorable! I looked up at the counter and said something like, “It’s wonderful to walk into a yarn store and be greeted by a cute dog!” And I meant it. The store itself was super small. REally, it felt a little bit cramped to me. But that’s okay. I’ve been in lots of small yarn stores and it doesn’t take away from the store. They had the front section devoted to yarn, and then there was a back room that had a huge collection of books. I think this was the best selection of books I have ever seen in a yarn store. They had everything.
As for yarn selection, I wasn’t really familiar with most of the brands, and the ones that I was familiar with I could pretty much get anywhere. So I was having a tough time deciding what to buy. I found a beautiful scarf and thought I would buy the yarn to make it but I couldn’t get anyone to help me so that I could find out the yarn and the pattern. I finally figured out what yarn was used, but when I asked nobody seemed able to tell me what the general pattern was. The other problem was that the yarn was hella expensive! I think it would have ended up costing me about $80. I just couldn’t justify paying that much for it so decided against buying it.
So this brings me to the customer service, which I found lacking. First of all, while it was really cute that the doggie greeted me at the door, it soon became a slight irritation to have this dog running around in such a cramped space. Since the place is dog friendly, there soon were several dogs in there (all small) and it began to slightly wear on my nerves. The space was just too small. I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like if a larger dog came into the store. I think that would have driven me away. Not that I don’t like dogs. I love them. And I’m all for being a dog-friendly establishment. But dogs can be very playful. And the combination of a playful dog and a cramped store is not neccessarily the best. Also, I found that the people who worked there (except the owner) were more concerned with playing catch with the dog than with asking me for help. I was pretty much ignored most of the time I was there. I had to actually ask for help, when it was quite obvious that I needed help. And when I asked a question, the person helping me didn’t have the answer, gave me the impression that she was going off to get the answer, but didn’t. I sat and waited for her answer for quite awhile. I never really did get the answer I wanted. So, all in all, the customer service aspect of the store was not good. But otherwise, a lovely store with a friendly dog.
March 28th, 2006
I am back from my trip to the SF Bay Area! I can’t believe I’m back in Spokane. ugh. I mean, the day before yesterday I was having a champagne brunch in the Carmel Valley at this place. sigh. And the weather was so awesome. I actually walked around in a short sleeve t-shirt without a jacket. Without a jacket! Now it’s back to being cold again. Oh well. Enough of my bitching. Here is the progress I made on my Chai Pullover. I really knitted on it a lot. Every moment I had I knitted. I really enjoy knitting in the round for a couple of reasons. First and formost, no seams. Secondly, I can try it on as I go. Oh, and I only had to cast on once, because I am picking up at the armholes and knitting the sleeves down. I have about five more rows on my right arm.
I went to Artfibers (more on that in a minute) and asked about how to care for this garment. I told her about the stretching disaster. She gave me lots of good tips. I also finally bought some Eucalan wash so I will try that and I think spinning out the water in the washing machine will be helpful, too.
Speaking of Artfibers, I went there on Friday, St. Paddy’s day, with my friend Judy! There was hardly anyone there so I got the manager, Kira, practically to myself. I did the whole “buy enough yarn for a sweater and get a free pattern” thing. She has some of her designs in some binders and I picked out a cardigan. Then I picked out the most luscious yarn ever, Satori. It’s a silk and kid mohair blend. I picked out a pretty purple color. She had me knit up a swatch and then she plugged in my gauge into this handy computer program (that I’m tempted to buy). She even offered to write the pattern so that it is knit in one piece so that I wouldn’t have to worry about seaming. I also picked out some beautiful handmade buttons to top it all off. It was such an awesome yarn shopping experience, as it always is. If you ever find yourself in SF, you have got to go to Artfibers and do the whole yarn pattern thing. Seriously. It’s a little bit pricey, but so worth every penny. Judy and I also went and had a Guinness at this place called Lefty O’Douls. You can read all about our interesting BART adventure on Blatherskite, if you feel so inclined. We decided that it was the best St. Patrick’s day either one of us had ever experienced 
.
Before going into SF, Judy and I went to our other favorite yarn store, Commuknity. They have even more yarn now than they did the last time I was there. They place was seriously exploding with yarn. And all the best yarn. All of my favorites! I had to go through and touch everything twice. I really wanted to buy something. I almost went for the Claudia’s Hand Painted. But I decided that I already had too much sock yarn. I gravitated toward the Artyarns because they have such a wonderful selection of it and I can’t really find it here in Spokane. I have always wanted to try thier silk ribbon and silk fur, but it’s kind of expensive. So I bought enough of it to make a pretty scarf from the book Modular knits. I have hardly been able to keep my hands off it it since I bought it. It’s so soft. Crazily, Judy didn’t buy anything! She has some serious self control .
Well, I think that is about all I can do for now. I visited another yarn store in Los Gatos that I hadn’t been to before called Yarn Dogs. I think I will save my comments about that one for a later post. I’ve got to start getting ready for work.
Have a fantastic Tuesday!
March 21st, 2006
This is probably the worst photo ever, but oh well. I found another pink project sitting among my stash. I bought this cheap JoAnn’s fabrics yarn to try the Corkscrew Scarf from Teva Durham’s book Loop-d-Loop. And since the yarn is pink I thought I’d go ahead and knit it up! So here it is halfway done. I may end up getting another ball so it can be a bit longer. But i kind of like it so far. It’s not something I would usually wear, but maybe I will give it away as a gift.
This week, when I haven’t been working on the scarf, I’ve been obsessively knitting away on my Chai pullover. I am so in love with this yarn. It’s so soft and light. I hope my second attempt at it goes well. I’m kind of afraid to wash it when I’m done. When I’m at Artfibers next week I am going to ask them how they suggest I block and care for it to prevent it from stretching so much.
I CAN’T WAIT to go to Artfibers and San Francisco next week. I am so excited. I am seriously going to probably spend a shitload of money there. At Artfibers, I mean. Love, love love that store. I also want to try to hit CommuKnity in San Jose, as well. Hopefully with my best knitting pal, Judy.
Yesterday was my birthday and I got a couple of craft-related presents. Yes, that is the new Stitch-n-bitch crochet book you see there. I bought that one for myself. I mean, with a name like, “The Happy Hooker” I HAD to get it. I am really excited about trying out crochet. I’m going over to the dark side 
. And I FINALLY got “Last minute knitted gifts.” That has been on my wish list forever. I’m stoked. I almost bought that one yesterday instead of the Happy Hooker, but i’m glad my intuition told me to put it back on the shelf.
Okay, I’m off to the Bay Area tommorrow morning. See you in about a week!
March 12th, 2006
So I’ve got the back and some of the front knitted of Butterfly. The colorway is growing on me. I like this colorway a little bit better when it is not knitted up in a zig-zag stitch (the name of this pattern is escaping me right now…). One thing’s for sure, it will go with just about everything that I own! I think just about every neutral color is in there. So that’s good.
Okay. Now on to Project Spectrum! Yay!
I’ve been sooo excited about starting my Project Spectrum projects. The main thing that I wanted to do with P.S. was learn how to dye yarn. So I ordered a bunch of fingering weight “dye-your-own” yarn from Knitpicks for this purpose. At first I looked through some books about yarn dying and was kind of put off by the chemicals involved. It seems dangerous! and I just don’t have the kind of equiment needed for “traditional” yarn dying. So I decided to go with Kool-aid. I’m so glad that I did. It is so easy and very safe. And, as a bonus, your yarn ends up smelling delicous! So, I bought packets of cherry, pink lemonade, and black cherry Kool-aid and went for it. My plan was to make a verigated yarn with shades of red and pink. This is how it came out:
You can see some other views of it here and here. So, basically, I have a salmon pink hank of sock yarn. Not bad, but not what I originally wanted. Oh well. It was my first attempt. So sue me. Better luck next time, right?
I also decided to start on a red project in honor of March’s theme of Pink and Red. Remember this disaster? I decided to frog it and start over. Only this time I am translating the instructions so that I can knit it in the round. This means NO SEAMING! WOOT! I am very stoked about that. It seems to be going fairly fast. I started it yesterday and I’m well into the body. Yes it’s the return of the Chai Pullover.
I’m so stoked. I’m finally able to take a vacation and I am going to the Bay Area on the 13th. I am going to try to make it up to Artfibers. I can’t wait! I miss the Bay Area. I miss it so much it makes my heart hurt. I know that sounds corny, but what can I say.
For Project Spectrum I also plan to do a punchneedle embroidery for each month, highlighting the color of the month. So stay tuned!
Have a fantastic week!
March 6th, 2006
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