Short-Changed Clap

......and I'm out of yarn.

39 STS LEFT AAAAAAARRRRRGH!!!!!

I took the advice of Jess who warned me about three skeins of Lorna's not being enough. Unforutnately this was after I had completed the 10th straight row. So I stop the straight rows and started decreasing, but it just wasn't enough. Cross your fingers I get my hands on some Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb die lot 9573, color 112 Sand Ridge. Anybody? Anybody got a few extra yards in your stash? Sigh. Frogging and rodoing is a last resort, only. I'm going to call the Point tomorrow and see if they still have one skein left.
What's up with all the yarn drama lately?

I finally delivered a finished sweater to my friend Joe, who left for Beirut this evening.  I ended up redoing the shaping on both sleeves, which still came out slightly larger than I hoped, but he was happy to get a knitted gift.

This solo shot is crappy, but you can get a glimpse of the drop sts from the elbow to the wrist! They come up on the shoulder and on the back as well. The shaping and the drop sts was really very simple, and it only took me a long time to knit, because I was lazy.

Pattern: Drop Stitch Pullover
From: Knit1 Magazine, Fall/Winter 2005
Yarn: Reynolds Andean Alpaca Regal 90% alpaca, 10% wool
Time: approximately  2.3 months.
Notes: *Please see this  previous post for the crap you may walk into if you try this pattern. (vogue knitting has still not e-mailed back)
**majority of this sweater was knit on the subway.

Neverthe less, I'm happy with the way it turned out. It's a bulky weight yarn, but it's a light-feeling sweater, which will be perfect for layers. He will be traveling to the desert, kind of, and it does get chilly.

In other knit news, My friend Prink and I took our first machine knitting class at FIT  this past Sunday. We are going to make a sweater in three all day sessions, and that's more than enough time! We already finished two sleeves in one day. Having a knowledge of hand knittng really helped fix mistakes, and  the class was not as difficult as I anticipated. Of course, I'm a geek, and I took my camera with me:

A Sleeve!!!! FIT even provides students with fiber, real fiber, and although it may not be the best color, it is wool and it is a sweater. Prink and I are a bit confused if it's going to be wearable. There's no shaping on the front or back of the sweater pattern, not even armhole shaping. The sleeeves have increases of course, but it's a boatneck sweater. I'm thinking if it's a big oversized 80's sweater, this one might have to go in the goodwill pile. I'll give it a shot, but I don't have hopes of this sweater ever making it to my closet.

Here's an action shot of Maria's mock-rib cuff. The pink yarn is the wast acrylic. 38 sts on that bad boy, and it gets 50 rows done in 30 seconds!

 

                                                                                                                                              Here's a shot of Prink and a full look at the machine. Rabbit ears at the top hold the tension and keep the yarn from knotting. The handle on the right slides across the needles. This machine uses needles that would be equivilent to size 3 or 4. Tiny!

 

                                    

And here's another shot of Prink binding off with a crochet bind off. The needles easily slide back and forth on the machine.

More machine knitting news next week!!

Comments

[gleek]

YEAH! you're machine knitting! how fun! those machines are loud, right? i remember hearing them at FIT when i was there.

poor clap. i think that you should consider ripping back a straight row repeat and go again if you can't find your lion and lamb colorway. it's not too difficult.

love the finished sweater! he looks happy with it!

[Schrodinger]

Oh my God, sorry about the Lorna's Laces shortage, if you have trouble finding it locally, you could try some of the yahoo knitting groups, I've heard people have luck with them.

So glad your friend got the sweater in time, it's nice to think that he will have that sweater to keep him warm.

Finally, congrats on your first machine knitting class - hope the sweater surprises more than you expect (in a good way).

[MeBeth]

Oh no - good luck finding more yarn! You could probably even get away with a different colorway if you had to.

Or, if you were a really lazy person like me, you'd just bind that sucker off and call it a design feature.

[Jessica C]

Wow, that class looks cool! And that sucks about Clapotis--I agree with Steph, maybe you should take out a repeat. What a pain!

[Karin]

Sorry about your clapotis--but the sweater looks great!

Machine knitting...so jealous. I have always wanted to try one of those.

[Veronique]

I agree with Steph-- do you really want to spend $30 for a few yards of Lion & Lamb? I think you should rip back a few rows and do-over.
Thanks for the pics of the machine knitting class. Now I get it!
And good job on the sweater! This guy must be really tall, because the sweater looked huge on you.

[carrie m]

the sweater looks great! and i can't believe you are machine knitting. so. awesome.

i dunno what to tell you about the clap. i say look for the yarn on ebay or maybe considering rippign back to the straight rows and making it tinier. very irritating.

[jess]

re: clapotis. ugh!! i say find yourself a wee bit of similar yarn in a matching colorway and finish the corner.

or you could go on knitters' review where sometimes people exchange scraps, on the off chance someone has a bit of this stuff.

or maybe ask marie dye you up a little in a reasonably matching yarn?

re: hipster sweater. what a hipster! it looks fabulous!

[marie]

Awww poor clappy...Hopefully someone will have the right yarn for you - I'll take a look to see if I have anything which might fit.

The sweater is great I Love those drop stitches.

I can't wait to see your oversized 80's boatneck sweater...hey at least it is done quickly! I'm sure you can figure out shaping later.

[melissa]

the sweater for your friend looks great! good job!

that's great you're taking the class at FIT. it's a neat class. who is your teacher? i hope your machine is behaving. i used to have the worst luck with those things. the students used to treat them so bad, sometimes it looked like elephants had trampled on the needles!