Archive for the ‘Maude Louise’ Category

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Blurg argh bleah!

October 25, 2008
Soooooft.

Soooooft.

When we bought an iMac, we did so thinking, “Yes, this is a lot of money, but Macs are not PCs.  We will no longer have to worry about all the problems that a PC has.”

Ha!  And again, ha!

The hard drive of my eight month old iMac up and died last week.  No warning, nothing, just sudden death.  All of my patterns are on there, all of my pictures, some of my husband’s work files, tons of music – just a mess of a lot of stuff.  I know you’re supposed to back up your files, and I had actually been thinking I should do that soon, but it had not yet been done.  Thus does the law of What You Deserve operate.  Clearly, thinking that I should back up my files and failing to do it caused the universe to teach me a Very Special Lesson.

It’s not all woe and sadness, though.  The good folks at the Genius Bar are going to save my files.  Yay, Genius Bar!  And while it is very, very frustrating that the hard drive failed at all, it was clearly a factory problem and we’re still under warranty, so the hard drive will be replaced.  I’m not happy that the problem arose, but I’m glad it will be solved.  In the meantime, Mr. Kninja is letting me use his laptop when he doesn’t need it.

So.  That’s my story.  The computer will be fixed soon enough for me to finalize the Pauline pattern thanks to the awesome feedback of my wonderful test knitters, and I can get to work on the other patterns that are languishing on the dead drive.

All of which brings me to one of the many projects that are ongoing at the moment. Maude Louise was picked for a Knit Along over at the Obscuriosity group on Ravelry, and that brought back to me just how self conscious I am about the crazy and unfinished nature of that pattern, and how I’ve been meaning to improve it for ages.  So I went ahead and made use of a gift certificate I had to order a bag of RYC Soft Lux from Little Knits, and I joined the KAL, and now I’m knitting a second Maude Louise and rewriting the pattern at the same time.  I’m planning on making a few stylistic changes as well, but I’ll be sure to include instructions for a just-like-the-original version, too.  It feels good to finally get down to something I’ve been meaning to do for such a long time.

The knitting is going very fast.  I’ve actually finished one of the front panels since this picture was taken.  I expect to have Maude II done within a week or two, and that should leave me time to get back to all the Christmas presents I’m working on as well as all the designs that are running through my head these days.

A few thoughts on the yarn: I’ve been wanting to try Soft Lux for ages, and I think it was worth the wait.  Of course, it’s discontinued, but I suppose if it wasn’t I couldn’t have gotten such a good deal on it.  It’s kind o funny to me that the Maude made in luxury yarn will actually be less expensive than the Maude made in discount yarn.  Anyway…

Soft Lux is 10% angora and something like 60% wool (the rest being nylon and the metallic gold thread), but the numbers are misleading.  I am very glad I have The Knitter’s Book of Yarn, because I was able to look up how these percentages are arrived at.  Percentages are listed by weight.  Angora is a very light fiber, so 10% is actually quite a lot of angora.  The result is a very lush, soft, and warm fabric.  It is not as drapey as the silk/alpaca blend used for the original Maude, but it does feel better against the skin, and I absolutely love the fabric that is being formed by this yarn.  Angora feels rather dry on the fingers when you are knitting with it, and it does shed (though this yarn sheds far less than the last angora blend I used) but it’s not an unpleasant yarn to knit with.  The metallic thread does not have any scratch to it, unlike the metallic thread in Kidsilk Night, and I like the slight and understated sparkle.  Lux is the right name for this yarn.  I feel like a princess when I look at my unfinished sweater.  I’ll have some leftovers, too, which is an exciting prospect.

The color, called cashmere, is not one I’m usually drawn to, but I’m actually quite glad now that my original choice, camel, was sold out.  I can’t wear pure white, but this very, very light goldish brown shade is an ideal neutral for my wardrobe.  The first picture, of the yarn itself, is the most true color-wise.

So, um, yay!

Posted in In progress, Knitting, Maude Louise, Miscellany, Self Designed, Sweaters | 4 Comments »

Designy stuff

July 9, 2008

I’m in a weird state right now as a pseudo knitting designer type person.  I have had a lot of ideas lately for new patterns, and I have confidence that I can knit them.  I have no confidence, though, that I can write them down, or that I’ll find time to do it.  I realized recently that I think I need to reknit some of the patterns I’ve created, because my errors are legion, and I don’t seem to be able to catch them on reading my patterns over.  Even when they’re glaring, obvious, and really pathetic, involving very basic math.

I’ve been meaning to edit Maude Louise for ages, but I freeze up when I sit down to it, because I can’t seem to spot the errors on my own, or to see where I’ve gone totally, crazily, weirdly wrong.  It’s odd.  I’m not feeling sorry for myself, because honestly, I’m not the person affected most by these mistakes.  I feel awful to be misleading innocent knitters with my errors, but I’m not thinking I’m an awful person who needs to be flogged or anything.  Mostly just thinking.  I managed to mess up my recipe for Arthemis, too, on the first go round, and that was a case of adding ten over and over.  A first grader could have done it correctly, but I managed to mess up.

Anyway, it’s got me in an introspective state, because, as I said, I’ve had an absolute ton of ideas (and have knit a few new items up that I’d like to write up patterns for at some point) and I want to be better at this whole design thing.  It’s why I haven’t written up the Erin Shrug yet, despite requests, and my own intentions, because damn it, I’d like to release a pattern or more that is entirely error free.

Ysolda, who does not have these problems, often knits two of her prototypes, and I’m thinking that even though the idea is somewhat abborhent to me, I may need to do the same, just to test what I’ve written.  And I think I probably need to get my patterns test knit by others as well, in future.

Anyway, this stems from my finding that other people have found major errors on the finished parts of Maude Louise, which is, anyway, an unfinished pattern.  I knew it was unfinished, and I found errors in rereading it before, but I missed some biggies.  I have been meaning to sit down and finish the whole pattern pretty much since I first posted it, but as I said, I’ve frozen up at writing patterns, the more problems that are exposed.  But with all these ideas exploding in my head lately, it’s probably important for me to get better at this, or to invest in some good software that can help me with the math, because as frustrating as it is for me to find myself in all these mistakes, it’s probably a lot more frustrating for those who are actually trying to knit what I’ve written so poorly.

Posted in Knitting, Maude Louise, Ravelry, Self Designed, Setbacks | 3 Comments »

Meta post: Maude is now easier to download

November 9, 2007

Thank heavens, eh?  I completely and totally fail at WordPress, because I hadn’t even realized I could host my PDF here, instead of at that random awful place that made it difficult to get a copy.  I know a lot of people have had trouble downloading Maude Louise, but hopefully that is at an end.  There’s a new link in the sidebar and a new link in the original post.  And now you can click from here to get to the Maude download.  Once there, you can click on the picture of the PDF or on the sentence below it to download the pattern.  Whew.  Much better.

I’m still working on the Erin shrug pattern and on Arthemis, but I’ve been sort of down and depressed in the last couple of months, and I’ve cut out work on most things that don’t need to be done immediately, so they’ll be slow.  I’m truly almost done with Erin, but I just haven’t found the time to scan in my charts and fix them up.  Sorry – I’m the slowest pattern writer on the planet, I think.  I appreciate your patience with me, though.

Posted in Free Patterns, Knitting, Maude Louise, Miscellany, Self Designed | Leave a Comment »

Yarrrrrgh

April 9, 2007

My computer isn’t working properly.  In case I disappear, this is the warning – things seem to be getting very wonky in Casa de Kninja.  Apologies in advance.  If you’re knitting Maude Louise and are having problems, I refer you to the able and helpful folks over at the Craftster knitalong.  They’ve already discovered a lot of the problems with my math, and I will be incorporating their corrections into my next version of the pattern.  Thank you, Craftsters!

Posted in Knitting, Maude Louise, Miscellany | Leave a Comment »

Stuck in the middle with you

March 14, 2007

So I’m most of the way through with the pattern in multiple sizes (yay!) and now I’m stuck on the fitted sleeves. I will finish, but in the meantime, I’m putting out the newest version of the pattern (in pdf form – many props to maitai113 at Craftster for telling me how to do that) anyway. I figure it will take a bit before anyone gets to the sleeves as it is. Just be aware, though, if you do start knitting this in a larger size, please don’t start on the sleeves until the new pattern is up.

I also found a few more errors in the size 32 as I wrote the larger sizes. Please note that on the Back of sweater, where it says to knit to 14″, that number should be 16″.

My apologies for the vast number of errors, rewrites, and stuttering starts and stops. I feel pretty incompetent. It was much easier to knit the damn sweater than it’s been to try to explain how I did it!

Posted in In progress, Knitting, Maude Louise | 1 Comment »

Correction – Maude Louise

March 12, 2007

To everyone who has downloaded the pattern for Maude Louise – I’m terribly sorry, but I found the first major error in the pattern.  I hope no one has gotten very far in knitting it.  I have no idea how I got this number, because it’s random and far off, but when the pattern says to decrease after the waist lattice, the number you are meant to decrease to is 72 stitches, not 64 as I originally wrote.  The numbers following the mistake are accurate, which is how I found the mistake.  The numbers don’t add up.  I’m very sorry, and I hope I haven’t inconvenienced anyone too much.  I will be posting a corrected pattern momentarily with partial additions of other sizes as well.  Hopefully by morning there will be an accurate pattern for all sizes up.

Mea culpa.

Posted in Knitting, Maude Louise | 3 Comments »

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

March 11, 2007

Oh, it’s a brave new world, and I’m striding out into it! Technology and knitting mix so beautifully, don’t you think? Ancient handicraft meets infotech superhighway of the future and the love affair is epic. Sure it’s a May-December romance, but knitting keeps herself young and the internet really needs a little dignity and maturity.

I need to learn how to use it, but I’ve gone ahead with my wiki pattern idea and gotten a wiki. Hopefully before too long we’ll have a place where knitters can post patterns and other knitters can add to them or correct them as they knit. Obviously, there are many kinks to work out – I need to see if you can make the name of the designer uneditable, and also to make sure that patterns that are copyrighted are not posted. For those reasons, I won’t be sharing the site until it’s set up. But it exists, and I think it has potential!

Also on the menu of things to come, I’m trying to learn how to edit Cascading Style Sheets and get this blog looking purty. I’ve got a temporary banner all ready to go, but I’m afraid that if I put it up the world will come crashing down. Actually, this past week, the template that I use broke, and I had a nasty scare as it happened the same day my CSS upgrade came through. I thought I’d somehow killed the blog. But I had not, and it may, with luck, be pretty soon.

I’ve also got a domain now, though it seems to be taking a few days to set up. Soon you’ll be able to eliminate the middleman, though, and come straight to www.knittingkninja.com. I think that makes things a little simpler and cleaner.

There’s a knitalong for Maude Louise on Crafster, started by quikroxy85! If you’d like to join in, you can do so here. I have to confess that I got teary when I saw it. It’s hard to believe that people want to knit something I came up with. I’m about halfway through making the other sizes and making the pattern into a pdf, so stay tuned. I’m kind of lousy at math, so please bear with me as my progress may be slow and my mistakes many.

There have been some questions posed about possible yarn substitutes for Maude Louise. The good news is that Andean Silk is a worsted weight yarn, so almost any worsted weight will do. If I have to make specific recommendations, though, I’m going to suggest avoiding super dark colors and anything with a lot of color variation. Because the twisted stitches are against a stockinette background, they stand out considerably less than a usual cable might. This was intentional, but on a very dark color or with a lot of variation, they may get swallowed up altogether. You’d still have a fitted waist, but the pretty detail could be lost.

If price is an issue, Elann’s Peruvian Highland Wool comes in a HUGE range of colors and costs only $2.25 a skein. I can see so many colors I think would look marvelous. If you’re looking to make a more springy cardigan, Knit Picks’ Shine Worsted would make for a more lightweight and cooler jacket, though I don’t much fancy the color options. If price is less of an issue, the options are endless. I think that Misti Alpaca Worsted would be a luxurious choice. It is soft as anything, and comes in a huge range of colors. And finally, here is a link to yarns that Yarndex says are the same weight as Andean Silk. Hope that helps!

One final note – when I put up the new pattern for Maude Louise, I will be editing the notes to go with it to tell you how to make sure the waist fits, because bust size doesn’t always determine waist size. The pattern is being written in a standard way, with the assumption that everyone who has a size 32 bust has the same waist size, but I’ll be telling how to edit the pattern for yourself to make sure that you end up with something that fits. If you are making Maude in any size larger than the size 32″ size, please read these parts of the notes very carefully. The waist section should stretch, but there’s only so far that will go, and it would be awful to finish and find that you’d made something all out of proportion to you.

G’night, all! I’m off to sleep for a while.

Posted in Knitting, Maude Louise, Miscellany | 3 Comments »

Maude Louise

March 3, 2007

March 29, 2009 update:  Whoops!  All of a sudden this old post is getting a lot of traffic.  The pattern for Maude Louise has been completely rewritten as of this month, and you can get it here. Sorry for any inconvenience.  The entirety of this post applies to previous incarnations of this pattern, none of which was entirely complete.  Even if you’ve downloaded Maude Louise before, I highly recommend downloading the new pattern rather than trying to work with the old.  I’m leaving these notes, up, though, in case they help anyone who has the old pattern still.

IMPORTANT: If you downloaded the pattern prior to March 12th 2007, there is a major error in it. Please see the corrections here and here. I’m very sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Well, I’m exhausted, and I don’t really want to do math ever again (though I shall be doing lots shortly to figure out the other sizes), but I finished the pattern in my own size! Ha! Victory is mine! I do the happy ninja dance of joy and drink the blood of my enemies in celebration! Um, OK, maybe I don’t drink the blood of my enemies, but I am boogying in my seat pretty hardcore. Oh yeah.

I apologize in advance for any errors and remind you again to let me know about them as you come across them. Before you start, please be sure to look at the notes here.

The latest version of Maude Louise has multiple sizes, but not in the sleeves.  Until I figure out the math on this one, you can use these great instructions, or those found in Barbara Walker’s Knitting From the Top, to make the sleeves work even without me knowing how you should make them from the bottom up.

On the subject of torsos and the many sizes in which they come, I wanted to discuss the sizes I’ve given in my pattern. Maude Louise is intended to have a fitted waist, but there are a few important things to keep in mind to make sure your sweater fits. One is bust size, of course, and all of those are listed in the top, but I wanted to explain how big the waist is for each size. That way, if you want to mix and match bust and waist size, you’ll know how many stitches you need. Bear with me.

The size 32 and 36 inch bust each have a 27 inch waist that gets a little smaller when seamed. It stretches, so it shouldn’t be a problem if your waist is a little bigger or smaller than 27 inches. The size 40 and 44 inch busts have a waist size of 32 inches. The size 48 and 52 have a 35 inch waist, and the size 56 has a 42 inch waist. This is assuming you’re knitting in gauge, of course. Now, I’m limited here by the lattice stitch, which requires the addition of a very particular number of stitches to come out right. However, there are two ways you can make sure this sweater fits your own particular waist. One way, if you’re knitting in gauge, would be to see if one of the measurements I’ve listed is close to your own, and swap out the number of stitches on the bottom half of the sweater for the one that will fit you best. The other, probably more precise way, is a bit more work. You’re going to have to knit a few more gauge swatches of the lattice stitch, on several different sized needles. By changing the gauge around, you should be able to make a sweater that fits your body type.

One last note – the size 40 and 42 are designed so that the waist seams will not line up perfectly at the sides. If it all works out as I think it will, this won’t matter much, but it’s certainly possible that I’m wrong. If I am, I will be sure to try to fix it. Anyway, I think the twisting will be minimal and won’t really show when the sweater is worn, but please do keep me updated if you run into any problems with it.

Thanks for reading all of this, and good luck! Send me pictures of your finished projects – I really want to share.

Posted in Free Patterns, Jackets, Knitting, Maude Louise, Self Designed | 27 Comments »

Gulp. (Notes on Maude Louise)

March 2, 2007

So here’s what is happening with the pattern for Maude Louise. Finished or not, I will be posting it tomorrow, hopefully as a download, provided I can figure out how to do that. The likelihood is that I won’t be finished, but not to worry – I will update it as I finish and continue to update as people let me know about problems in the pattern. (And there will be problems, though hopefully not too many!) Right now I’ve only got it in one size – mine, and I am a fairly stretched out sort of person, so bear this in mind if you decide to start. I’m 5’10″, and I have a very long torso and very long arms, so there may need to be some modifications for people who are of a smaller stature. Other notes: I have a 34 inch bust, but I made Maude at 32 inches to make her more fitted. If you want your version to fit closely, make the chest two inches smaller than your actual bust size. The Andean Silk I used stretches very well, and relaxed a lot when I blocked it. I don’t think that a stiff yarn would work very well, since that stretchiness is pretty necessary for fit.

I’m trying to think what else a knitter would need to know about Maude Louise. I used three different needle sizes in making the torso area, in order to keep increases and decreases to a minimum. For this reason, gauge is very, very important. DO NOT try to make this pattern without swatching first. Since the end result is supposed to be fitted, it’s doubly important. On a bulky garment, it’s not as huge a deal if you’re off by a little bit, but being off a little on this one could leave you with something totally unwearable. There’s meant to be a fair amount of stretch in the waist. Because of the fact that it’s in lattice stitch, many of the sizes will begin with the same waist sizing on different needle sizes – it goes up by a full five inches if I add more stitches to the waist. The waist on mine measures 27 inches when I’m not wearing it. I think my waist is a little bigger than that, and it stretches without looking pinched. If you’re worried about waist size, though, go up a needle size instead of adding stitches. The lattice stitch is done in multiples of 16 (+2) so the increases are pretty sharp.

I think that’s it! Wish me luck in finishing this pattern, and tomorrow I’ll post it. C’est la guerre!

Posted in Free Patterns, Jackets, Knitting, Maude Louise | Leave a Comment »

Tinkering

February 19, 2007

Good news, for those on the lookout for it – the pattern for Maude Louise is well underway and should be up within a week or two. I finally found some buttons that fit, and since they’re fairly large, the weird spacing doesn’t show as much. We took some pictures, already highlighted on Craftster, though about half of them didn’t turn out, thanks to the wonky camera. I’m dreaming of inheriting a vast fortune from a mysterious and heretofore unknown source, so that I can buy a camera that actually works (and many things besides). However, for those who haven’t seen them, here are the buttons on what I’m going to call a finished Maude Louise.

The buttons are some vintagey things I found on Ebay – I got a HUGE lot of mixed vintage buttons, and these seemed poifect for Maude when I went through the bag. They’re a dark, almost black, brown with a weird little imperfection that sent a short line of milky pale brown through each. I really adore them.

Here’s a better view of the stitches.

I feel pretty foolish that it’s taking me so long to write up the pattern, but I’m finding it difficult work. It’s been really weird writing something that seems like it should be so straightforward, and then questioning everything as soon as I’ve typed it. Oh well. It will be done soon, probably error ridden, and you’ll be able to grab it for yourself then. I’m hoping people will keep me updated on errors so that I can correct them as we go along.

Since the camera isn’t giving me any loving, I thought I’d post a picture of an ancient project.

This is a baby set made for a friend way back when. The little man who received the set is now almost two! I can’t remember the name of the yarn, but I wish I could, because it’s fabulous stuff. It is a wool/acrylic blend, totally washable, a little bit thicker than worsted weight, and it comes in the biggest skein I’ve ever seen. Yards upon yards, for a reasonable price. I had a lot leftover still, after making this set. The jacket is my standard baby present – a Red, Set, Go! cardigan from Monkeysuits – but I crocheted the hat, and altered a basic bootie pattern for the rest. The buttons are vintage buttons I inherited from my grandmother. I loved making this set, and now that I can’t find the yarn anywhere, I wish I’d bought an extra skein.

Enjoy the presidents tomorrow! I hope you have a restful day.

Posted in Future Projects, In progress, Knitting, Maude Louise, Miscellany, Self Designed | Leave a Comment »

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