Ply and Burl

All that careful washing and shaping and what do I find nesting on my Hourglass Sweater last night, ever so comfy and snuggled in?

8$%@!$&* Iggy! Damnit.

But still, is he not irresistably cute? Aw.

Part deux of the three part series on washing my Hourglass Sweater, made with Elsabeth Lavold’s Silky Wool, nine-months untouched by soap and water.
(See here for Part one, The Prelude..)

Finally, got the tool I needed: a sweater drying rack. Just $7 at Target!

Soap, water, sink to wash it in? Check.

Get the water sudsy, then take the plunge!

While the sweater is soaking, run downstairs and find the vinegar. Bragg’s apple cider, “With the Mother,” as it says on the label.

After draining the soapy water, and giving it a good squeeze out, this is all we’ve got for nine months of grit.

But after the second rinse, the sink came clean!

Final rinse, we (gulp!) add the vinegar and swish swish swish,..

Mmm, smells like “The Mother”

Lay it out on the towel and roll up to squeeze out the water.

Voila, laid out to dry! Shaping is a little tricky because the rack is small, and the sleeves seem to have gotten a little longer (eek!), so stay tuned for part three, when we see how it dried!

My hourglass sweater, poor girl: she hasn’t been washed since I finished her. IN APRIL.

I know that this timeframe seems thoroughly disgusting, but it’s actually a self-moderating cycle. I’m don’t wear her much because I don’t want to get her dirty because I’m too afraid to wash her! I knit her in Elsebeth Lavold’s Silky Wook and I haven’t, in the past, found good instructions for washing it. My neurosis stems from the fact that the texture of this yarn reminds me of a sweater I owned in high school. Every time I washed that sweater, the sleeves grew an inch and the body shrunk an inch. As a result, I’m a little gun shy. Nine months gun shy, to be exact.

I love this sweater and want to wear it more, so the time has come to confront my fears. I’ve done a little research (read: googled and taken the first result) and I’m ramping up to wash the sweater. Tonight!

What I need? A sweater drying rack. I’m off to Target to buy one this afternoon, so stay tuned for Installment 2!

In the meantime, for those who are interested, here are Instructions for washing Elsebeth Lavold’s Silky Wool from The Knitters Review. For the extended article on this yarn at Knitters Review, click here.

“[Lavold] advises that you turn your Silky Wool garment inside-out before you wash it, and that you use a mild detergent in lukewarm water. She also suggests you add a teaspoon of vinegar to your last rinse to revitalize the wool and silk.

“My swatches didn’t bleed in lukewarm or warmer water. They washed and rinsed beautifully, drying into perfect shape and becoming a soft, fuzzy, cohesive fabric.

“The silk offsets the innate fiber memory of wool, which means you’ll want to give extra care to reshape your garment before letting it dry.”

Maybe this will give me the courage to wash and photograph my final Sunrise Circle Jacket too!

Awww… aren’t we sweet? We’re having dinner on my birthday overlooking the lake and generally being much more giddy than this pic would give away. Note - even though you can’t see it, I’m wearing my Hourglass sweater! Also note, this may be the one and only picture of myself I ever post.

Oh, and Thank you to my secret pal for my birthday ecard!

Blocked the Hourglass sweater late last week — it’s the first sweater I’ve made since 1999. The 1999 sweater was so bulky, and thus so incredibly warm, that I’ve only been able to wear it once in the ensuing seven years. That was one day two years ago when it was -8 degrees out. And I wore it as a JACKET.

For the hourglass blocking, I took a tip from Christine and bought a “Superboard” to pin the sweater into. Its great because it has all the measurments right on it so you can block to the intended size. However, the cardboard is a little thin so the pins went right through it. Since the sweater was a silk/wool blend (Elsebeth Lavold’s Silky Wool) I steam blocked it with an iron. It worked wonderfully… and when I’m brave enough, I post a pic of myself wearing it.

Wahoo! My Hourglass Sweater is finally finished!

Sadly, the neck does feel like it’s going to stretch and fall off my shoulders. I can’t complain — I was warned by many a knitter to knit a few extra rows to make the neck smaller, but when I tried it on, it just didn’t feel as wide as it did once I’d finished. Any advice for how to keep the neck a smaller size without frogging and adding rows? I wove a thread through it, but I’m not sure how much that’ll help.

And, for kicks, more spring flowers!

Since the beginning of his sordid affair with the bunny rabbit, the sock monkey could CARE about my hourglass sweater. Even though I’ve finished the second sleeve, attached it, and started the yolk.

Fickle monkey.

Apparently, as soon as I finished the long labor of my first Hourglass sleeve (having ripped out the initial try), the sock monkey just HAD to do an Eka Pada Sirsasana in it. In the middle of the living room in front of everyone.

Smug monkey, always looking for ways to show off his mad yoga skills.

Gauge Update/Mystery: The body of the Hourglass sweater was not worked on an Inox, but on a Mystery Needle! See below:

I thought it was an Addi at first, but the cord looks different than my new Addis — it’s a tough black plastic. Also the actual needle parts are longer. One additional clue is that there is a small “45″ impressed into the metal at the bottom of each needle. Finally, the needles spin at the point where they attach to the cord.

Cry for Help: Can you identify this needle? Have a guess? Leave a comment!

p.s. I couldn’t resist posting this pic — I made the cats a bed out of a salvation army basket and a cushion fashioned with fleece scraps I have. Apparently they like it enough to sleep in a pile :).

p.p.s. An additional update: I ripped out the Hourglass sleeve that was knit on the DPs. Until I identify the mystery needle, I’m going to click along with the 2 circulars on the second sleeve and see if the gauge loosens up as the piece gets heavier.

I’m still working on my Hourglass sweater — the body up to the armpits and half of each sleeve are done. But here’s the thing: they all have different gauges!

The body has 19 sts per 4″ (done on an Inox circular US 7).

The first sleeve has 20 sts per 4″ (done on Inox US 7 double pointeds).

The second sleeve has 22 sts per 4″(done on 2 Addi turnbo US 7 cirulars)!

I made the switch from the DPs to the Addi circulars because the DPs were resulting in really bad fabric — even though I tightened every first and last stitch and moved the DPs around to avoid ladders, there were giant loose stitches peppered throughout.

I bought two Addis instead of a second Inox circular to work the sleeve because I figured if I was going to spend the money, I might as well upgrade.

I am not so surprised at the variation between Inox circular and the Inox DPs — but I amtotally surprised about the difference between the gauge of the sleeve worked on two Addi ciruclars vs. the body and the other sleeve.

Though I’ve certainly heard about gauge differences between ciruclars vs. DPs vs. straight needles, I’ve never heard of such a giant gauge difference between three metal needles of different brands.

Have you heard of this before? Let me know!

Also, any advice? Rip out the sleeves and use 2 inox circulars? Keep the tighter sleeve but adjust the stitches? Quit altogether?