Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Swimming in Stockinette

So months ago I decided to knit a felted vest to match the Anemoi Hat and Mittens (btw, how 'bout that Eunny Jang? Huzzah!). I thought, "I'll knit the mittens first to get a feel for the pattern. Then the hat since coming up with the pattern will be the hardest part of it all. Then I'll just need a few weeks for the vest -- I mean, c'mon, it's a sweater without sleeves! Easy schmeasy."

Back up to the first sentence in this post. Do you see the word "felted" next to the word "vest?" Yup. It's there. But unfortunately, it did not really lodge in my brain. You have to knit a HUGE vest to get it to felt to a medium size. That's a lot of stockinette stitch. Right now I'm past the armhole divide and working on the back (the sides are done) and this beast is the biggest honkin' thing I have ever knit. It stretches from one side of my Queen bed to the other and is at least 2 1/2 feet in length.

And now it's warmed up. So I'm knitting on the patio, with 80 degree weather, with a heavy pile of wool on my lap. Ugh. I am planning to felt it on Saturday. I cannot wait.



Meanwhile, I finished up a mistake rib scarf in Malabrigo Stonechat. It is the most fantastic yarn! I can't believe that Liz is lucky enough to have a sweater made with Malabrigo -- how simply wonderful!

13 comments:

Sally said...

Lovely yarn and scarf!

I can't wait to see the vest. The mittens and hat were stunning, this will be amazing!

Mo said...

I'm sure if the vest comes close to the hat and mittens, it will be worth all the laps around the stockinette pool. Can't wait to see it.

Liz K. said...

I hope we have all learned a lesson here. Felting an adult sized garment should always give one pause.

Sorry you've learned the hard way. Let me at this point not recommend knitting an adult garment in denim either.

Anonymous said...

That is a beautiful scarf - really lovely colors! Malabrigo..mmm....

Annie said...

That scarf is really pretty! I can't wait to see the vest...

Jamie C. said...

Great scarf...and I agree about the weather. When it is cold, I am knitting little cotton things and somehow when it is warm I am always knitting wools things!

LaurieM said...

Coincidence.... I have a felted sweater made of Manos. You can see a picture here: http://issueswithknitting.blogspot.com/2006/09/good-bad-and-fixable.html
and read about it here:
http://issueswithknitting.blogspot.com/2006/08/hello-daddy.html

Ann said...

Oh my lord. Laurie, I just read your post about the felted Manos Rogue -- the horror!

Anonymous said...

What a lovely photo!

Angelika said...

Are you sure this is going to be a vest? I hope it shrinks down to the right measurements. Is there a certain ratio one can follow?

Dorothy said...

A felted vest?! That would be gigantic. I can't wait to see it though. Here's hoping the knitting goes so well that it's over sooner than you thought it would be.

Beautiful scarf. Malabrigo around the neck is amazing! so soft and warm.

Tina said...

Ann. You look perplexed. (And beeyootiful, as always, and so does the scarf.)

re. vest -- I look forward to developments.

Did you know that Eunny is, like, 9 years old? (Just kidding. More like a ripe old 22 or something.) Amazing woman, she is. Just think when she's a nice, young, oh, twice that age.

Anonymous said...

That really is a gorgeous Malabrigo colorway. Sorry about the 80 degrees. It almost makes ME, sitting here in sleet and 30-degree weather, feel bad for YOU. :)