Sally called and sounded good — the nerve block had not worn off yet! The surgery went well and now she just has to get through the recovery phase. Thanks for the kind thoughts. Keep the pain meds on board, Surly!
PS — not much knitting today and I did not even go to my knitting group. We decided to paint the kitchen.  I’ll be having my head examined sometime early next week.Â
As you read our blog today, please send your positive thoughts to Sally as she undergoes her surgery and starts a very lengthy recovery. She is having bunion surgery, which always sounds easier than it is. Both Sally and my brother have suffered from this — I was spared, thank goodness! The surgery is incredibly painful with a long and cumbersome recovery. Her surgeon is supposed to be the best, so we are hoping that all goes well.
GOOD LUCK, SURLY!
I have been knitting like a fiend because I wanted to get done with the bottom border of the sweater. I have six inches complete in four grueling days — I am on vacation this week so work has not interfered with my real job! The pace will slow down now.Â
Here is a progress picture:
This sweater will never look as good as Henry the VIII because the gauge is not quite as fine, but I love the rich colors. The little white things you see in the picture are my expensive stitch markers (cut up drinking straws), marking off each pattern repeat.
I was going to upload some of my fair isle sweater pictures, but I am rushing around like a chicken with my head cut off due to my surgery tomorrow. But then I realized I do have a photograph that shows me wearing a finished sweater AND is one of my favorite photographs for other reasons. Some of you will know why. The sweater pattern is called Mary Tudor.
Knitters are intimidated by fair isle because of its perceived complexity. Yes, these are challenging projects, don’t get me wrong. However, they look harder than they are. The time consuming part of the process is the gauge: usually 30 sts and 36 rows to 4″.  AS’s new yarns knit up to a larger gauge: 28 sts and 32 rows per 4″ — still not what I would call bulky!! For my size sweater, I am knitting 347 sts every round and each round takes forever!
Facts and fiction:
To keep track of the colors, I made a color card with the name and symbol of each color next to a small length of yarn. Some colors are very similar and difficult to keep straight. To keep track of where you are in the pattern, use sticky notes — place the sticky edge along the TOP line of the row you are on. Another thing people use is a magnetic board. Either way, you need to have a visual line to follow to keep track of your work.
There you have it: Fair Isle 101. Once you’ve done one of these, it all makes sense!
Wendy asked to see the inside of the color work. I thought I’d share a picture from an already finished sweater because this design really shows the reverse image of the stranding. Here is the outside (public) view:
And the inside:
This design is Henry the VIII from Tudor Roses. Now I must knit!
I’m sure some of our regular readers have noticed I haven’t been posting much lately. I’ve been distracted. I’m having surgery on the 27th and that has taken up some of my mental energy.
It’s just outpatient surgery on my foot, but I know the recovery period is slow, frustrating, and painful. I expect to get LOTS of knitting done then.
In the meantime, scroll down to my sister’s post below and look at that gorgeous Starmore design. I’m also a big fan of Alice Starmore and of her daughter, Jade. Susan and I have knit many fair isles between the two of us; maybe during my convalescence I can try to finally get around to photographing some of my completed ones for the gallery here.
I am a huge, long-time fan of Alice Starmore — probably more like a groupie — and have made several of her sweaters. She represents the pinnacle of design. Her patterns are unusually detailed and typically flawless. Embarking on one of her fair isles is a long journey for me, and a labor of love. With every stitch, you marvel at the use of color: both in every strand of yarn and the way the colors come together to create the final tableau. I have had the yarn for this project aging like a fine wine for a few years now. I am ready for the quest to begin.
I have a particular affinity for this design. Years ago, I signed up for a two-day workshop on “color” and knitting ganseys. The yarn shop owner told me I just had to take this class, “The teacher is great,” she said, and I signed up even though I had never heard of Alice at that point. AS was travelling around the country with her yarn and patterns in tow, teaching workshops to the uninitiated. The first day, she was wearing the Oregon Cardigan in the original (spring) colorway. As I sat listening in rapt attention to her every word, I stared at that sweater. I thought it was incredible and wondered where on earth she got it. A crazy realization slowly crept over me (like I said, I was truly uninitiated!) — she had knitted it herself. Not only that, but designed it as well. I had never seen anything like it and could not imagine knitting anything of that complexity. Fair isle knitting, with its colorwork and steeks, became the grail.
A few years later, Sally and I went on the knitting tour I mentioned in an earlier post. AS was one of the instructors. She taught a half day session on fair isle knitting. Other than Sally and me, no one in the class had heard of her, like me years before. To show us how to cut steeks, she cut the sweater shown above — that exact sweater. So, it became a personal goal for me to knit Oregon. I love both colorways, but the Autumn really spoke to me. We also dined with AS the evening before the class. WOW! That remains my best knitting moment of all time.
So, I have started Oregon. I will post a picture soon. It is a slow go for me and will progress at glacial speed. This will be my my fourth fair isle. Once hooked, it is hard to resist the siren call!
Whew, it was touch and go there for a while, but Sunrise pulled through. The hump appears to be a thing of the past. Sunrise is recovering nicely.Â
Ideally I should have taken the extra fabric out as follows, but it would have meant a LOT more work:
Instead, I took the extra length from the top along the basting line.
From the inside:
I dismantled the I-cord, machine stitched along the basting line, and trimmed off the excess. I then picked up sts, re-knit the I-cord and tacked down the cut edge. After that, I grafted the facing back onto the I-cord.Â
I wouldn’t recommend doing it this way if you can avoid it! I have a couple of things in my favor:
Most people do not like to cut OR graft. What I would have done differently is to shape the back neck as I was knitting the garment. That’s where the designer comes in. And as I said before, I am not faulting her. She designed an incredibly unique and fun project. You often don’t know what the fit issues will be until after the garment is constructed.
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Let me say first of all that I am not here to cast stones. I know how difficult it is to design sweaters. Not that I’m famous or anything, but I am in a couple of books. It looks easier than it is. So, I am bringing this potential problem to people’s attention to help them fix it, not to diss the designer.
I am trying to find buttons so I can finish my Sunrise Circle Jacket. I tried on the jacket and (again) noticed a “hump” at the back neck — just below the back collar. I thought I had corrected it by increasing the length of the inside facing slightly. This did not fully take care of the hump. I don’t think the hump is there because of a physical problem on my part. My back neck area is one of the few parts of my body that I have never thought — gee, I wish I could fix that.Â
So, I had two thoughts: one, do nothing. Two, fix it. Once you see a problem like this, it’s hard to just leave it there. I wear my sweaters. A lot. I don’t want to sit there the whole time I’m wearing Sunrise thinking about the back of my neck! So, I’m going to dismantle the back neck, redo the i-cord turning row and reattach the facing. Wish me luck!
‘Cheaper than therapy’ is a not a phrase I coined and has been used often, but that does not make it any less true. Mary, you know what I mean! I need to go to my knitting group — especially now that my job has gotten more stressful. It really is the highpoint of my week (“What a gripping life you must lead.”). I’m glad Sally has gotten a group going, even if it is not a regular thing yet.
Mary just completed her Ponchette, but it was still drying from being blocked. The unveiling is next week. We welcomed a new member to the group: Ginny. She is a great knitter and happens to know many of the group members already! Her knitting journey and mine are running in tandem. She has many of the same (identical) projects, so I must respect her FANTASTIC taste. She was working on the most gorgeous garter stitch shawl in Kidsilk Haze (color Trance? — light teal) with a bead accent. (Sally, you would be starting another shawl, believe me).
If you want to start a knitting group, here are some things I have learned that has made our group so successful:
After going to my group for five years, my husband finally says, “Oh, it’s Thursday — it must be knitting night.” Even my work friends caught on after six months! Oh well, at least he gets it now!
I am taking a few days off, but going nowhere (in more ways than one), so I might get to the “Next Big Thing.” I need to be mentally prepared to embark on a project that will commit me to several months of knitting. It is not to be undertaken lightly, but I am just about ready.
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