Episode 35: Sweater love

Episode 35: Sweater Love (46:00)

Our sweater strategies
We dissect our sweater knitting.

Jenny's a finisher!
Harold's sweater
School products cashmere/merino
Nicole gets distracted!
Tilted Duster! (still not finished as of 11/05/07)
Carolyn 1
Carolyn 2
Spit splice
Ready Set Knit

Sweater Fantasy
We contemplate the confluence of sweater patterns and stash (more links soon!)

Drops 103-1
FlintKnits Drops 103-1
Forecast
Bianca's Jacket
Cardigan for Arwen
Pearl S. Buck Swing Jacket (scroll down)
Asymmetrical Cardigan
Frost Jacket (from Norah Gaughan's Knitting Nature)
Sweater #10: Cabled Cardigan (from Anniversary issue of VK--VK site down right now)
Mariah
Aurora Cabled Cardigan
Curry Cables
Lace Leaf Cardigan
Bobbi Bear
Bristow
Candy pattern; the other Candy (scroll down)
Josephine
Starsky
Placed Cable Aran
Weekend Pullover
Three Penny Pullover (it's on page 11 of the ePreview)
Tubey
Ogee Tunic (from Norah Gaughan's Knitting Nature)
Reindeer sweater (from VK Holiday 2007--VK site down right now)
Turbulence Pullover (from Norah Gaughan's Knitting Nature)
Danish Nattrojer
Thermal
Wicked
Equinox Yoke Pullover
Skull raglan

Music
Dig Me Out: Sleater Kinney
Beat: Thao with the get down stay down
Ich Bin Der Stricherjunge: Stereo Total

Comments

[Lolee]

Another great podcast. Thanks a lot, ladies!

[caro]

I spit splice with Cascade 220 ALL the time. I peel off 2 inches or so of two of the plies on each end, wet them, roll 'em in my hands and voila! Done. Using half the plies from each side means no bulk and no obvious join. Works like a charm.

[javede]

Great episode! Eventhough I read a lot of blogs, I hadn't read about november beeing sweater month, hey I'm knitting a sweater so actually a knit-along I could join!

Btw. I was just wondering if you knew the translation of Stricherjunge, my mum looked really funny at me when she just came in, I hadn't even realized what he was singing about ;-P

[Leslie]

Great new episode. I haven't knit a sweater in a few months but I'm now inspired. I want to knit a good old-fashioned Hourglass -- maybe I'll do it soon. By the way, I knit Arwen (you can see on my Ravelry projects -- LGordon555). If you do it, use provisional cast-ons and keep bind-off stitches live. You can then do three-needle bind-offs instead of traditional seaming (if you hate it like I do!). Also, although the cabling is just along the edges, it's a reversible cable so you cable on just about every row (unlike traditional cables, which rest for several rows). Anyway, those are my unsolicited two cents! :)

[Nabs-chan]

I've spit spliced plied yarns, but like you, I was a bit paranoid about it coming undone in the beginning. So what I did instead was russian joined the two yarns, THEN spit spliced it.

Once I got more confident that the spit splices would hold, I'd instead cut the yarn at extreme angles, frayed the ends just a bit, overlapped them, then spit splice. Then there was no bulkiness because of the way it was cut.

[Cirilia]

Hi girls! I think I may have been the one who told Pixie about spit splicing...but that's only because I tell every knitter in the world to do it, it's even in the notes of my Gallery Jacket pattern!!

Basically, I love it. I found a way to tell each and every Webs customer about it while they shopped. You don't have to use spit, water works though not as well for some reason. The key is to rough up those ends. Pull plies, loosen some fibers, etc. Then rub like crazy, it doesn't matter what direction but if it's a plied yarn I do like to go in the direction of the twist because the end result will look neater. Singles/roving, forget about it! The messier, the better. I can't tell you how amazing it is to have A) a totally invisible, secure join and B) no ends!

As for the security--I have never had a problem and I've spit spliced on...basically every project I've ever knit where the yarn is feltable.

Also--I can't believe how timely your episode is--I just started a contest called NoSoNaFiSweMo--people have to guess which sweaters I'll finish in November. There are 8. 8 sweaters I've abandoned.

[Sarah]

Thanks for another great episode! I just finished the first of the two sweaters I had on the needles last night, so I feel like I'm sort of participating in NaKniSweMo.

Oh, and I use spit slicing all the time and I've never had a problem!

[holly]

Great episode, per usual! I have two sweaters that I would love to finish in November, but I don't have a lot of faith that it will happen. They're both intended for Christmas presents, so maybe December? It's times like these that I have to ask myself why I married a man who is 6'5" and 225 pounds. It takes a lot of sweater to cover him up!

[pamela wynne]

Thanks for the mention! And also for the Sleater-Kinney. :)

I spit-splice absolutely everything I possibly can -- any non-superwash animal fiber, and lots of animal fiber blends. xo

[Sasha]

Thanks for the wicked ep! Thoroughly enjoyed it as usual :) PLUS.. I've signed up for NaKniSweMo! Or.. NaKniJuMo (I'm in AUstralia) !! I'm using the Centreal Park Hoodie, which granted I've already done 18% of it (not at that tilt point yet!) but seeing as we're 30% (!!!) through November already I figure that's fair. THIRTY PERCENT. Yikes! Thanks again!! Happy knitterings! xo

[alison]

Thanks for the shout-out! I too want to knit the DROPS Eskimo Jacket. I won't be finishing a sweater this month, but thanks for all the links to all these lovely ones.

[Butzelkuh]

Thank you for another great episode! And so many pattern suggestion - as if my Ravelry queue isn't long enough already... ;-)

BTW, I too had a good laugh about the song at the end... ;-)

[Manda]

Here is a possibility for some of Jenny's yarn. Plain, but I think very functional... http://www.magknits.com/Nov07/patterns/basicblack.htm or maybe http://www.cosmicpluto.com/blog/?p=421 OR.. http://www.cosmicpluto.com/blog/?p=572 this is my next sweater, as soon as I finish my Callie Cardigan. :)

[Elysbeth]

What about the Yarn Girl "Give the Customer what they Want" Cardigan?

[Karma]

Loved this podcast! Probably because I love knitting sweaters. The part that stuck out in my mind the most, though, was the discussion about spit splicing. I'm with Cirilia; I spit splice everything possible. It's very sturdy and reliable, barely any ends to weave in, and with some practice it is not noticable at all. I'm about to start my Tilted Duster (yay!) and will be spit splicing the Peruvia for sure. It's way too bulky to try to weave in later.

Thanks again for the fabulous podcast!

[claire]

yes, hooray for spit splicing! and for the superwash or "other" yarns, I try to use sockpron's cool weave as you go method. I too am lazy, sometimes I just hold the new yarn doubled and knit with it as is. lazy lazy. I'm also looking for "perfect" next sweater after CPH

[Sally Villarreal]

It's funny that I finally got around to listening to this at the end of NaKniSweMo. It's also ironic that I chose not to do a sweater for NaKniSweMo. I'm finishing Christmas gifts, so I'm in small project land. I'm hoping to finish the Knucks tonight.
http://sallycomesunraveled.blogspot.com/2007/11/nakniswemo.html

I'm looking forward to a sweater in January. I'm intrigued by Candy now. I have a lot of stash yarn that is only enough for part of a sweater in my size. It's perfect for mixing colors.

I did my first spit splice this past week, and worked well, even in superwash. I was at knitting group. They said the key was to rub real hard against your pant leg. I rubbed until the friction almost made it too hot too handle.
http://sallycomesunraveled.blogspot.com/2007/11/fo-longhorn-socks.html

Someone from my knitting group is working on Thermal. It's going great, but It's taking her years in the Knit Picks Gloss.
http://mightygoodyarn.blogspot.com/2007/09/geroff.html