Got one repeat finished this week. I’m coping with the heat by mostly working on Firebirds in the evening and morning when it’s cool. Otherwise, I can’t concentrate and end up ripping out all that I knit.

To get out of the heat, this afternoon, I went over to Fusion Beads thinking I might pick up some beads to make some of those fancy stitch markers.

For this project, I’ve been using one to mark the back of the sweater so I don’t forget to flip the repeat (birds on the right side face right and ones on the left face left). I have no trouble keeping track of the front because the steeks are very noticeable. So, no stitch marker for the front.

Anyways, the stitch marker that I’m using came in the goodie bag give out at the  NwRA conference . Ordinarily I wouldn’t purchase such things but I work on this project I’ve grown fond of the one I have and like the feel of a metal marker. The colors even match the sweater.

So, as I was sifting through the packages of crystal beads at the store, I realized it was all quickly getting out of hand; I don’t need another hobby.  I leave the store with only a few plain sterling silver jump rings  that will work well with my new needles.

By the way, I noticed some excellent tutorials on Fusion Beads’ website, including this one on wire wrapping.

After a week of crunching numbers I finally got enough confidence to cast on. Figuring out how wide the body should be wasn’t a problem but I wasn’t sure about adjustments to the neckline. Luckily I got some help from a fellow knitter/blogger whose already tackled this pattern.

When I looked through my supply of 3.5mm circular needles I only found two 24″ and one 47″. I tried using the longer needle but quickly found it was way too large. I then tried using both 24″ needles but found the needle tips a bit troublesome to work around. I was about ready to make a trip to the yarn store for a new 40″ circular when my Knit Picks needles arrived.

A couple of weeks ago after reading all the positive comments about these needles on Knitter’s Review I decided to give them a try. I placed an order for some of the Classic Circular needles and one set of the Options Line needle tips and cords. Apparently, these needles are so popular that Knit Picks is having a hard time keeping up with orders.

So what do I think? After working several rows, I can say they’re much better than my Addi Turbo needles. The cables are wonderfully flexible and the tips are a bit sharper which makes two color knitting easier for me. I’m currently knitting with one of the needles with removable tips and so far haven’t had any trouble with them coming loose. Kudos to Knit Picks for taking knitting needle design one step further. By the way, Clara from KR has an excellent detailed review of these needles.

I’m calling it good.

I increased needle size from 3.25 mm to 3.5 mm and also worked in the round, just as the sweater will be knitted.

Cast on is around the corner once I figure out how large to make the cardigan.

For those who aren’t familiar with patterns from VY, this specific pattern was originally printed in child sizes and the adult size comes as an addendum in the size ordered. I ordered an XL to make sure I have enough yarn but requested the addendum for a large. Now after pondering sizes and measuring all my sweaters, I think I should have asked for a medium.

This week I’ve been looking through every Fair Isle knitting book under the sun trying to get a handle on how to adjust this sweater to fit me.  Adjustments can be pretty vexing when one has a big difference between chest size and hip size. Since Fair Isle sweaters are just big boxes with no shaping for a feminine waist, there actually not that great for women with my type of body shape. While I know this, I still want to go forge ahead and knit this beautiful sweater.

Traditionally the motifs should line up around the body, centered on the back and front and matching at the shoulders. Keeping this in mind, I think the best plan of action is to shorten body by several inches so the bottom edge hits above instead of below my hips. This way, the total circumference will be closer to my chest size and I won’t have to worry about it fitting over my hips.

Just rolled in from spending the past week hanging around “wild fiber” in Yellowstone.
The highlight of the week was getting the opportunity to stay at the
Lamar Buffalo Ranch and take a class called “The Carnivore Conservation Challenge”  from the Yellowstone Association
Institute.

Early in the week I came across decent quantities of buffalo fiber left on the ground near a picnic point in Hayden Valley but I resisted the urge to take any.  Later in the week I had a chance to ask a ranger whether it was OK to take buffalo fiber. She confirmed that it isn’t allowed. I could look but not take it out of the park.

The gift shop at the ranch had some lovely stocking caps for sale from a local company called Thirteen Mile Lamb & Wool Company. Hang tags on the caps mentioned that the company uses locally raised predator friendly wool. I’ve known for some time that ranchers weren’t keen on loosing livestock to wolves and bears but wasn’t aware that there was a program to recognize products that use predator friendly methods to raise their livestock. One of the teachers mentioned that it’s hard to get ranchers interested in having their product labeled “predator friendly” since calves are usually sold to large feed lots with many other cattle. This makes it hard to distinguish between ones raised on predator friendly ranches or non-friendly ranches.

This whole topic is very new to me and has got me thinking more about the wool I use. I’d like to do a little more research on the topic.

Like every vacation, I usually have grand ideas about getting lots of knitting done while traveling in the car or plane. As usual, I was only able to manage a small fraction of what I had planned. This time I only managed to knit a swatch of the Firebirds cardigan.

Instead of knitting the swatch in-the-round, I decided to knit it flat as described in the pattern, which I gather is the more traditional “Fair Isle” way. Using a circular needle I started each row with new strands of yarn and cut them at the end of each row. In this way each row is knitted in stockinette (no purl rows) and is suppose to mimic knitting in the round without having work twice as many stitches.

Notice the long yarn ends? I think it’s unusual to leave them so long, but cutting the ends made me nervous about loose edges so I kept them long.

The swatch turned out to be very tight ,~ 9 sts X 9 rows per inch. I’m was aiming for about 7 sts per inch.  After measuring this swatch I started to regret not knitting it in my usual manner (in-the-round). I suspect that managing all those ends made my tension tighter than it really is. This week I’ll work another swatch but this time do it “in-the-round”. Hopefully I won’t use up too much yarn trying to get a “good” swatch.