With a baby daughter who is uncannily aware of owls, it is perhaps no surprise that I should be keeping my eyes out for sweaters featuring her favorite bird. I received a couple of great suggestions through the comments on my blog, and that got me swimming through Ravelry and googling about for sweaters featuring owls. Originally this quest was to find something for her. But then I came upon a pattern, sized for an adult woman, that I simply couldn't resist: o w l s by Kate Davies.
Kate has kindly made the pattern for this sweater freely available. And the more times I looked at it, the more I knew I had to have it. Knit in the round from the bottom up in aran weight yarn,with feminine shaping and a yoke of cabled owls. A perfect winter sweater addition. Especially since I had the perfect yarn in my stash (a yarn purchased many moons ago on sale and which I just *had* to have -- but which I had no idea what I would do with) ready to roll.
This is Jamieson's Chunky Shetland in the colorway "Eider Duck". It looks grey, but it has lovely flecks of red and blue that give it more depth than your average grey yarn. Definitely owl-y, I think.
The only challenge was to swatch in the round. Rather than truly knitting in the round, I knit square swatches and after each row, slid the swatch back to the left hand needle, drawing a length of unused yarn along the back so that all the rows were knit, as if I was knitting in the round.
After knitting each swatch, I cut the yarn bridges in the back and soaked the swatch in water with a little Eucalan to make sure the yarn had a chance to do anything it might do upon making contact with water. Then I let them dry flat. The top swatch was knit on US 10 needles, the middle swatch was knit on US 10.5 needles and the bottom swatch was knit on US 11 needles*. Of course, with the top two swatches I got the right row gauge but my stitch gauge was too "narrow" and with the bottom swatch, I got the right stitch gauge (3.25 stitches/inch), but my row gauge is off by a bit (4.75 stitches/inch instead of 5). If I was on my own, I would probably choose the tension of the second swatch (I think it's a little better for the long-term wear of the yarn), but the swatch on the US 11/8 mm needles is not all that bad, and the extra stretch/looseness in the fabric will probably be better for a sweater that is meant to be close fittting, but is also made out a yarn that while nice, is unlikely to work directly next to my skin.
By amazing chance, I not only have the circular needles I need, I also have the right sized double points as well (from my felting days) -- which is good, because I think I'm going to start with a sleeve, just to be sure that my gauge holds up in a larger piece -- since we all know how disingenuous swatches can be.
Anyone else out there knitting the o w l s? What yarns are you using?
*As an aside... does anyone know why the US needle numbering system does not include a 7 mm needle? A 10 is a 6 mm needle, a 10.5 is 6.5 mm and an 11 is 8 mm.
Kate has kindly made the pattern for this sweater freely available. And the more times I looked at it, the more I knew I had to have it. Knit in the round from the bottom up in aran weight yarn,with feminine shaping and a yoke of cabled owls. A perfect winter sweater addition. Especially since I had the perfect yarn in my stash (a yarn purchased many moons ago on sale and which I just *had* to have -- but which I had no idea what I would do with) ready to roll.
This is Jamieson's Chunky Shetland in the colorway "Eider Duck". It looks grey, but it has lovely flecks of red and blue that give it more depth than your average grey yarn. Definitely owl-y, I think.The only challenge was to swatch in the round. Rather than truly knitting in the round, I knit square swatches and after each row, slid the swatch back to the left hand needle, drawing a length of unused yarn along the back so that all the rows were knit, as if I was knitting in the round.
After knitting each swatch, I cut the yarn bridges in the back and soaked the swatch in water with a little Eucalan to make sure the yarn had a chance to do anything it might do upon making contact with water. Then I let them dry flat. The top swatch was knit on US 10 needles, the middle swatch was knit on US 10.5 needles and the bottom swatch was knit on US 11 needles*. Of course, with the top two swatches I got the right row gauge but my stitch gauge was too "narrow" and with the bottom swatch, I got the right stitch gauge (3.25 stitches/inch), but my row gauge is off by a bit (4.75 stitches/inch instead of 5). If I was on my own, I would probably choose the tension of the second swatch (I think it's a little better for the long-term wear of the yarn), but the swatch on the US 11/8 mm needles is not all that bad, and the extra stretch/looseness in the fabric will probably be better for a sweater that is meant to be close fittting, but is also made out a yarn that while nice, is unlikely to work directly next to my skin.By amazing chance, I not only have the circular needles I need, I also have the right sized double points as well (from my felting days) -- which is good, because I think I'm going to start with a sleeve, just to be sure that my gauge holds up in a larger piece -- since we all know how disingenuous swatches can be.
Anyone else out there knitting the o w l s? What yarns are you using?
*As an aside... does anyone know why the US needle numbering system does not include a 7 mm needle? A 10 is a 6 mm needle, a 10.5 is 6.5 mm and an 11 is 8 mm.
I love this pattern. I plan on making it too, maybe in Knitpicks Cadena. Can't wait to see yours.
The needle sizing has never made any sense to me!
However, Knitpicks now has 7mm (US 10.75)needles if you want to try for a different gauge.
I was an owl for Halloween when I was about 3... I still remember (vaguely but) very fondly the costume my mom made me. Hope your daughter enjoys her sweater as much!
This sweater is in my queue, but I have a laundry list of knitting that must be done before I get to it! I look forward to seeing yours all done up, because I love the look of this sweater.
That sweater really is cute. I think she's planning a kids version too...
I've had that pattern in my favs for 2 months just waiting to be worked on. I dream about going to Soutache to pick out the perfect buttons for the eyes.
I knew I'd seen US 10 3/4 needles, and not surprisingly European manufacturers like Addi have them. But it turns out that Brittany, which I think is based in California, has a 10 7/8 also, to cover the 7.5mm size: http://brittanyneedles.com/bksize.html
Probably a special-order item for your LYS.
That is a lovely pattern. We love owls at our house as well. My daughter (13 months, 31" tall and 20 lbs. -- we struggle to find pants that fit!) has the cutest pair of Robeez -- http://flickr.com/photos/knittingthemoon/3086458173/
That is so funny. I just came across this pattern and clicked over here to give you the link!
Just saw the cutest free pattern at:
http://www.kelbournewoolens.com/giveahoot.html
It's for mittens with a single owl on the back of each hand.
I don't know why there is no 7mm needles in the US but it annoys the poop of me because unlike I've been assured by the LYS, the gauge is not the same with either the 6.5 or 8mm needles.
I love that pattern. My sister loves owls and when I saw it I though immediately of her. I can't wait to see how yours turns out!
And why is it so hard to find a 4.25 mm needle?
Why do the needles increase in 0.25 mm increments, and then jump 0.5 between US 6 (4.0 mm) and US 7 (4.5 mm)? I need the 4.25 dammit!
After an exhaustive search, I found 4.25 from Plymouth and INOX.
And why is it so hard to find a 4.25 mm needle?
Why do the needles increase in 0.25 mm increments, and then jump 0.5 between US 6 (4.0 mm) and US 7 (4.5 mm)? I need the 4.25 dammit!
After an exhaustive search, I found 4.25 from Plymouth and INOX.
And I love the owls. Perhaps they will appear at our house, too.