Vancouver V-neck progress report #1

Mary Ann Stephens' "Vancouver" by Dale of Norway

All three of my sons play football,  so I’m a very busy spectator, this time of the year.  Vancouver is the perfect project for my purpose – simple enough that I can blast through the stockinette portions without missing any action on the field, yet interesting enough at some points to make it appealling to a geeky knitter like me (or you, perhaps?).  And, it gets me into the Olympic spirit…even if I am just lollygagging on the bleachers.

I’ve read the pattern through and it seems pretty straight forward.  However, there are little things here and there that I thought I’d mention to you; things I’ll tweak a bit in mine that you might want to consider, too.

First, as always, we need to consider what needle sizes we’ll use.  Patterns really never tell you this, they merely suggest a starting point for testing as many needles sizes as you find necessary until one of them finally gets you the precise, indicated gauge.  Really, these needle size suggestions in patterns, although a standard step, are really misleading, at best.  I think there could be many more happy FO’s if we entirely did away with needle size suggestions in patterns.  If you want to end up with a sweater made to the specified dimensions, try various needle sizes – not merely the suggested size – out in your own, personal knitting tension until you find the right ones for you.  (Hint: I’m using different sizes.  I might even use a third, different size for the stranded work, too…we’ll see!)

Obviously, my yarn color is different, too.  Had to be! (BTW, that’s Daletta “mist” 2425 you see there.  Nice, huh?!

I’ve also made one minor change in where I put my markers, but I’d like you to consider it, too, for I think it makes things a good bit more foolproof.  I know it will save me from a fair bit of frogging!  The pattern has you place one marker right in the middle of each side.  Actually, with the ribbed panels going up the side, it’s super easy to see right where the middle of each side will be.  The real issue, to my mind anyway, is knowing immediately when to switch from stockinette stitch to ribbing and when to end the ribbing and revert back to stockinette.  It would really be nice to know that in real time, rather than several rounds after I goofed! Rather than use one marker at each side, I use two – one on each end of the ribbing.  Plus, I color code them – red (ok, magenta) means “Stop the stockinette!”, green means “Go back to stockinette!”.   And, dahlink, I just know you love my high-end stitch markers, yes?!

Sleepy Monkey Blanket

Monkster has something he’d like to show you:

Sleepy Monkey Blanket by Mary Ann Stephens Copyright 2009

That’s my Sleepy Monkey Blanket which I designed for the Spring 2009 edition of Twist Collective.

Sleepy Monkey Blanket - back Copyright Mary Ann Stephens 2009

No, that’s not a second blanket – it’s reversible!

Sleepy Monkey Blanket Copyright Mary Ann Stephens 2009

Nifty, huh?

My 3 boys aren’t babies anymore.  These days, they’re far more apt to take a touchdown pass than a nap.  But as I was knitting this blanket, it was fun to think of how they would have enjoyed it when they were little.  I imagined naptime, when they might have “read” the blanket as they sat on my lap: “Look!  There’s that silly winking monkey!  And there’s that sweet little kissing monkey!  But where did my sleepy monkey go?”  Surely, they would have named each of those monkeys.  Hopefully, they would have picked a favorite – a funny little friend to guide them off to Dreamland.

We’re still not sure if those are Life Savers, Jelly Rings or Fruit Loops on the back.  But, I am pretty sure it would have been fun to pretend my monkeys and I were gobbling them up.

With any stranded project I do, one of the hardest things to get past is picking just one colorway to knit first.  Since this was designed for a publication, there were other opinions to consider, too.  First and foremost, it seemed only right to start with a unisex colorway.  I’ve always adored monkeys and I kind of suspected there might be some calls for some more “girly” options.  (I think the first one came about 15 minutes after the new edition went live!)  So here are a couple of my favorites:

Two of many alternate colorways for the Sleepy Monkey Blanket

The final, chosen colorway used Valley Yarns Superwash Merino.  The “virtual swatch” on the left used colors from Valley Yarns Sugarloaf Merino/Acrylic.  Both of those yarns are available through WEBS.  The “virtual swatch” on the right used colors from Dale of Norway Freestyle 100% washable wool.  That yarn is available from…hey, that one’s from ME!

Wow!  In no time at all, I’ve had quite a few requests for more Freestyle colorways.  So, at the bottom of this post, I’ve added a few more “virtual swatches” (colorized charts, not knit samples) based on Freestyle colors.

If you like to knit in the round, you might like to steek your blanket, as I did.  (There’s a mini-tutorial on this topic within the blanket pattern.  You can also read my detailed article on steeks here.)  If you’re using a soft, superwash yarn, you’ll want to machine-sew your steeks – soft yarns are too slippery for crocheted steeks.  If you’re using the same motif layout shown in the example, you’ll want to use worsted or aran weight (4 to 4.5 sts/inch) yarn so that your squares’ circumferences will be large enough to wriggle through the machine. (Of course, if you add a(n) extra repeat(s) of the monkeys across your blanket, you can get away with steeking a finer gauge yarn.)  If you choose to knit your squares flat, by machine or by hand, there’s no circumference to reinforce and open up, so you can use any gauge your heart desires.

Whatever your choice, I hope you and your mokeys have endless fun. And in case those rings on the back turn out to be Jelly Rings, save some for me!

Aubergine, Neptune, Fuchsia, Red & Orange

Aubergine, Shamrock, Wildflower, Fuchsia and Horizon

Dark Taupe, Neptune, Petal Pink, Fuchsia and Horizon

Dark Taupe, Spring Green, Natural, Poppy and Horizon

Navy, Shamrock, Pastel Blue, Red and Cornflower

Aubergine, Shamrock, Yellow, Red and Orange

Aubergine, orange, pastel blue, red, cornflower (Freestyle equivalents of original colorway)