When the shoe doesn't fit...

 ...well, we just won't go there (anyone familiar with the original Grimm's Tales will know why).  I wanted to show a few things today that are modifications to existing makes.  

The first is my Poet sweater, that bane of my knitting existence.  I wore it a TON last winter, but the wide neckline always bugged me.  I had snugged it up with some yarn, but it really didn't stay, and even with that fix was still slightly too wide for my shoulders.  When I tried the sweater on in the fall, it was so big it was ridiculous.  I had a moment of panic: did I really spend all that time on a lace work sweater only to shrink out of it so much as to make it unwearable?  I put it away to ponder.  

Sometime in January I decided I was going to try to redo the neckline and add some short rows to raise the back neck, as that also sat a bit funny on me.  I pulled out the ribbing, put everything on size 5 needles and got knitting!  I did the short rows first in plain stockinette; in retrospect, I should have done that on size 6 needles, but I'm not going to try and change it now.  

For the neckline, I picked up half the number of stitches required and then knit the neckline as before, which seemed to pull it in enough!  The fit through the shoulders and upper back is much better now, and it was such a quick fix.  I need to remind myself to just do these things.  (I lengthened the body and cuffs of my Lightweight Pullover and Mackworth sweaters in the fall, also fairly quick fixes).  

I've definitely been happy with the fix and have worn the sweater a few times since.

And my Kazahana.  This was from the early fall, and the crew neckline was not helpful to me once the cold weather really set in.  For a worsted weight sweater, I felt cold in it, and because I probably should have knit a size down, it just sat funny on my shoulders.  

I decided to try adding a turtleneck and see if that would make for a better match of yarn weight and make.  I picked up stitches around the existing neckline on size 7 needles and knit twisted rib until I thought the fold was high enough to cover my neck without flopping around my ears.  

I did sew it down on the inside for a neat finish and like the result very much.  Objectively it isn't that cold right now, but man, I feel it, so this sweater came off needles and went right onto my body.  

I'm trying to figure out what to do with my Dark Moss sweater (if anything).  There are still some fit issues through the shoulders that bug me, and it is slightly shorter than I would like.  It is hard to find the right length for me right now.  Call it a Goldilocks issue.  But the sweater is still plenty wearable (although I really do need to make the sleeves longer).  The main issue is just past the divide for sleeves, so it would mean frogging back quite a lot; after reknitting that yoke three or four times, I'm just not sure I want to do it again.  Part of me wants to just make it again in a different yarn weight and size.  Decisions, decisions.

Off to Tech Week!  

Hyannis Port in the Mid-Atlantic

I figure I better get this sweater posted sharpish since the weather is definitely turning toward spring.  It's not warm yet, but the highs and lows are moving out of deep winter temps and I'm slowly taking away some of my daytime winter layers.  (The trick I've discovered this winter is to start with silk long underwear--not synthetic!--and then a merino wool base layer over that, then my outer clothes, usually a sweater and wool skirt with wool tights, or a sweater with jeans, although truthfully, the jeans aren't as warm as a wool skirt and wool tights.  But I digress.  As usual).

The yarn for this sweater is Brooklyn Tweed Shelter, which is a yarn I've been wanting to try but found the price a little steep. I had a gift certificate to a local yarn store, however, and bought a couple of skeins of the Button Jar colorway, which is a lovely olive-y green with flecks of bright turquoise and yellow. My intention was a small accessory, but once I got it home, I knew I wanted a whole sweater, so I just girded myself and bought enough for a sweater.

The yarn is reasonably nice to knit with on the caveat that I pulled about a cereal bowl's worth of vegetation out of the yarn, which was pretty annoying at times.  The yarn doesn't have a particularly rustic feel but the vegetation, man.  Something else.  It's warm, but not as warm as I would have expected given the worsted weight and the relative density of the fabric I made.

I knew I wanted to make a turtleneck, because along with feeling cold most of the time these days, I find I'm colder in a crew neck.  I hunted around for a pattern that had a turtleneck and some kind of texture that wouldn't drive me bananas to knit (or take the yardage up into the stratosphere) and found the Hyannis Port pullover by Cecily Glowik.  I've made at least one of her patterns before, so I thought it would be okay.  

A couple of pattern notes.  The order of operations on this thing is a little silly.  She has you cast on 102 stitches at the neck, do all the sweater, then go back and cast on the 102 stitches around the neck for the turtleneck.  I wanted a tubular edge on the turtleneck, so I cast on 102 stitches, did the ribbing for however long the pattern says, and then started the pattern for the shoulders.  I also know from my Lightweight Pullover that some short row shaping at the back neck would be helpful, so I added that before beginning the raglan increases.  I also picked up a few more stitches under the arm and added additional decreases to account for it.  The rest of the pattern is fairly straight forward although it assumes a lot about construction, so not great for a beginner.  I probably could have stood to make this a size down, but I'm still figuring out what size to knit myself now.

Two criticisms (aside from the order of work) is that she has you do all the ribbing on the same size needle as the body; I think I would have preferred a slightly snugger turtleneck on a size 6 needle, and perhaps a little less length.  The turtleneck is also very tall and ends up more like a cowl since it flops over, but it doesn't bug me enough to undo the neck and redo it.  (At least not yet.  We all know my capacity for frogging stuff that bugs me.  Stay tuned for a knitting alteration of an older make).   And I don't know why this is, but even though the central panel is perfectly straight, and looks straight IRL, it seems to widen at the bottom in the pictures.  

That said, while I don't think I'll be buying more Shelter, I'm glad to have worked with it, and I've worn this a few times since finishing it in early February and have been happy to have it.

Shakespeare Lovers, Rejoice!

For Antony and Cleopatra is available to watch at home!  I recently discovered that the National Theater in London has an At-Home rental option, so you can watch shows that were staged there over the past few years.  The filming is professionally done and with a live audience, so you feel like you are in the room with the production.

This production of Antony and Cleopatra was staged in 2018 with Ralph Fiennes in the title role of Antony and Sophie Okonedo as Cleopatra. Ralph Fiennes (pronounced Rafe) is a particular long-time favorite of mine; it is a joy to watch that man work. Also, I admire that he taught himself Russian and now speaks it well enough to have done two films in the language!

Antony and Cleopatra features electric performances by both actors, and the production is amazing.  The actors deliver the lines in a naturalistic way (much like the amazing Henry IV/V triology in the The Hollow Crown).  Once your ear accustoms to the rhythm, it is very easy to follow what is happening.  

The sets are clever, placed on a rotating wheel that allows for different central sets to rise from the floor, including a shallow pool with real water in it!  Fiennes has a particular passion for Shakespeare staged in modern dress, and this production does that very well. (I don't always love this approach with Shakespeare, because it can get campy or be distracting).  The costumes are wonderful!  There is surprising humor in the show, and unexpected moments (there is a collective gasp from the audience toward the end that I found affecting).  

Let me know what you think if you watch it!  I'm hip-deep in costume alterations/fittings for the Upper School musical at my kids' school, and this was the perfect accompaniment to my sewing.