Letters
Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!* (*Knit)—Plus a Giveaway
Dear Ann,
Today is the first day of the rest of our lives. And also the first day of our first 2017 knitalong: Bang Out a Hadley. (Hashtag: #bangoutaHadley.)
In February of last year, a bunch of us banged out a Stopover. Hadley has a lot in common with Stopover: it’s a pullover, knit from the bottom up, in the round, with a geometric colorwork yoke. But there is one big difference: Stopover prescribes a loose gauge that is unusually large for the weight of the yarn: 13 stitches and 18 rows over 4 inches. This yields a lightweight fabric that knits up FAST. Hadley, on the other hand, is knit to a more typical gauge for a worsted weight yarn: 19 stitches and 28 rows over 4 inches.
Bottom line, rude truth: there are more stitches in Hadley. That means more knitting to be done in the 28 days we have allotted for the official period of this knitalong.
As co-instigator of this knitalong, I took the liberty of starting early, so as to light the path to glory. Over the past five days, I took two long flights to visit a friend in France and see some visiting Matisses. On the flight over, I finished up my Asterisk Cowl. (More about that later. Something Meaningful happened regarding the Asterisk Cowl while I was in France.)
While taking the Transilien trains from my friends’ place into Paris, and bopping around on the Metro and the RER, I cast on my Hadley in the fourth size (which I reckon to be a women’s Large), and got through the 18 rounds of 2 x 2 ribbing. Here was the status on the inter-terminal shuttle at Charles de Gaulle as I tried to get to my flight home:
(This is just shy of one skein in.)
On Monday, during the seven hours of the homeward flight, I knit the second skein, and made it to the start of the waist and bust shaping. (With an hour of flight left to go, I realized that my third skein had gone missing, so I played 2048 on my phone while my eyeballs turned to sand. Not proud.)
Just Sit There and Knit
The lesson here, which I always need to re-learn: if you stick to your knitting in a consistent way, and just sit there and knit, you make progress. My fellow knitalongers: if you want to bang out your Hadley during regulation play, I advise you to take your Hadley with you everywhere, like a companion chihuahua. Knit on it, then knit on it some more. It’s nice, easy knitting, and if you keep at it, you will prevail. Don’t wimp out and make Hadley your at-home, sitting-in-a-chair-with-good-light-and-no-distractions knitting. That way lies stagnation.
Sure, I dropped a ball of oatmeal-color Brooklyn Tweed Shelter on a rainy train platform and got a little wet grit on it, but I’m going to wash it at the end—no worries! Totally worth it to get that sweet, sweet suburban transit knitting time, aller-retour.
A Word about Shaping
I am doing the shaping exactly as Véronik Avery prescribes in the pattern. I had some reservations about it, because the shaping is pretty shapely. There is a big differential between the waist measurement and the hem/hip measurement: 10 inches. I do not have that kind of differential between the waist and the hip on my actual body (or maybe I do, but with the hip and waist reversed), so I generally prefer a boxy fit that says “nothing to see in this region, people, move along.” In the end, I decided to do the shaping because the sweater has a generous amount of ease. It’s an experiment: maybe with that ease, the hourglass shaping will work out well for me, and everyone will think my waist is 10 inches smaller than my hips.
(The markers show where the shaping is happening.)
I’m very interested to see how other knitters are going to deal with the shaping. Don’t be shy: I hope we’ll hear from you in the Lounge if you are making modifications. An easy mod would be to just forego the shaping altogether. Or you could do half the decreases, spaced out so as to skip every other decrease round, and then do the same with the increases after the waist—in effect, making the hourglass shallower.
Stay tuned—if I know knitters, it’s going to get real interesting, real fast. We are not going to lack for opinions or advice.
A Giveaway
To celebrate the start of Bang Out a Hadley, we’re doing a giveaway. This giveaway is open to all readers, whether you are doing the knitalong or not. All you have to do is go over to the Lounge and introduce yourself here. You don’t need to write anything more than you want to. Just say hello and tell us a little about yourself. Do you like pie? Are you one of those fascinating, slightly sketchy people who do not like pie? If you’ve already introduced yourself in the Lounge, you’re already entered in the giveaway. Here are the rules:
- Introduce yourself in the Lounge before 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday, February 4.
- If you’ve already done Number 1, you don’t have to do anything else.
3. We’ll pick a winner by random drawing and announce it on Monday, February 6.
Oh—the prize! What’s the prize? It’s a Breton Cowl Kit. Simple and luxurious, and quick enough to make after you finish Hadley and while it’s still winter in the Northern Hemisphere. (If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, you have loads of time to knit it in time for winter.)
And with that, it’s time for me to lard up my February with lots of subway/bus time and conference calls, so that I can get up to the armholes—and beyond—on my Hadley, and kick everybody’s butt. Not that I’m competitive or anything.
I just love knitting, is that wrong?
Love,
Kay
Kay and Ann, I absolutely adore your writing and your blog. Thanks for being a bright spot.
I love the reminder to “just sit there and knit”. It is so true! The farther along I am in my knitting career (OK, the older I get), the easier it is for me to do this, but I keep forgetting. Remind us often, Kay!
Could not say it better than the 2 that have already said it. I can only say in a world that flew over the cuckoo nest, reading your wonderful positive, often humorous sharings brings me peace, and at the same time brings inspiration…. I say this as I pick up my knitting
Kay, I love reading your writing, even if it’s on a subject I wasn’t originally interested in. Thank you.
Not banging out a Hadley, since I’m in the throes of knitting a sweater for a young relative, but I’m going to hitch my non-Hadley to this star and Get It Done. (Which is to say, so ready to get it off my list.)
Could someone please explain exactly HOW one goes about “introducing” themselves in the lounge? Over 300 of you have figured it out – I’m not one of you.
Hi Jenny! Help is on the way. You should hear from Nell shortly. Basically you need to set up an account and then go to the Introduce Yourself section and leave a reply there. Very similar to leaving a comment here on the main blog.
I’m very interested in the shaping results, too, as I am totally about “move along, nothing to see here” as well!
I didn’t hear anything you said after Matisse.
Thank you for introducing me to yet another time suck: 2048. There goes the rest of my week….
Oh man, all this hype is making it rather difficult for me not to jump on this bandwagon. But, (whine), I have so many other things that need to be *finished* first…
Hmm. But one more thing on the needles, that’s not so bad, is it?
(also, non sequitir, but not really, you posted a youtube video about catching floats while knitting two colors with two hands. Seriously, that was a most timely Life Saver! Like epiphany, skies opened, angels singing Life Saver. Come to think of it, that’d really help if I did accidentally jump into the knitalong…)
I really thought it was excellent, too, but my takeaway is that I never want to have to catch any floats of the right-hand yarn. Too hard! Too slow! Too much to remember! Luckily on my Asterisk Cowl the floats were all with the left hand yarn. I got very fast at catching them.
(P.S. JUMP ON THE KNITALONG. YOU WILL FINISH A SWEATER. YOUR QUEUE WILL NOT NOTICE THAT ANYTHING HAPPENED.)
Just bought the field guide. That does *not* mean I’m jumping on the bandwagon. Nope. I’m just gonna measure myself, and check to see what size it corresponds to. For research purposes. I’m *not* jumping on the bandwagon.
Hahaha! I’m jumping, I’m jumping.
Looking forward to seeing all the fun Hadleys! And very interested in the shaping issues. Hadley is on my list but alas, not in February, unfortunately. The Stopover KAL was so much fun last year and I’ve gotten so many compliments on it!
I’m worried for the third skein – has it been found?
No Hadley for me; I banged out a second Stopover in December/January and it’s time to get back to work! Although the thought of a third Stopover has crossed my mind several times. I love how the yoke patterning stays up on top of the shoulders rather than down the arms; I’m too short to want patterning to make me visually wider than the tall willowy being I am…in my mind.
Thanks for being a big source of knitting fun! Did you find the errant ball of yarn? Is that the one you picked up off the train platform? And if it is, then why were you playing 2048?! Not judging, just worried for the lost yarn…
Hi, I always enjoy your blog posts. I feel stupid asking this: I would love to introduce myself in the Lounge but can’t for the life of me find anyplace to click to add a comment or even reply to someone else’s post. I’m usually pretty smart about such things. Maybe it’s just now it shows on my iPhone, but it doesn’t seem intuitive. Any suggestions?
Hi! I’m Tamara–I LOVE pie! Any pie! I live in England, where there’s less pie I love the Hadley jumper and would love to knit it, but am trying to finish a scarf got my hubby (family first). Also, I’m a sweater virgin when it comes to knitting–hope to change that before the close of 2017 Good luck, everyone!
I have to agree with Ms. Quinn. Your Mdk email is a welcome beacon in my mail box.
Hello friends I’m Susan – a Long Islander who you might see on Sunrise Hey ferrying teenagers around. Kay’s advice to bring your Hadley everywhere reminds me of my thinking on reading Dickens – head down and plow through the first half… it will all make sense. ✌
“like a companion chihuahua”, made me laugh,not out loud.
i love travel knitting! it makes it a little wee bit harder to part with an item which has traveled and storied itself with you, but all the more fun to knit. couch knitting in good light is for the birds!
happy hadley-ing. I’m in the later tater Shayne group!
“I do not have that kind of differential between the waist and the hip on my actual body (or maybe I do, but with the hip and waist reversed), so I generally prefer a boxy fit that says ‘nothing to see in this region, people, move along.'” Hey, me too! My mother–she with the hourglass figure that I did NOT inherit–tried for years to tell me to “put a belt on it,” to take in excess fabric on a garment. Repeated demonstrations of how that did. not. work. for me turned it into a joke between us. Only recently (post Whole30) have I attempted any sort of minor waist definition.
I’m Therese and in a knitting slump. Nothing is turning out well.
A friend gave me one of your books when I first learned to knit. that was five years ago, and now I’m a pattern designer! See, you gave me great inspiration!
I could have sworn I had already introduced myself, but a just-to-be-sure search on the now-465-post thread says otherwise. I hope I can think of something interesting to write in the next 30 seconds. Thanks for the pie topic!
Love your new format all around. As it turns out I’m about to start to “bang out a stopover” so any of you with procrastination issues have a way to go. I’m on the plateau in TN so I especially love hearing about TN things.
I would like to get the pattern for “Ballband” dish clothes or afghans/throws. Could you send it to me?Thanks
I love your books, and now your blog! I live in Denver and my knitting pal (and first patient teacher) and I are big fans!