fo: bapsi's first pullover

This has been such an indecisive project for me toward the end. Picking the pattern and yarn was a breeze. getting the knitting done? that hardly took a month to (mostly-will explain later) complete. But photographing it? Declaring it truly done? That’s been a completely different story.

pattern : Ladies Classic Raglan Pullover

yarn : Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool in Nature’s Brown

needle : US 7, 8 [4.5 mm, 5.0 mm]

size : 44"

I finished this sweater in late 2013. Yep. Twenty. THIRTEEN. In November. I hadn’t taken any FO photos, so Jason and I decided to just have a small forest hike/photoshoot while I was over in England. We did hike, yes. We saw miles of forest. We were just a 20 minute walk (if that) away from the woods on any given day. I stayed there for 6 whole months. Still no photoshoot, still no post about this being finished.

The reason for that is tiny, but a nagging one—

I couldn’t decide how long I really wanted these sleeves, so I left that bit of yarn hanging..

just in case. Over a year and about 12,000 miles of travel later, I decided to just relax and finally make the decision. The sleeves are absolutely fine, and I’ll just let them be. World, Bapsi’s first pullover. Bapsi’s first pullover, world.

BFP was a joy to knit if I remember it well. I felt very proud to have such a large WIP in my lap for those three or so weeks. I did have to redo the very beginning bit several times before getting it just right, but it was to be expected since I’d never made a sweater before. The rest was absolutely simple—just one big stockinette tube after another, with very gentle shaping around the waist and sleeves.

It lead me to learn about just how not-a-big-deal sweaters and larger garments really are at their core. It’s the same concept we do with hats and socks and the like. You increase sometimes, you decrease sometimes, you pick up stitches every now and then. The only difference between this and a hat is that you’re working with a much larger stitch count. And maybe you’re seaming a lot more than you might be used to (this particular pullover was seamless—thanks Jane Richmond!), but the core of it's really simple.

If you’ve never knit anything like this before, I highly recommend Jane Richmond’s pullover pattern. The way she’s handled sizing is super approachable and easy to read. I even printed copies of the worksheet well in advance because I’m confident I will knit from this pattern again and again in the future.

As for the Lassie sock, it's practically knitting itself! There are some parts that I completely ruin the pretty lace pattern but I'm just gonna accept those little mess-ups and move on. It's amazing enough for me to see a sock happening in my hands. I can't wait to see these done and in action. Already thinking about which yarn to knit with next.

fo: jason's domino socks

I've got just one word to sum up this project--FINALLY. The gradation is just beautiful. I hope these fit him. For the time I spent frogging and re-doing, I really really hope these fit him considering the distance this pair of socks will have to travel to get to him.

pattern : How I Make My Socks by Susan B. Anderson

yarn : Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball in Domino

needle : US 1[2.25 mm] 

size : 10

Have I mentioned the gradation is just gorgeous? I'm glad I didn't fuss over making sure they match for identical socks. These socks individually work great as brothers, rather than not-quite-perfect twins.This second picture offers colors that are a little bit more true-to-life.

I also made another addition to the personal stash. This is Patons Kroy Socks in the Flax colorway. I knew they were my shade the moment I saw them. I'm thinking of something with a simple and reliable look, like the Mr. Pitt's Socks by Kaitlyn Wong. I may have been down due to the nerve injury, but I'm certainly not out. I'm going to get my full drawer of hand-knit socks sooner or later.

What about you? Got any goals for sock-knitting? Knitting in general?

How Bapsicrafts Orders are Made

Since opening Bapsicrafts, I’ve filled and sold at least a hundred knit items for now-warm people all over the world. By now the process has become automatic—another safe space to meditate (which is just the kind of thing I was going for).

Here’s how each Bapsicrafts item is typically made, from start to finish. I took the time to document an order made for a good friend of mine in Canada for this post.

Planning, Materials— It always starts with an idea. Most of the custom orders have a simple pattern-color combination, so I’ll pull up the pattern I wrote for the particular design(most have been memorised by now), order the yarn and get going.

This customer wanted something more specific, and he was diligent enough to pull up reference to help me get an idea of what he was looking for—a striped Chullo style hat, with a red and gold color scheme. He also wanted 100% wool. After I understood the request, I set up a listing and got to hunting for the perfect yarn. I chose an Andean wool, seemed fitting for a Andean style hat.

Stitching — This is easily the longest part of the process. For a hat you’re looking at about 7-8 hours usually, or about 4 for a pair of wrist warmers, typically done while I’m watching a show or reading a book! Since many completely custom pieces are designed from scratched or improvised, it can take even longer to get just right. I had to frog quite a bit of the work to make sure everything fit as planned. In total I think this hat took about a week on-and-off to create, not counting design sketching and the like.

Special Touches — I always like to add a little something that makes a custom piece just that much more unique. In this case I added a crocheted border to handle the stockinette stitch curling, and to better balance the red and gold color relationship. I also set up and braided yarn to use for the tassel part of the hat, which was really fun to do!

Hand washing — After everything’s just right, bound off, with every end woven in and knotted, I’ll wash the piece with a hand made soap, reshape, and leave flat to dry. This soap in particular is the previously blogged Wool or You bar by Sweet Tea N Biscuits. It smells like heaven.

My Signature — After allowing it to dry for a day or so, I'll 'sign' my work with a hand sewn label. I source my labels in small batches from the lovely Michelle Ruyle of Inked Papers, a small business based right here in the United States.

Wrapping it up — After all of that, I have the pleasure of carefully wrapping the piece up like a little gift, including a personally handwritten note and some care instructions. I prefer to keep the packaging simple and minimal, but still meaningful. Here, I had enough yarn left over to make a little bow to match the color of the hat. Then it’s just taking it to the post office! The finished piece will take its long journey to its new owner.

To place a custom order find my shop Bapsicrafts, and send me a message via Etsy. Let’s work on together on something new!

Hello 2015

An update, after all this time! I made a little mistake reading from my vanilla socks pattern—The row count for the sock was sized for my size instead of Jason’s, so after binding off the toe and trying it on I was both pleased and saddened to know that they fit perfectly. It spent a good week waiting in the project bag to be frogged and reworked, I needed to muster up the strength in me to make sure I wasn’t going to keep this pair and just make him some plain grey ones instead.

Up top you’ll find a condyle order I’m knitting for Bapsicrafts—this one’s gonna be on its way to the East Coast this Friday. Oh, and a bar of handmade soap by Daffodil Gems, a local seller I met during a show this past fall. Keeping handmade soaps in my project bags was a good idea. My knits smell amazing.

A lot of things have gone on between my last post and now—I made some effort to connect with more old friends and improve my health, and all knitting that wasn’t for Bapsicrafts orders fell off the map. I didn’t make nearly as much progress as I hoped I would for Jason’s Domino socks, but he seems okay with it not making it in his hands by Christmas (for a pair of painstakingly hand-knit gift socks, he better be okay with it).

My yarn stash isn’t shrinking at the rate I initially wanted, but I’ve taken the time to really enjoy other aspects of the crafting process. Things like fine-tuning the knit-object washing/maintenance process, handling tool storage, and even design. It’s helping me deepen my love for the craft, and I’m looking forward to what 2015 will bring.

By the way: NaJoWriMo is right around the corner and I’m planning to participate. If you’ve heard of NaNoWriMo, you may have a gist of what it’s about. NaJoWriMo is a month-long challenge for you to journal every day. The goals and limits are all up to you. You can click here to learn more about the challenge, and maybe join me this January if you’re up for it! Linking up with KCCO at Frontierdreams.