In other knitalong news (there are other knitalongs?!), I guess I've joined Nona's NBaT-along again. A mere one week after my big day appearing in the wrap-up, I started another t-shirt. I'm knitting this one along with my intermediate knitting students and was halfway through the waist shaping before class last night, trying desperately not to get too far ahead.

I'm considering doing long sleeves for this one. What'dya think about that?

T-shirt trouble.

bad, t-shirt, bad

So I'm cruising along on the back of my latest nothing but a t-shirt. I'm in the straight rows between the decreases and increases around the waist and my ball of yarn runs out. I grab a new ball, start knitting, and then, without checking the row count or the pattern, randomly decide that it's time to start the increases. Knit, knit, knit. I finish the increases and measure to see how much longer I need to knit before the armholes begin and I'm WAY off. What up with that?! I only did like 12 rows between the decreases and increases. Whoops! Heh, heh.

The lesson for the day: Always read the instructions. Even if you wrote 'em!

Denim baby sweater knitted, washed, and ready for seaming.

before washing

after washing

And that sleeve cap? Well, the whole sleeve shrunk from 25cm to 23cm in length and from 25cm to a smidge more than 24cm in width. Not so much shrinkage as I'd like to have seen widthwise, but I'm thinking I can get it in the armhole. I think I can. I think I can....

It seems that Phoebe has been as obsessed with Rowan denim as I have, since she was thinking of an NBaT in denim. Wouldn't that be cool?! Oooh, I think it would look so great as a pocket tee, with a little denim pocket on one side.

So here are my thoughts on a denim tee: You can lengthen the t-shirt by adding a few more straight rows before the waist shaping - maybe four to six rows, depending on the size you're making - and a few between the decreases and increases - another four to six more - and then begin the armholes about two and a half inches later than called for in the pattern (that's almost two inches added in the extra rows mentioned above and another half inch to an inch added after all the increasing is finished). Then I'd add about an inch to an inch and a half (again, depending on the size you're making) to the armhole height. On the sleeves, I'd do the increases every fourth row - that'll give you four extra rows in the sleeve - and keep the sleeve cap the same - no need to make that part any more complicated than it already is.

Of course, there's not much yarn in those cute little balls of denim, so I'm going to guesstimate that you'll need about 10 to make the smaller sizes. Lastly, I'm pretty sure that the denim won't have anywhere near the stretch that the Calmer does, at least until it's been worn for a while like your favorite jeans, so if you find yourself between two sizes, I'd suggest considering knitting the larger of the two sizes. You don't want to have to get help squeezing yourself into your denim tee!

Phoebe, you better make one of these, otherwise I'm gonna have to!

I've been working hard on my latest t-shirt. First I had to catch up with my intermediate knitting students (whom I'm making the tee with) after my my mess-up last week. So I quickly knitted my way through the armholes, neck and shoulder shaping on the back.

I decided to try out Theresa's latest Knitty technique for neck shaping on the neck here to see if it would helpful in making a neater line for picking up stitches later, since that seems to be the thing people are having the most trouble with.

Sure looks nice. We'll see how it works when it comes time to add that contrast color on the neck.

After catching up, I then had to race ahead of my students so I could show them some of the techniques to come, like the intarsia. Woo hoo!

Any guesses as to what I'm putting on my tee? Would a close-up help? (Linda, no guessing now. I know you already know what it is!)

I'm still recovering from the weekend with the boys in NYC. Touring the big city with little kids sure can be stressful!

After two days, grandma and I have figured out how to plan better though. First, think long and hard about how much time you have and what you want to do with the kiddos. Cut out long walks and travel time, plan in breaks, food and fun stuff. Once you have a reasonable, parsimonious plan, cut out an additional three things on the list. And be sure to stop to enjoy the simple things, like your reflection in a rain-filled sidewalk grate or puppies in a shop window.

PS - The puppies are right by Gotta Knit (which was unfortunately closed on Sunday as we walked by).

All four of us were just beat at the end of the Saturday, when we first stopped by a closed Yarn Co. (silly me, I believed those hours listed on the website) and then visited what is possibly the world's loudest museum, the Children's Museum of Manhattan, for a Dora- and Dr. Suess-filled ride to overstimulation hell.

Sunday was much better with us first eating awesome waffles and pancakes at EJ's Lunchonette and then stopping by KnitNY. (Sorry, Point-ers, we had to nix our visit to the Point in order to keep all our activities in one area of town.)

The boys ate cookies and I ran into Jon, of the Jon blog, who was working on this incredible intarsia baby blanket!

Speaking of KnitNY knitting, we spotted the KnitNY shrug that I made last year for mom at her office, which we briefly crashed for an emergency potty break!

We even had some time during a little dry spell in the weather for the boys to play in the sandbox at Washington Square before rushing off to Penn Station to wait an hour for our delayed train back home.

I did no knitting, and so still have the task ahead of me of ripping out this lovely, but waaaay too long sleeve I knit last week for my long-sleeved nothing but a t-shirt.

I got so into the stockinette and the idea of a nice long sleeve that I overshot the mark by about 2 inches!

Lesson learned: less is more.

all aboard!

I had some time this weekend to restart the long sleeves for my maroon nothing but a t-shirt. After discovering last week that I'd made the first sleeve too long (and too wide), I ripped it back to about mid-forearm length and started again. I decided to go with a completely straight sleeve, since that will give me a subtle bell shape when worn and is easy-peasy to knit. A few hours of knitting in Claudia's living room with fun knitbuds like Lauren, Paula, and Kathy, and I had finished that first sleeve again. Sleeve hell reared it's ugly head though when I picked up my finished sleeve to show the gals and immediately saw that I'd accidentally increased a stitch somewhere in the middle. Ugh!

can you see it?

To answer your next question, no, I'm NOT going back again for that!

Nbat is next in my project wrap-up visit to sleeve hell. The first sleeve is finished and the second is well underway.

I've taken to slipping on my pajamas right after the boys go to bed and knitting away until I'm tired, but not too tired to read a couple of chapters of Book 6. After a couple nights, I'm halfway through both sleeve and book!

Not sure how these sleeves will fit. I suspect they might be a little long. Of course, I won't be able to say for sure until I finish the dang intarsia panel on the front of the tee and can set the sleeves in. Why am I avoiding finishing it?!

Nbat sleeve number two is done. And I am back in sleeve Hell.

Once again I was a little overzealous on the length. Oops! Oh well, no point in fixing it now since I still may have to rip both of them back. Until I finish the front and can sew in one of them, I am not going to swear by the length of either.

So it would seem that I have done about all the intarsia-avoidance that I can. Now I must finish that damn front panel!