All Done

The end of June and the beginning of July got out of hand; my DH had surgery and I've been taking care of him. Though I finished the Yellow Lace, this is my first chance to post it.

The buttonbands are a traditional 1x1 rib, picked up along the steek edge and knitted. Buttonholes were knit in a bind-off-two-stitches on one row then cast-on-two-stitches on the return row. Since I didn't like the looseness of them, I edged the butttonholes with a blanket stitch.

After the button bands were knit on, the steeks were crochet-chained then cut and whip stitched down. Makes a lovely finish.

And so, fini! I love this sweater, from the color to the fit. Gotta love those Bohus designers!

Blocking Magic

The endless miles of stockinette are done, and the body is complete! Finished the bottom edge in twisted rib for 1 1/2" then corrugated rib in color for another 1/2". Bound off in the yellow to match the sleeves.

Now, my gauge changes with the TV show I'm watching; sci-fi thrillers create a tighter gauge than cooking shows. And this shows up in the lumpy bumpy body of cardigan. That's why God made Blocking.

I wanted to block the sweater before knitting the button bands to ensure they fit, so I soaked the garment in warm soapy water for 20 minutes, rinsed in warm water, rolled in a towel, and shaped it on my body double. It's amazing how the stitches even out, gauge smooths up and everything looks better.

Magic.

Miles To Go Before I Sleep

Not much to be said when there are 330 stitches to a round and there are endless rounds to knit. I wanted this to be a short-ish cardigan, so I'm ready to start the bottom ribbing. I think I'll copy a bit of the yoke colorwork in a corrugated rib. Then all that will be left is the button bands.

There is light at the end of the looooooong stockinette tunnel.

Body and Soul

While my DH drove us almost 8 hours to the Estes Park Wool Market, I knit on the Yellow Lace Bohus. On size 0 needles, I knit, and I knit, and I knit. One sleeve was finished on the drive out, the other on the way home, and the body is underway.

I did tink and then re-knit (for the 5th time!) the neckline. A simple twisted rib for 3/4 of an inch, and I'm so glad I did; the fit is much better and the look is what I wanted. The trick (since I knit the neck in rib once before and didn't like it) was using 000 size needles. Thank goodness the alpaca yarn I'm using for the neck and body is so forgiving; I'm not sure I looked that good after ripping four times!

But by reknitting the neckline into a much smaller, neater configuration, I can't try it on as I go anymore. So I'm not at all sure about the sleeve length. You would think that after knitting as many sweaters as I have, I'd know how long my arms are. But everytime I rely on trying on the sleeves just before I knit the cuffs to ensure the length is right. I'm thinking these may end up bracelet length depending on the blocking; if I really don't like how long the sleeves are I can always cut off the cuffs, knit more length, then graft the cuffs back on. But I hope I don't have to.

Note the cuff bind off is in yellow; now I'm trying to decide if I'm going to add any colorwork to the bottom of the sweater. Right now I've just completed the waist shaping decreases; another 10 rows straight and then I'll start increasing back out for the hips.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Bohus

I've knit about 6" of the left sleeve, and have picked out and reknit the neckline. I'm hoping the neckline blocks out to something a little less funnel-like and a little more regular neck like. And I'm beginning to wish I had knit this as a pullover and not as a steeked cardigan. But "thems the breaks," as they say.

For all that there are parts I don't like, I am absolutely in love with the colorwork yoke. Karin Iversson was an amazing artist.

Amazing Colorwork

I've completed the yoke for the second time with slightly different colors. The beauty of the yoke just points out to me how much I dislike the neckband; it's too big, and stands up around the neck too much.

Now, I followed the pattern exactly. And looking at other versions on Ravelry it appears that this is how it's supposed to be. But I hate it. So I'll have to pick it out and reknit it.

This sweater is turning into a lifetime project.....

Starting over may have been a storm cloud with a silver lining; a chance to do a better job the second time around.

I knit the neckband to be doubled; ribbed on one side, stockinette at a small gauge on the other, with a turning purl row to separate the two. Liked the stockinette so much more than the rib that I plan to use the stockinette as the public side. (Funny thing, though; cast on correct number of stitches per pattern, knit at pattern gauge, and the neckband looks sort of big....)

Changing the colorwork sequence was a plus as well; too much green my first attempt, even though I tried to match the original. This time the colors seem more harmonious, and the pattern more discernable. The yoke, now knit on size 3 needles, is still a little smaller gauge than called for; just shy of 10 stitches to the inch (pattern calls for about 8.5). Any looser, though, and the fabric would be too loose; in fact, I'd like it a little firmer (but down that road lies madness.....). I'll knit the larger size yoke and adjust the body for the fit I want.

As I knit the yoke (for the second time!) I'm amazed at the genius that conceived of this pattern. The Bohus designers, most notably Karin Ivarsson who designed The Yellow Lace Collar and The Swan; Kerstin Olsson, designer of The Wild Apple, The Egg, and The Mist series; and Anna-Lisa Lunn of the famous Blue Shimmer, were amazingly creative. Using Fair Isle as a basis for many of these designs, the artists managed to raise them beyond Craft to Fine Art using purl stitches to add textures and depth that Fair Isle alone does not produce. This may be the most beautiful yoked sweater I have ever knit. And that, of course, is what makes the Bohus experience so elevating; connecting to the remarkable and unrelenting pursuit of artistic excellence.

New Beginnings

Thirty hours of knitting reduced to 10 balls of yarn in 40 minutes. Sigh.

At least I'll have the chance to rework the color pattern.

Gauge Swatch Lied!

For many years I knit without swatching first; I have a closet full of tops and sweaters that don't fit me (or any normal shaped person) to prove it. So I eventually learned the lesson, and swatch religously.

For my Bohus, I swatched not only the colorwork pattern but the stockinette body as well. Since I prefer a very small knit neckband, I swatched that, too. The pattern suggests size 0 needles for the ribbing and size 1.5 needles for the body. I'm a loose knitter, and found I got gauge of 8.5 stitches per inch with size 00 in stockinette and size 0 in colorwork. And that's what I used to knit the neckband and yoke.

For five days I knit. I knit and I knit and I knit. Hundreds upon hundreds of stitches. When I didn't like the dark color I had picked for the next-to-final-section, I ripped out three rows of 388 stitches each and knit them over with another color. I knit the entire yoke before checking gauge again. Though I thought it looked a little tight, I kept referring to the pattern which says "yoke will have only a slight slope" so I thought I was OK. I knit all 72 rounds of the yoke, averaging 300 stitches each, for a total of 216,000 stitches. That's almost a quarter million stitches. (OK, it's closer to a fifth of a million stitches, but that doesn't sound the same, does it?)

I was, therefore, absolutely dumbfounded to find that my gauge was off. And not by just a little; the pattern called for (and my swatch measured) 33 stitches over 4 inches. When done, my yoke measured almost 64 stitches over the same 4 inches. Twice the stitches per inch!

Aaaaaaargh!!!!!!!!!

So, with a heavy heart, I will have to start over. I will have to rip out 72 rows of angora knitting, in 11 different colors, and re-knit a quarter of a million stitches.

There's not enough chocolate in the world to console me.

False Start

I joined the Colourmart Lovers group contest on Ravelry so I could finally justify my desire to knit a "knock off" of the Bohus classic "Yellow Lace Collar". The "contest", such as it is, runs for two months, from May 20 to July 20. I'll knit the original pattern, with the original gauge, but with alternate yarn. Body will be alpaca (from Colourmart; that's the contest, to use Colourmart yarn), the yoke will be angora blend yarn, some of it hand dyed by me. Colors will be as close as I can get to original, but won't be authentic. If it turns out well I'll move to an authentic kit for my next project.

Swatched both stockinette and fair isle with many needles; I will need to knit ribbing on size 000 needle, the yoke on size 0, and the body on 00.

Before the contest officially started, I tried a tubular cast on for the neck, but didn't like how it looked. I really don't want a fold over collar, so I guess I'll just do a long tail cast on and go from there. This will be a cardi knit in the round and steeked, then cut and button bands added.

Cast on noon, May 20, 2010, while in the car on the looooong drive from Minneapolis to Grand Forks to visit the kids..... And knit and knit and knit during the five days we were there.

I knit a fair bit of the yoke and was surprised to find how much harder it is to knit two handed colorwork when there are purls involved! I've been doing two handed fair isle for many years, and have a real rhythm for it, but when a row has 3 colors AND purls, the rhythm is lost. It's lovely, but pretty slow going.

Three days into the project I finished the reached a part of the yoke where the darkest of my colors gets knit in. After three rows of the dark color with light spots added I decided I didn't like it. Colors were just too strong for a Bohus. So I'll have to pull out those three rows of almost 400 stitches each, in sticky angora, and change colors.

Bohus Musings

I've always wanted to knit a Bohus sweater. I've been dreaming about it for the past four or five years, always giving in to my anxieties and putting it off. Bohus sweaters are incredibly beautiful, incredibly complex and not for the faint hearted. The knitting requires real skill, and though I've long thought of myself as a better-than-average knitter, there is a mystique surrounding Bohus that kept me at arms length.

There are many reasons for the mystique; the "true" Bohus (as opposed to anything close-but-not-authentic) is usually a yoked pullover or cardigan 1) knit at 33 stitches to 4 inches, 2) in stranded color work and in 3) angora yarn. Any one of the above is reason enough to take pause.

I've been doing two handed stranded colorwork for years, and think I'm pretty good at it. The thing about Bohus patterns is that there are often more than 2 colors worked in any one row; some of the patterns have as many as five! I can manage two, probably even 3 colors at a time. Picking the right pattern (meaning to say one with not more than 3 colors in any row) would be key.

Then there's the fact that I'm a loose knitter, and have to knit on needles 2 sizes smaller than called for in most patterns to get gauge. And 33 stitches over 4 inches is a lot of stitches. A lot of stitches. So a Bohus is not a quick knit project. Especially when you consider that I'd need to knit on size 0, 00 or 000 needles. Not particularly good for my increasingly arthritic hands and wrists.

Angora yarn, like mohair, is notoriously finicky. When knitting with angora I find fuzz flies everywhere; my nose and eyes get red and watery from inhaling the flying fuzz, and tinking a mistake in angora is an exercise in frustration.

Bohus kits, only available from one dedicated dyer in Sweden, are expensive. Deciding to blow upwards of $200 on a sweater that I still have to knit myself is no small consideration.

But the history! Knitting a Bohus sweater is a tribute to the women who made them famous; their tenacity, their skill and their pride become a part of any knitter who successfully completes a Bohus of her own.

Most of us know about Bohus sweaters thanks to Susanna Hansson. I took Susanna's class at Stitches South two years back, and my desire to knit one of these most remarkable sweaters has been growing ever since. Before attempting to knit an "authentic" Bohus from one of Solveig Gustafson's kits, I purchased the book Poems of Color by Wendy Keele. It has many of the most popular Bohus patterns, but at a larger gauge (7 stitches to the inch instead of 8.5. Like that's a big enough difference to make it easier......) Then I started searching for acceptable substitute yarns; the "authentic" Bohus yarn is only available in the kits. I came to know that there are a lot of angora yarns out there, but very few meet the exacting criteria of percentage of angora to wool, and are the correct weight. I purchased every type of angora yarn I could find; my collection now numbers almost 20 balls, each in a different color! (Didn't consider buying each brand in white; dunno why not.) I did finally find a vendor on eBay who had the perfect yarn in a variety of colors. Purchase almost a dozen skeins, many in white, figuring I could always dye my own.

For months I've been reading everything Bohus I could get my hands on. I have the pamphlets, the books, seen the video, took the class on knitting wristlets. Even managed to get my hands on several kits (one is my second favorite, the Green Meadow, but it isn't knit in angora....) and patterns. My heart is set on the Yellow Lace Collar cardigan, a variation on the Rose Lace Collar, a stunning piece of knitting art.

When the Colourmart Lovers group on Ravelry started a contest for May and June 2010, I decided it was now or never. So I am about to embark on a Great Knitting Adventure:

Yellow Lace Bohus, here I come!

Final Followup

Before1------------------------After 1

Before 2 ----------------------After 2


Before 3 --------------------After 3

OK, so it's been a little more than 30 days since my face was reconfigured. In fact, the photos represent 5 weeks post-op. With few exceptions I'm back to normal. The exceptions are pretty much a lingering plastic feel to the skin in front of my ears, a tenderness behind the ears, along with a tenderness where the incisions were made over my eyelids. Not a problem, really, but a minor annoyance.

And when I walk by a mirror, I see the "me" I remember, complete with cheekbones and eyes. It's a good thing.

Check Back in 2 Weeks

Though I feel a little tight around the ears and through the throat, I think we will call this adventure a success. I'm sleeping in my own bed (though not as well as I expect I will in another day or two), I'm eating semi-solid food (still no steak) and I'm off all pain meds with the occassional exception of a Tylenol. I have a one-month check-in scheduled with the surgeon for the first week of March; I'll take final photos and do a running comparison then.

See you in two weeks!

In the Public Eye

I think I'm on the last legs of looking like a surgical patient even though it still feels like my head's been twisted onto my neck a little too tightly, and I don't like the dull ache that comes from trying to sleep on my side. Some throat bruising still has to resolve, there are little knots under the skin at the outside corners of my eyes that should smooth out over the next few days, and I keep finding bits of the outside stitches on my lower eyelids as the inside stitches dissolve.

But I did go out to the grocery store this afternoon and there was no screaming from the patrons nor mothers trying to shield their babies from my looks. In fact, no one even blinked looking at me. So I guess my self imposed isolation period is over.

There are a couple of things that have surprised me during this little respite from the world; things I wish I had had the forethought to ask before the surgery, or had the brains to have figured out after. Like:

The itching as I healed was all but intolerable, and kept me from sleeping well more than one night. When I asked the surgeon for more sleeping pills at our one week check-in, he suggested benedryl to both sooth the itch and make me drowsy. Wish I'd thought of that ahead of time. I already had several bottles in the house.

The ointment used to lubricate the eyes and keep the incisions on the eyelids moist came in very tiny tubes. I used up two tubes and started on the third before the stitches came out. I'm glad my husband was available to run out to the drug store for more when I used up the first tube on day 3. If I hadn't had him to run errands I would have been in big trouble. Wish I had been instructed to pick up more than one tube to begin with.

The week before surgery I picked up several books on tape, a novel, and a number of movies to watch as I laid around and ate bon bons. Nobody mentioned that my eyes would be too swollen to read or watch TV for at least a week, and that my ears would be too tender to wear earphones (or hold a phone to!) for just as long. Those first five or six days were so mind numbingly boring that I wanted to scream. Of course, I can't think of what other amusements I might have planned for myself if I had known I would neither be able to see or touch my ears.

During my initial consultation I asked, as I suppose all potential patients do, how long I would be "out". The standard reply is "about a week." Which, in retrospect, is about right; after my one week check-in I went to the movies. But my stamina is compromised; I was in pretty good shape before surgery and now I'm pretty much worn out by simple exertion. When you consider that I'm at the early end of the age spectrum of women who do this, a week isn't really long enough to be back fully in the swing of things. So a better answer might have been "a week to be presentable in public, another week to be back to full strength." Maybe then I wouldn't have planned quite as much activity in post-op week 2.

10 Days Later I'm a Little Chinese

Ten days after surgery, and I'm amazed at how different I look. The eyes are still a little puffy, and there's a little swelling in front of the ears and along the jaw line, giving me a sort of Asian look according to my husband. Put on a little makeup to see if I can get by in public, and I've decided that it's time to get out of the house tomorrow!

I still have some issues with chewing; the tightness along the side of my ears and down my neck make opening my mouth very wide painful, and chewing anything "stiff" (think steak) or too crunchy is out of the question. But every day is a little better.

Just Another Day

Lest you think that the first week is the only week that counts in the healing process, let me say that, although I'm feeling 1000 times better than I was a week ago, I'm not all the way back. My ears are so tender that I still can't lay on my side, which means I'm still sleeping in the recliner. Geez. The lymph nodes at the back of my head and neck are the size and texture of hazelnuts, and I can't set the ear pieces of my glasses on the top curve of my ears for more than 15 minutes at a time. The bruises on my throat and under my left eye still haven't faded enough not raise eyebrows in public and the odd way I have to turn my body instead of my head is a real bother.

But other than that, I'm in pretty good shape.

What a Difference a Week Makes

It's been exactly a week since the surgery, and time for the stitches holding together my eyelids and chin to come out. I slept badly last night since it's still very uncomfortable to sleep in any position but sitting up; the tenderness around my ears is significant, and even the light pressure of a pillow on the side of my head is disturbing. If I had had any more sleeping pills (they only dispensed 5; one for the night before surgery, two for during surgery, and two to be used during the first week post op) I would have taken one. But all things considered, I woke up feeling pretty much like myself, albeit like myself with puffy eyes like I had been crying all night.

Headed to the surgeon's office to have my stitches removed. His Surgical Manager met me at the door and escorted me to an exam room where she snipped the threads holding my upper eyelids together and pulled them out, and did the same with the two little stitches under my chin. Didn't hurt a bit. She reviewed what care and treatment I should follow for the next week, took some "after" photos, set up an appointment for a one month check-up and went to fetch the doctor.

Then the doc came in and gave me a hug. "You look wonderful," he said, "better than expected for one week." He reviewed another few items (I could go back to exercising if I started slow and was careful, could start wearing make up if I kept it off the incisions, and could switch to warm wet compresses instead of ice if I was so inclined.)

"But doc," I said, "the stitches in my lower eyelids are driving me crazy." Turns out the lower lids are stitched with dissolvable stitches that would take care of themselves. "But it's like having caterpillars on my eye, and they itch. A lot. And I'm not sleeping very well." Though he couldn't refill the sleeping pill script, he suggested I pick up some Benedryl at the drug store that would help both with the lingering itchiness and would help me sleep. Those two little stitches at the inside corners of my eyes were buried pretty deep, but he took a good look and told the Surgical Manager she could go ahead and remove them, too, since I was healed well enough.

She had to dig a little to get them out. That hurt. But it was such a relief to get them out that I forgive her the 10 seconds of real pain.

There's still another week or two where the swelling will diminish and the real shape of my "new" face will reveal itself. I'm beginning to see cheekbones.

On Being Human

On the 5th night after surgery I slept like a rock. Maybe that's because I hadn't properly slept since I left the surgeon's office, or maybe I was just exhausted from doing nothing for so long, but in any event I slept well and felt almost human when I awoke.

I'm beginning to look like myself again, but it's too soon to tell if I'm a younger version of myself or not. The eyes, clearly, are different, but the chipmunk cheeks from the swelling make it difficult to tell what I look like underneath the bruises. DH says there's a real difference in the number of countable chins but he's a good man who like to tell me what I want to hear so his opinion is suspect.

I'm fascinated by the way the incisions around the ear were done; almost imperceptible around the front and very thin around the back. I can detect no stitches around the front of my ears and can't figure out how the incisions were closed; glue, maybe? (Don't laugh; superglue was originally a skin adhesive.)

I'm still missing some feeling in the right ear, and there's a steady ache in my cheekbones, but neither is unbearable. My neck is still very tight; turning my body seems to make so much more sense than turning my head. I had to sneeze today, and the shock to my eyes and neck with the jolt of the sneeze was like being zapped with a taser. (OK, I've never personally been zapped by a taser, but it felt just like it looks on TV.)

I did sneak out of the house for about 30 seconds in the middle of the night; it was trash day, a chore usually attended to by The Man of the House, but he pulled a hamstring playing basketball and went to bed without setting out the recycling. When it occurred to me that someone should do it and the choices were slim, I sneaked out, ace bandage wrapped around my head, and took the trash to the curb. The night was brisk, the stars were out, and to some small degree it was like getting out of jail.

You PAID Someone to Do That To You?

Most of my face and a goodly portion of my neck have moved to that shade of chartreuse unique to 5 day old bruises. I stayed awake all day with only a brief doze before dinner, took only Tylenol for discomfort and made corn chowder out of my frozen corn face packs.

I knit most of a small shawl, watched 6 episodes of Good Eats and made the best orange scented pound cake I've ever had (thank you Alton Brown).

I tried napping in my own bed propped up on pillows but the pressure on my ears made me anxious I would tear out stitches, so I couldn't sleep.

I turned down visits from two dear friends because I'm a little grouchy but that's probably due to the fact that I haven't had a full night's sleep in 5 days; I'm thinking tonight I should sleep well, and then I'll be ready for company. (Won't be going out in public yet, though, because I'm afraid someone would suspect that I was a victim of spousal abuse, and I would hate to have anyone think that of my kind and gentle husband.)

I'm starting to feel a little fat and sloppy 'cause I can't properly wash my hair, I've been living in sweat pants and pajamas, and I can't do much of anything but eat. (Yes, it's soft foods only, but that includes frozen dark cherry yogurt, tender pound cake, six cheese lasagna, cheddar omelets, fresh pineapple with toasted coconut and my husband's famous dinner rolls. By the dozen.) I'm ready for a little yoga, if not a 5k run.

And I'm really ready to have these cursed stitches taken out of my eyes.

Coming Along

OK, at this point I think I'm going to survive; my eyes are much less swollen and I can see the TV. Can't read yet, but I can knit by feel, so I don't feel completely useless. I'm using cold packs only a couple times a day instead of constantly, and I'm thinking tomorrow I may even cook something (hubby's had kitchen duty since this started, and a darn good job he's done, too.)

Still sleeping sitting up, still wishing I could lay on my side, but I guess that will come with time. Really starting to crave normal food; enough with the soup and pasta already! But opening my mouth far enough to put in a big bite of anything isn't happening yet; too tight, too stiff, too sore. And chewing hurts a little. Starting to dream about a big bowl of cereal, maybe granola. And cookies with nuts in them. And maybe caramels.

There must be a dozen tiny little stitches in my eyelids, and they itch like crazy. When they're not itching, they're poking me, which is most uncomfortable. The bruises on my neck have gone green, as have the bruises under my eyes. More than anything, my eyes look like really bad Mardi Gras make-up, something from an 80s disco theme party (don't laugh; I remember my mother had green mascara she wore with green eye shadow.)

I found a tiny bottle of topical analgesic that came with an eyebrow waxing kit. It has benzocaine in it, and I'm tempted to use it on the parts of my face that hurt. I mean, if you can put it on skin that's just had hairs ripped out by the roots with hot wax, it's probably OK to use on tender spots. I remember it being very mild and soothing when I used it in the past, but I haven't gotten up the nerve to try it yet; what if it burns? Or hurts more? Maybe I'll wait a little longer.....

The feeling in my left ear has returned, and it's not too bad. That plastic feeling is gone, but the ear doesn't hurt as much as I had expected. The right ear is coming back in stages; there's sensation at the top of the ear, but it's pretty much styrofoam from the midpoint down. I imagine that will fade over the next few days.

So now it's a waiting game; waiting for the stitches to come out (4 more days!), waiting for the bruising to fade, waiting for the swelling to come down so I can see what I really look like. Right now it's anybody's guess.

Just don't call me Joan.