Dear Ann:
On my trip to Vermont and back on Sunday, I did indeed finish my Fort Tryon Wrap, as predicted. I never even touched my bag o’ needlepoint, though. On the last miles of our drive home, I was binding off Fort Tryon, then weaving in the ends. I had full-blown Finishing Fever. There was exactly one end still a-dangling when I was dropped at our front door. Within an hour, after the world’s quickest one-skillet dinner and cleanup, Fort Tryon was soaking, and then drying.
I always wish that I’d taken “before” blocking pictures, but even after all these years, I never see what’s coming.
Fort Tryon grew.
It grew a lot. (Entire living room for scale.)
Here, my petite friend Judy needs about one quarter less Fort Tryon Wrap, if we’re honest. You could roll up a full size mummy in this thing, and still have FT Wrap left over.
It’s divine. Judy, who’d dropped by last evening for emergency assistance on a dog coat she was knitting (I keep office hours, if you have a dog coat giving you trouble), could not get enough of it. “It’s amazing,” she kept saying, “it’s exquisite!”
It is, as Belinda used to say, rather good.
I knit a lot of garter stitch, yet I never remember how much garter stitch stretches, or how much wool grows when you wash it. If I had remembered these Basic Knitting Facts, I might have gone down more than just one needle size when knitting my Fort Tryon Wrap. I’m a loose knitter. I know this about myself.
On the other hand, I love the translucent lightness of Jill Draper’s Esopus knitted on Size 6 (US) needles. I’m not going to measure the gauge. It’s airy, and we’ll leave it at that.
Esopus is now at the top of my list of great yarns. It’s so crisp and well-constructed, a pleasure on the needles and in the fabric. I’m dying to make a Relax, one of my favorite sweaters ever, in Esopus.
The victory? Well, it’s always a victory to finish something. To finish something *big* is extra fun. In this case, now that I’ve seen summer evening light streaming through my Fort Tryon, I also feel the smugness of someone who has knit up a satisfying combination of colors. Someone who has latched onto the dream with both hands, and come out well pleased with the result. I told Judy that the color combination, especially the bright spring green (Esopus shade Green Tea) on the outside edge, was controversial. She was indignant: “it’s stunning,” she said. “How could anyone disagree!”
Not I, Judy, not I.
Love,
Kay
P.S. Here’s the original thrill of victory, for readers of a certain age. (The “agony of defeat” must be referring to chenille intarsia.)
Victory! That’s a whole lotta wrap there, Kay, but it turned out wonderful.
Stunning indeed!
(And that intarsia chenille, will be equally stunning and an even more satisfying victory for its longer journey…….)
That is a beautiful wrap!
WOW! Thrill of victory indeed! Or in the final words of the Assembly Instructions I’ve been joyfully quoting since the 80s: “Now we are success!”
Gorgeous! And the perfectly aligned little holes at the corners make all that unknitting and re-knitting worthwhile!
I’ve got some bamboo and linen arriving any minute for an all-season Ft. Tryon ( you inspirer!) so I’m grateful for the reminder of just how much knitting grows.
If I were knitting another one, I’d just eliminate the last stripe, or take all the stripes down a few rows so that it’s a bit shorter at the end. But that’s me with my loose gauge.
Point taken. It’s great to learn from each other’s experience! Thanks!
The pattern does lend itself to tweaking. We’re in charge of our own knitting!
I’m so glad you decided to go with the green – I really like it!
It is stunning. Even given that could be a NYC apartment for scale you can be stylish with few limits. Meanwhile, I have flashed back to nearly every weekend of my childhood with that “Thrill of Victory” reference. In a good way. Enjoy you wrap in high style.
I have finished mine, but I am afraid to block it. I am not sure I have the stamina right now. Or space.
Mary Lou,
I did a “cheater block,” just washed it, squished out the water, folded it in quarters, pulled at the edges and corners until they were straight-ish, and left it to dry overnight. There aren’t enough wires in the world for this beast! If I’d used wires it might not have gotten quite so long and wide.
Absolutely lovely! Will have to try that yarn (says the woman with a stash that is practically archaeological in scale and depth)
There’s always one you haven’t got, I find.
Agony of defeat? Is there an issue with your Kaffe sweater? I have been thinking about all those ends and how hard it might be to work up the enthusiasm to weave them all in. Maybe you could pay someone to do it, like farming out the yard work to the neighbor kid…
Oh my – it is just beautiful! I must try the yarn.
Now all of a sudden, I’m looking at that yarn, and have that pattern in my cart. Can you remind me how much of each color you used?
As to the needlepoint? I keep a project like that in my car at all time. I sort of think that perhaps it will get finished through osmosis. It hasn’t happened yet, but I have on occasion picked it up when I’ve forgotten a key ingredient to my current traveling knitting project.
The first 2 shades can be 250 yard skeins but the other 3 colors need to be 500 yard skeins of Esopus.
Wow! Where did you find space to block that — the runways at JFK? It reminds me of another line from TV: It keeps going, and going, and going…. Still, it looks good. I’ll even admit that the Green Tea looks better knit up alongside the other colors than it did in the skein. (Yes, I still would have chosen some other color, maybe a faded turquoise or a canary yellow.)
Looks gorgeous! Enjoy it.
Madame … est-ce que je peux suggérer le pull LOLA avec le ESOPUS … ca doit être magnifique a la fin … tout comme le KATAHDIN de chez Miss Babs … vous savez bien comme il se porte ce pull LOLA!!! BBB … bisous bisous bisous … a la petite Olive chez vous tous!!!
Ina, you are the Sweater Sommelier! Yes, Lola would work fabulously in this yarn, for sure.
I just need to get my sticky fingers and needles on some of that loveliness of ESOPUS … awaiting her return to selling the goods!! Cheerio!!!
Oh Kay …. It is FABULOUS! The kind of wrap that elevates the mood…that puts some strut in your gait. I love it, and will take it as a lesson that my soul and closet are crying out for a bit of unexpected color. Well done, you!
As for a Relax sweater, I just finished my third. For two of them, I used Habu Tsumugi stranded with other yarns. That way, I can wear them almost year- round.
…my soul and closet are crying out for a bit of unexpected color
Ditto.
“V I C T O R Y , Victory, Victory, that’s our cry!”
Old high school cheer. Beautiful shawl!
S U C C E S S, that’s the way we spell success (cartwheel, splits, pompoms!!!) Yaaaaaayyy, Kay!
Beautiful!
Color for the win.
Forgive me for ever questioning whether that green would work. It looks fantastic, as does the whole wrap.
Wow, that’s a showstopper! I missed the color controversy earlier, but the green really snaps it up. It’s the kind of color choice that I am not good about making, and I salute you. Note to self: Be brave with color combinations; it works better!
On another note, I’m approaching the shoulders of my first Relax. I’m using linen, and have tried to plan for the fact that my little gauge sample shrank in length and expanded in width. Oh, the guessing game of what washed yarn will do–such fun! Will my Relax be a smashingly flattering tunic, or a misplaced pony blanket? Only time will tell.
A stunning effort. Three cheers for you! I was not a fan of the green but you showed me the error of my ways. I bow to your greatness.
I’m so happy for you. This is a big winner.
I think that if I had to choose five coordinating colors for that wrap I’d be knitting paralyzed. (What I call the state where I want to start a project but something has me stumped so it just sits there – mocking me.) I am the worst at choosing colors. And I will admit, when you first posted your color choices I didn’t think it was going to work. They just seemed to me so random. Goes to show you how little I know and why I have so much trouble in that area.
I feel your dilemma. There are at least three projects I’d love to knit, if only I could choose the appropriate colors. Perhaps Kay’s lesson is to be brave and go forth and knit!?
The knitting world is such an interesting, diverse place! I have no trouble with color…in fact, choosing colors is one of my favorite parts of a knitting project. However, I am very timid about what to me are “complicated” stitch patterns. Any more than a 4-row repeat, and it’s usually more than I want to take on. I suppose that the lesson is “challenge yourself,” but also remember the M-D saying, “Knitting is supposed to be fun.” This is a good reminder to me to find the sweet spot between comfort and challenge!
I just walked my dog, as cute as Olive, in Fort Tryon Park and can only say that indeed you have lived up to it. Small children were taking an Isadora Duncan class. You should have seen the skipping. The little boy who felt uncomfortable skipping. Th ere is indeed a Lord Tryon back in the Olde Country, and I am sure he would admire it also.
On a more plebian note, what an amazing blocking job.
It’s fabulous! And the pink in the middle is so poignant.
Also, I hope they compensated whoever came up with that WWOS opening well — it’s been a useful piece of mental furniture for almost all my life. Thrill of victory it is!
Spectacular wrap, Kay!! I had to resolved to make one, planning to reduce the size of each stripe because I am short. But then I worried about picking the colors. Eventually I decided on the quite similar Dendros wrap, by the Plucky Knitter, who sends the yarn as a kit. It’s worth looking into if you are shopping.
It is indeed “rather good.” And more! You and Jill Draper were absolutely brilliant about the colors. I will never doubt again.
It is stunning and the green is perfect. We love to second guess ourselves and I am so glad you stuck it out. I’m going to knit this for my daughter who lives a block or so north of the Tryon Park.
Congratulations! I love the colors! I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading about the process of this wrap.
By the way, do you know what the brand is for the drum light on your living room ceiling?
I thought I was of a certain age, and indeed I am but no one in my home watched sports! Except for Dad watching tennis.
Btw, you may want to check out a sweater called Breathing Space. The stripes on one of the Relax pattern page pivs reminded me of BS, which I can attest looks great on everyonr since I’ve looked at everyone’s pics more than once!
I’ll be done with my Moderne I-cord today or tomorrow!!! I learned a LOT making this — it reminded me of how much I don’t know – it’s easy to forget if one knits the same kind of thing for years & with wool. It’s far from spohicated or beautiful but I am very happy to have it. I live that about knitting. It doesn’t always matter how objectively good it is in the end.
Enjoy your beautiful FT!
Love the wrap, love the lime green ( my fav color), but I must say that what struck me most was the absolute perfect straight line the frames hanging on your wall make. Beautiful!
Granted, I was a wee thing when the Wide World of Sports you referenced originally aired, but I am a bit unsettled to think of myself as a person of a certain age. I’ve been married for 20 years, but still feel like I should be 20-something and a newlywed.
“Rather good” indeed. Love it.
Wow that wrap is smashing indeed.
Completely stunning.
Congratulations – you are really going to enjoy wearing that when it is no longer 90+ degrees F.
thanks for the blast from the past – I always felt bad for the ski jumper falling over and over again – and I love the photo of the wrap in your living room!
Love this! That green tea color is my favorite part! And, just FYI, I am tall, and even post-Whole30, pretty solid, in case this wrap needs a sizeable home!
But on a more serious note: I have just embarked on a mostly garter stitch shawl in fingering/sock weight yarns on size 6 needles. Your experience with garter stitch on size 6 is giving me pause, as I am a sluttishly loose knitter, routinely needing to go down a couple of needle sizes to get gauge in most patterns. I do like a sizeable piece of fabric, but I think it may be time to re-swatch on size 5 (or maybe even size 4) needles for my project. Thanks!
Whoa, that is one long piece of lovely knitting. The colors are spectacular.
It’s lovely, Kay. I never quite got the green controversy, but I am crazy about green and willing to put green anywhere. If you find that regular wear makes the wrap too long, you could try the dryer. After all, it’s superwash yarn, which is is known to stretch after blocking. A re-block and a bit of dryer time will get it back into shape. Stretching is one of the reasons I have sworn off buying superwash yarn. Just for this year, though.
It is stunning. And I love the Thrill of Victory clip. I am, ahem, old enough to well remember that.
Can’t count how many times as a child I saw that guy fall off the ski jump. Just now realized there was a motorcycle crash, too. Ouch!
My, what long stripes you have! Beautiful.
Oh to finish ANYTHING! And while in the car. The agony of the ” I can’t finish any of the many things on my needles”! Cheers to you ! So beautiful ❤️‼️
She’s stunningly beautiful, Kay! I wish I had seen this before I started a BORING garter stitch wrap for my daughter…your is so much more exquisite, so I guess I’ll just have to make her another one! I love your color combinations and hope I don’t have analysis paralysis when choosing the colors. My daughter is tall so I’m going the distance on this one! You just won the Olympic Gold Medal for knitting…congrats!
When you’re making something in those dimensions, do you bundle up the knitted fabric to keep it out of the way, or just let it stay loose so you can keep looking at it all the time?