Sunday Knitting

I recently finished a baby sweater for a coworker. There was only a small window of time between finishing and wrapping it, and the light was pretty bad during that time, so I apologize for the photo quality. The color is rather washed out, but at least you can get the idea.

I used a pattern called Korrigan, which was originally written in French, but has an English translation. It used some language that was shall we say, non-standard, but I managed to figure it out. I'd caution less-experienced knitters against using this pattern (unless you have someone to help you) because it could lead to frustration and errors.

It's a pretty adorable sweater though, isn't it? The yarn is Breathless from Shalimar Yarns, and it's a blend of merino, silk, and cashmere. The color is just beautiful, and I really do adore the cabling around the yoke of this sweater. It's hand-dyed so it pooled a bit, but I sort of like the effect. I found these plain little white buttons at home, which was lucky, though it took me at least a week to drudge up the wherewithal to sew them on.

If we're lucky, maybe I'll be able to post a modeled photo sometime after the baby arrives.

Sunday Knitting

We had about ten minutes of warm sunshine yesterday, which perfectly coincided photographing my finished Geodesic Cardigan.

This would have been extremely unpleasant in the 30-degree weather we had been having.

One of my concerns while knitting was that the hem remained flipped up, but I'm happy to see that it seems to be behaving after blocking.

I was also afraid of how the tucks would turn out, because judging from other projects on Ravelry, the results vary widely. Mine aren't perfectly straight or uniform by any means, but they don't stick out awkwardly either.

The color is lovely, isn't it? I hope I can wear it at least a few times before it completely disintegrates, which is exactly what I fear will happen since this yarn is of such poor quality. It was trouble from the start, and then a couple of times while I was knitting, the strand just came apart in my hands. That was pretty unnerving.

Come to think of it, this entire project was fraught with peril. Aside from the yarn troubles, the pattern was very confusing and required simultaneously counting several different things. For someone who enjoys a stiff Manhattan while knitting, that's just asking for trouble. But I didn't make any major mistakes. Nor did I run out of yarn, as I feared through the entire project. There's even a small ball left. (Which I may end up using to fix holes when the yarn begins to disintegrate.)

So, my spring cardigan is done. Do you hear that, spring? That means you can arrive now!

Sunday Knitting

It doesn't look like much right now, but my Geodesic Cardigan is going very well.

Last weekend I devoted myself wholly to finishing up the back and both fronts and attaching them together. I did this all while listening to Tampa, and I fear that book and this cardigan will be forever intertwined.

During the week I knit the sleeve caps and awaited a time when I could sit down and devote myself to seaming them in. I don't hate seaming pieces together the way some knitters do, but I always dread sewing in sleeves because the shape of the sleeve cap is so rarely similar to the shape of the armhole. Happily, these fit together quite nicely.

The seams aren't perfect, but nobody should be close enough to my armpit to notice. They're really not bad.

These sleeves are unusually constructed. I had to use the invisible provisional cast-on, then knit upwards to shape the caps, before casting-off and sewing in the sleeve caps. Now, I pick up the provisional stitches and knit the length of the sleeve. This will actually work quite well because not only is the most difficult part out of the way, but I don't know if I have enough yarn to make the sleeves as long as they're supposed to be. Knitting down from the shoulders is the best direction to go in that situation.

So that is all that's left: knitting the sleeves, and just a few rows of trim around the back neck. I'll start with the neck trim to be sure there's enough yarn, and then see how much sleeve I can get out of the rest. I hope to be done in a couple of weeks, which means the cardigan will be ready in time for the appropriate spring weather in which to wear it!

Sunday Knitting

I promised an update on my Geodesic Cardigan ages ago, and then set it aside and haven't touched it since. But I realized you haven't seen it since it was far too many balls of tangled yarn. It looks much nicer now.

I got to a point where I had to knit until it was a certain length, so the last time I touched it I took it off the needles to measure it. I have no idea what I determined, so the next time I pick it up I have to take it back off the needles and measure it again before I can move on. Thus, I have ignored it completely.

So far my biggest concern is the way the bottom turns up. Did I cast on too tight? Will it block out? Will it matter anyhow, if I run out of yarn before I'm done, as I fear I might? So many questions.

I've recently been distracted by other projects, such as another pair of socks, and an odd little cross stitch I started working on after coming across the kit stashed in my sewing table. I'll show you one of those next time I do a Sunday post.

Sunday Knitting

In my excitement at finishing two sweaters in such a short period of time I wanted to cast on for something new immediately. Now that my beloved Windsor Button is gone and purchasing yarn isn't quite so instant, this means working with what I have on hand already. Ages ago I queued the Geodesic Cardigan from Knitscene, bought the yarn, and put it with the magazine into a ziplock bag to await casting on. A year or so later, the time came. One evening at around 8pm, after a relaxing glass of wine, I grabbed my swift and ball winder and pulled out the hanks of yarn to wind them.

Mind you, the state of my house right now is such that I can't wind yarn on my sewing table where I usually do it. My ball winder is kind of like this, which means it needs to clamp onto a table, a very thin table. I forced it onto the edge of my kitchen table, and optimistically put the first hank of yarn on the swift. Soon, this is what I had.

Don't be distracted by the brilliant color. Look more closely. 

First, the stupid ball winder came off the edge of the table, which really was too thick. I had to hold it awkwardly in one hand while turning the handle with the other. Usually, this would work ok, and I'd just have to occasionally stop winding to straighten out the yarn or remove it from the swift arm where it is caught. But this isn't usual yarn. Malabrigo Lace is clearly the work of Satan and was wound into this hank by his evil minions.

There were eight ends, which was extremely confusing. They weren't even knots, as you sometimes find, just ends. This made it a little easier though, when it came so impossibly tangled that I couldn't undo it, hence the ball winder sitting uselessly aside with its partial ball while I began winding by hand with another end I found. I couldn't even take the partial ball off the ball winder and continue with it because the yarn feeds through that small eye and I'd have to undo the whole ball to feed it back through, which would be pointless. 

Occasionally, a ball of yarn will be a tad tangled. You put the hank on the swift and it seems one piece is looped around strangely, so you need to make a minor and obvious adjustment. This one, though, defied all explanation. As I began winding by hand, I regularly had to feed the whole ball through a weird tangle in order to continue. Sometimes the yarn inexplicably looped back and started coming off in the opposite direction. 

At 10:30pm - two and a half hours after I started - I finally finished up the fourth ball (and there should never be a fourth ball) of the hank, bits of bright blue lint coating my kitchen table, and me mad with exhaustion. I couldn't allow myself to even think about the second hank.

A few days later I was recovered enough from my trauma to tackle the second hank. When I put it on the swift, I examined it thoroughly. It turns out that a couple of feet of one end was woven in and around the the rest of the yarn, guaranteeing misery if you had the misfortune of beginning with the other end. Luckily, the second hank went much more smoothly and resulted only in one ball.

I felt rather betrayed by this yarn after my positive experience with the Whisper Cardigan. Malabrigo Lace, you are a fickle bitch and cannot be trusted.

Sunday Knitting

The Livingstone Cardigan is finished, but has fallen short of my expectations.

See how concerned and disappointed I look? (Not to mention my bizarre outsized shoulders and tiny head. So unfortunate.)

The back looks fairly good.

But there is something very wrong with the whole collar area.

This is the picture in the pattern:

Look at that lovely wide collar that gracefully flips down over her shoulders! I don't think it's possible to use these instructions and make a collar that looks like that. I looked at other people's versions of this sweater on Ravelry and they ALL have collars that look like mine. Not one is like this.

There are a couple of things going on here. The other pieces don't come very close to the neckline, so the way the collar sits means that it isn't in a good spot to fold back that far. I also just don't think it's wide enough.

The collar is knit separately by casting on a lot of stitches, knitting a bit in ribbing, doing some short-row shaping, then back to just regular ribbing until it's a certain width. This means you don't know if it fits the sweater until it's done and you sew it together. I had some trouble fitting it into my sweater. It was the right length (when slightly stretched) but the short-row part didn't really line up to the neckline correctly. I don't know if this is a gauge issue or something else.

I probably should have done what others did and pick up stitches instead of knitting it separately, but I wouldn't have known how to do the short-row shaping from that direction. (And anyhow, theirs still came out with the skimpy collars that don't fold over nearly so far.)

Other than the issues with the collar, the pattern was pretty clear and easy to follow. It's from the Winter 2011 issue of Interweave Knits (I bought the standalone pattern online.) I used Plymouth Encore Chunky Tweed and size 10.5 needles.

It seemed to be going so well, and now I feel rather disheartened by the whole thing. To make myself feel better, I bought  some purple chunky yarn and started on a hat, mittens, and cowl. This is sure to give me some almost-instant gratification!

Sunday Knitting

I can't help but think I should be doing some sort of Christmas preparation today. Yet here I am, seaming together a cardigan.

The pattern makes this part easy because the pieces have a garter edge and then a bit of ribbing. All too often when seaming, it is unclear which parts should be hidden in the seam, which bar is the one you sew up, and what should be showing. The sleeves are always the most difficult pieces to sew in, but these were a snap.

Hopefully the rest of it will go as smoothly. Then, I only have to pick up a couple hundred stitches, knit the shawl collar, add button loops, find some buttons....Well. I suppose I won't have a new cardigan for Christmas, but maybe for the New Year.

Sunday Knitting

My Livingstone Cardigan is positively flying off the needles. I do wish I had a better area to photograph my knitting though. I'm not doing it outside this time of year and don't have many useful surfaces - or decent light - inside.

Hence, my hideous circa-1950 kitchen floor.

Those are not sleeves, but in fact the cardigan fronts. They're a bit skinny because there's a big shawl collar that extends down the front, and that gets added on later.

These pieces went quickly since they're so narrow and knit in bulky weight yarn, but the arm/neck shaping was extremely confusing. It's always hard to keep it straight when you're decreasing both for an armhole and a neck, but when you also have to decrease into your cable pattern - while watching episodes of Doc Martin - it is just not pretty. I made a lot of notes though, and I think I followed them correctly.

But that's not all!

I also started the first sleeve.

....and I just realized that I'm showing you the back of it. Or, what will be the inside. These sleeves are in reverse stockinette, which I completely forgot while I was photographing it. Whoops. So consider this just a teaser of the sleeve!

Despite my relief that the sleeves have no cables - and therefore no confusing increases-while-cabling - it does make them a little boring to knit. As sleeves tend to be. Hopefully my momentum will carry me through. I'm actually beginning to think I might be able to wear this sweater this winter.

Sunday Knitting

As I briefly mentioned last week, I ripped out my Mottled Rib Sweater and used the yarn to cast on for the Livingstone Cardigan. I was unsure about the gauge and size on the Mottled Rib and decided (as I do frequently) that what I really need is more cardigans. (It has come to that time of year when my office alternates between freezing and sweltering, and pullovers just won't do.) Also, I really wanted to sink my teeth into some cables. Do you ever have those times when you are just dying to knit cables?

This pattern is from an issue of Interweave Knits that I don't own, but luckily I was able to purchase it online and begin right away. It's going very fast.

There's a LOT of difference between sizes, and I uncharacteristically chose the larger size. There will be about 4 inches of ease if my gauge is on (which, let's face it...) but the smaller size would have been negative ease of 2 inches, and that seemed too tight for a bulky-weight cardigan that I plan to wear over  another shirt. I've knit another couple of inches since taking this photo yesterday afternoon and it looks like a reasonable size. I'm feeling optimistic.

Sunday Knitting

My Puff-Sleeved Cardigan with the redone peplum.

I wish I could say I was happy with it, but I think it's only a slight improvement over the original. Somehow it seems a bit too big around the torso, and I'm still not sure it's the right length.

The photos didn't come out as well as I'd hoped, but then it rained for a large part of the weekend so there was no opportunity to take more pictures. The button band is all crooked and it looks a little weird with the two unbuttoned buttons at the bottom, but when I tried it on in front of the mirror it looked more like this, which I liked:

And here's the back, just cuz:

So....better than it was, but I'm not sure I'll wear it. I'll try though. I just don't want the other kids laughing at me for wearing funny clothes.

Sunday Knitting

I was really hoping to have a finished Puff-Sleeved Cardigan to show you today but alas, it is not finished. Various events conspired against my progress such as last weekend's camping trip, Independence Day, and my insurmountable distaste for figuring out how to space button holes.

This is where I am.

I zipped through the button band in one evening. Soon thereafter I began the buttonhole band. The instructions say to pick up stitches and then place markers evenly to denote where the buttonholes will go. That of course is silly, since there are three whole rows of knitting to be done before making the button holes, so I just went ahead and knit those rows. Then stopped. And here I am.

Unlike many people, I don't actually dislike making button holes. It's just the maddening process of figuring out where to put them that drives me into a rage. I always think I'm being very smarty pants with my math and then realize I've overlooked some minor but important detail. And the fact that I can't remember where it is that I always go wrong just increases the likelihood of making the same mistake again. I suppose I should just get it over with, shouldn't I?

Sunday Knitting

This is my finished Cabled Baby Raglan Sweater. The photo isn't fantastic - I had a choice between too bright from the sunlight or too bright from the flash. But you get the idea.

Pattern: Cabled Raglan Baby Sweater, a free pattern from Knitting Daily
Yarn: Jaeger Matchmaker Merino DK
Needles: Size 4 Addi Turbos

It took me just under two months from start to finish, but I had a couple of false starts. Then after I finished the knitting and weaving in of yarn ends, it languished for about a week before I washed and blocked it, finally adding the snap and button on the day I gave it away. Had I focused on the project a bit more it could have easily been finished in a few weeks.

I made it for a friend who will be having a baby in a couple of months. Turns out that her husband knits and I got to see several pairs of booties he's made. The sweater was very well received!

Monday Knitting

This is a little late because yesterday was my birthday and I couldn't bring myself to do anything I didn't absolutely want to do.

Remember this?

I added some length before starting the peplum because I don't like cropped tops very much. Although it looks ok in the pictures I took, it became apparent that there's a reason why peplum tops are always so short. This sweater just looked weird. I've never worn it. But every fall, I pull it out with my other sweaters and every spring I wash it and pack it away again. This time, however, I decided to buck up and fix the damn thing.

Even though the sweater is top down, there's still a bit of difficulty in that the button bands - and buttons - were added after. So yesterday I sat down and removed all 11 buttons and undid the button bands. I can do this less painfully now that so much time has passed since I had to pick up all those stitches and sew on all those buttons.

Today I pulled out the peplum, more difficult than it should have been since I couldn't find the stupid end of yarn and so started in a mid-peplum spot where I had switched yarn skeins.

Next step: start knitting!

Sunday Knitting - Coraline

Yesterday I got dressed up all in jeans and wool and went out into the 85 degree day to get pictures of my long-awaited (by me anyhow) Coraline cardigan.

The back

And a close up of the smocking and buttons.

Some quick stats:

The pattern is Coraline by Ysolda Teague
The yarn is Queensland Collection Rustic Wool DK
I used needles sized 3 and 4
I started in late September, which made this an 8-month project for no good reason.

In addition to coming up with beautiful designs, Ysolda is a very meticulous writer of patterns. Not only does she provide the largest range of sizes of any designer I know of, but her patterns are very clear and detailed. Although she has been published in magazines from Knitty to Interweave Knits, she primarily sells her patterns directly and manages to cobble together a living from knitting. All this to say, this was a nice pattern!

I liked the yarn as well. It's so hard to find DK weight yarns that don't break the bank and this was fairly pricy if I remember clearly, but it was worth it for the color alone. After blocking, this sweater is every bit as soft and drapey as I had hoped. One of the balls was a bit defective as it had several knots - technically you can return it when that's the case, but who's going to rip out all that work? Luckily, out of the 11 balls of yarn I bought, the others were all fine. (I actually have 3 partial balls left, probably equal to about 2 full balls.)

My gauge was a bit off, despite swatching before I started and getting correct gauge (but we all know how swatches lie) so I was bit worried because the smocking requires accurate row gauge. However, the stars aligned and it came out perfectly.

The only part I'm not happy with is the button loops, but you can't see them (thank goodness.) I have a vague plan to redo them, but knowing myself as I do it seems unlikely to actually happen. This is ok because they're not visible. These are the instructions, if you're curious. I used 2 plies of yarn as thread but I think it was a little too slippery and moved around and looks very messy. If I were to do it over, I'd try to find matching embroidery thread.

The only thing I changed was to use fewer buttons, just because mine are larger than she used on the original. I felt lucky to find buttons in that color, never mind finding the exact size I wanted. I did something a little different on the hem as well, unintentionally, but that was so long ago now that I don't even remember what. I remember being concerned about it, but it looks fine now.

All in all, a success! I look forward to wearing it a lot next fall and winter.

Sunday Knitting

I've reached the smocking portion of my Coraline cardigan.

To create a smocking pattern, basically you slip two stitches that are several stitches away from each other, wrap the yarn around those two stitches, then knit all the stitches in their original order. It's tricky to get the wraps to all be the same length. You can clearly see that I've failed at this. However, if you are close enough to notice this while I'm wearing it, you are too close for my comfort.

The weird ridge where the smocking area meets the rest of the body is (hopefully) because I put in a life line. I wasn't feeling confident about my smocking skills. I may take it out, but then again I'm concerned about my row gauge being a little off so maybe I'll still have to rip back. I'm very unsure of everything at this point, but the good news is that the weather won't be appropriate for this sweater for several months now, so there's no hurry.

Here's a rather messy view of Coraline in its entirety. Almost there! And almost out of yarn!

Sunday Knitting

I've just completed the second sleeve of my Coraline Cardigan.

Right now it just looks like a lumpy mess with various colored waste yarn hanging off it, like some sort of wool-based Frankenstein, but I assure you that someday it will be beautiful. I keep telling myself this although my gauge is off and I only have two full balls of yarn left. I also made a poor decision way back at the hem which I am now beginning to regret.

But! It's purple!

Now I need to connect all those pieces and knit the smocked yoke. I've never knitting smocking before, but I'm sure it will be easy. Just like I'm sure I'll have enough yarn and I'm sure the sweater will fit.

The spring weather may be making me delusional, but I'm enjoying this happy state of mind so I won't trouble myself with details like math and gauge and yardage.

Sunday Knitting

I feel a little silly that it took me about 75 rows to realize something very basic about the construction of my sweater. I knew that it has an i-cold edging, and I was curious as to how to attach i-cord to the edge of something. I skimmed through the pattern to find that part and couldn't but figured I'd see it later when I got to that part.

At the same time, I thought it really strange that the instructions say to slip the first 3 stitches of each row. I mean, wouldn't that make the edge totally pull in and be all rounded?

Yeah. I am little slow.

Look at my pretty i-cord edging! I didn't even know I was making it!

Next I begin the sleeves, which I'm not looking forward to at all. (If only I were a vest girl!) Then the sleeves get knit together with the yoke, which is where the fun smocking pattern comes in. Lots to look forward to in this project, but mostly I'm getting antsy to wear it.

Coraline has begun

I've swatched for the Coraline cardigan before, but couldn't get gauge, and with this pattern you need to get row gauge as well as stitch gauge. Moreover, the pattern calls for DK weight yarn which, for reasons that remain mysterious to me, is more expensive than other yarn weights. Consequently I haven't been doing much experimenting. But. Recently I found this lovely purple yarn - Queensland Collection Rustic Wool DK - and I think it is perfect.

Coraline is knit from the bottom up with a folden hem. I have made a folded hem before on my first and second versions of the Hourglass Sweater (sorry for the Ravelry links, this was pre-blog!) but Ysolda's design is a little bit different.

The basic idea of a folded hem is that you cast on provisionally, knit a bunch of rows, knit a bunch more rows, fold it in half, then take off your waste yarn and knit the provisional stitches together with your live stitches. Then just keep knitting.

With the hourglass sweater, there was a purl row which I think the pattern referred to as a "turning row" between the front rows and the back rows (if that makes sense). This clearly defined the fold. On Coraline there is no turning row, and also the pattern says to slip the first THREE stitches of every row. I've never seen such a thing before. Of course I forgot to do this on my first 15 rows and did not want to rip it all out because these are some long damn rows. I'm sure it will be fine. (Just as I'm sure those are famous last words.)

Here's a picture of the back - I've gone just a few rows beyond where the hem is attached. See how neat it looks where the hem attaches?

Now that I've finished the hem, I have to knit 95 rows in plain stockinette. Easy peasy. This means that I have to either a) find a good show to watch, b) find some good podcasts to listen to, or c) finally figure out how to read and knit at the same time, from the comfort of the papasan chair where I have been recently living.

Tonight I am watching Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, a desire inspired by recently reading this book. I wonder how many rows I will get done?

A bit of orange

This will be the Whisper Cardigan from IK spring 2009. I want to build up my cardigans in number, styles and variety of colors.

So far the project is slow going. I had to make a trip to Windsor Button for a circular needle this size in metal. The joins on my interchangeables were making this project maddening. That was over a week ago and I still haven’t transferred it to the new needles. But when I do it will practically knit itself, I’m sure!

Oh, and the yarn? Malabrigo Lace. It is absolutely luscious.

Puff-Sleeved Feminine Cardigan

Finally, it is done. Had I finished it a month ago I would probably have had a few opportunities to wear it right away, but now I will probably just pack it away until fall.

Pattern: Puff-Sleeved Feminine Cardigan from Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel
Size: 36
Yarn: KnitPicks Merino Style in Iris (bought 12 skeins, have 1 or 2 leftover)
Needles: size 4 and size 3
Started: March 13 and finished sometime in early June
This Ravelry link has a couple of different pictures (and you should be able to view it even if you're not a member.)

Modifications: I added a lot to the length, because otherwise this would have been a very cropped sweater. Before the waist-shaping, I knit 35 rows instead of 17, and after the waist-shaping I knit 19 rows instead of 7. Because of the added length I made 11 buttonholes instead of 8. I used a stretchy bind-off for the sleeves.

Buttons: Expensive. I bought the only buttons that Windsor Button had in this color. They were over $2 each because they had a textured pattern on them, which isn't even showing because I wanted the plain side facing out. I looked at non-purple buttons, but really I just wanted something to blend in with the color of the sweater, not stand out or detract from it. I love cardigans, but I could do without having to choose buttons (not to mention sew them on.)

I'm mostly happy with how it turned out, but it is disappointingly boxy. Normally, I choose a size that is a bit small on me and block slightly larger so it is nice and form-fitting, but this time I knit it exactly to my size because the next smallest size would have probably been too small. It fits well, but is just a bit baggy around the waist. Perhaps I should have modified the waist-shaping somehow, but it's so hard to tell how anything will look once it's finished. I even think that maybe I shouldn't have added quite as much length. You can't tell in some of the pictures, but there's one at the Ravelry link above that shows the boxiness, and you can sort of tell in this picture of the back.


I do like the slightly puffed sleeves, and I like how it looks with the neckline open. I meant to take pictures of it buttoned up to the top (which is how it is pictured in the book) but forgot. Oh, and I love the color.