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.