Spring Cardi DONE!

Okay, I finished a sweater...even if it wasn't the one I intended to finish as part of this sweater KAL. I also have a spring cotton sweater in the works that is about 70% done. But this one just sort of grabbed me by the throat and wouldn't let go.

I was in the LYS and fell in love with the pastel, springy colors and had to have one for myself. This sweater is based on a real simple top-down, raglan cardigan freebie pattern off Ravelry. I changed the increases to YO eyelets, "borrowed" a striping pattern from my cotton sweater (which is Barcardi out of No Sheep for You) and added in side cables and a zipper finish. It's made with Berroco Comfort....yeah, I know, acrylic (ack!) but it is a nice, springy acrylic. Plus it was super cheap. And it had great colors. We'll see how it wears....

It's very cute...now I just have to make the skirt out the fabric I found that matches the sweater perfectly!

Amelia

I finished sooner than expected - although I'm probably still last.
I'm not sure what I think of this yet. I like the yarn and the pattern, but the sleeves are still too big in the upper arm area, despite leaving off almost ten stitches. Because I had fewer sleeves stitches the neckline is not so low, but I'm happy with that. I think this will be really yummy when the colder weather hits.
Details:
The pattern is "Amelia" from Knitty-winter 2008, by Laura Chau.
The yarn is my own handspun - a multi-coloured dyed Romney plied with a dark grey Romney/Polworth - spun at about 10 ply weight (although one sleeve is definately chunkier than that!).
Knit on 4mm needles, and 4.5 for the cuffs and hem.



A close-up of the colour.
Is it just me or does this look like my back!

Hey! - did you see the latest Twist Collective was out!

Home Straight

Yay!


The sleeves are attached, and I've about 15 % left to knit. I'm hoping to have it done by this time next week.
The yarn is a difficult colour to photograph, I don't think the blue is actually that bright (I hope). And yes, I do actually have arms that long, and no, they don't reach my knees ... quite.

Waa! I need to be consoled!

Was breezing along and almost ready to bind off my top down sweater. Decided to put stitches on a holder and start the sleeves in case I wanted it longer when I discovered a mistake. It wasn't something I could fudge, I WAS MISSING 6 STITCHES! Gah! I was supposed to cast on 12 sts at the underarm and only cast on 6. Blast it! I had to frog almost a foot of knitting! At the time I thought the placement of the side marker at the underarm was a little odd but then, I didn't design the pattern and figured Wendy would have known what she was doing!
Back to the drawing board!
Sniffle.
Les

Sweater Doldrums

Fed up with knitting sweater.
Fed up with spinning wool for sweater.
Fed up with weather.

Knitting hat.

Giddy Up!

I'm back! Seem to have found the knitting mojo. Started the Sweaterbabe's Lush and Lacy cardigan in some stashed Schoeller Stahl Merino Stretch purchased from Elann ages ago. It's not exactly what I had in mind but I vowed to work from the stash before ordering anymore yarn. Of course, I have a sweater's worth of Valley Yarn's Florence in my Webs shopping cart but I'm going to try and be good even if it is a closeout AND on sale.

Grace's Hip Hop Coat reminded me to dig out some stashed Ironstone Fun and start a cardi I had planned on doing awhiles back. It's the Thick and Thin Cardigan Coat from Fitted Knits. I'm using Elann's Highland Wool in chocolate chip and Cascade 220 in a rusty brown for the ribbing. Had to do a few simple mods because of my yarn sub but other than that I'm proceeding per pattern. The body and one sleeve is done. Not sure how flattering this baby is going to be but I've got the yarn so I may as well go fer it! Edit: The Wooly Mammoth is done. Does the name give you any hints to how I feel about the beast? She's in the dryer on fluff right now--modeled pix to follow.

I've changed horses midstream!

My start on the Lichen sweater wasn't doing it for me so I have started the Favorite Cardigan from Custom Knits. I'm using Elann Incense and just love the yarn. It knits very evenly and is so smooth! Hoping the wool will provide some memory. I am working on the yolk and am one ball down!

Done!

finished my sweater coat for my sister!! The Hip Hop pattern was in and Interweave Knits from 2005, and I used Elann Highland Chunky doubled on size 10.5 needles. It was quick knit, and easy peasy! In the picture I didn't remember to turn up the cuffs, and that white dot is on the camera not the sweater.

Dear Joan,

Sorry for being so slow off the mark, but I just remembered that you said you needed some 7mm (US?) needles for that gorgeous long coat you were thinking of knitting. Well, as you can see, we can get rather a lot of them down here. If you still want some just let your Kiwi friend know, and I'll see what I can do (that translates literally to: I'll get you some)

As you can see knitpicks makes a 7.00mm circular needle, so as a matter of interest I checked out their website and noticed that they now sell 7.00mm circs in the US. So there's that option too.

I was never sure why the American and British numbering system are the opposite of each other (or why we drive on the opposite sides of the road for that matter), but watching the mini-series John Adams a while back offered some insight. I'm not saying the American revolution caused a knitting needle revolt as such, but I can see why early Americans would want to do things their way.


Happy knitting!

Stardust finis!

What a pleasant knit! I'm quite pleased with the finished product and the yarn. Even the seaming was fun and quick--not sure it's as good as it could be but black is kind of hard to see. I'm guessing that no one will look close enough to notice my seaming job (or the fact that I used the wrong chart for the left front--oops.) I haven't tried the sweater over any of my fugly black cocktail dresses but I think it will be passable.

I swatched the Ella Rae for the Lush and Lacy cardigan but wasn't happy with the fabric at the looser gauge. Ella Rae classic wool knits up like Elann's Highland Wool--much nicer on the US7 rather that the US9 that the pattern calls for. I might try to knit a few sizes up and use US7 OR I may knit another Stardust. I quite like this pattern--near instant gratification and a great stashbuster for my less than full size sweater stash of yarn.

Thanks for hosting, Joan! I'll check in again later with my next sweater selection! Happy sweater knitting, Everyone!

Joanne's SweaterCoat

all of the pieces are knit for the sweater coat, now I need master blocker's help and then I can sew them, do the bands and the collar!! Soon!

Dolly sweater

Your sweaters are so inspiring. They give me hope that I can tackle a big project like that.

This is not the sweater I had in mind when I voted for doing sweaters! But dsil went and had a baby and babies knits always have to take priority since they grow up so gosh darned fast. The doll, based on a pattern in Weekend Knits, is made from the yarn left over after making hats. The sweater is a raglan style knit from the top down in one piece. I added a ruffled skirt at the bottom by knitting in the front back of each stitch at the waist line. I put in a garter stitch at the end to keep it from rolling, but may have bound off too tight. I liked not having to sew up seams, but ended up with holes under the arms. I think my technique needs some work. Matching hats can be seen on my blog.

I'm still interestd in making a sweater for me - I have the yarn, I'm just having a hard time committing to a pattern.

Knitty's Stardust

Hi Everyone! Well, it took a trip to Tahoe to get me motivated enough to knit. I can't bear the long drive without a knitting project since prolonged reading makes me carsick. After hemming and hawing and some turbo swatching the night before we left, I finally decided on Knitty's Stardust. We're going on a cruise to Mexico in April and I thought it would be the perfect sweater to wear over my various and utterly boring black cocktail dresses. I'm using some stashed Knitpicks Swish DK in coal that was originally purchased to make a second puff sleeve cardigan from Fitted Knits. So far, my only mod is to shorten the ties in the front so they can be knotted instead of tied into a bow. The fronts and back are done. I hope to finish the sleeves this week--maybe in between loads of laundry! I'm also going to swatch for Sweaterbabe's Lush and Lacy Cardigan. Provided that I can get gauge with some stashed Ella Rae, that sweater will be next in the queue!

Long Hooded Cardigan

I just finished the Knitting Pure & Simple Neckdown Long Hooded Cardigan #225. It's a top down raglan and would have been 100% seamless if not for the hood seam. If I would have thought of it sooner I could have started with a Turkish Cast-on.

I added one coat hook & eye set right above the bust and that is enough to keep it closed. Lots & lots of stockinette but it's totally worth it.

More details on my blog.

A baby sweater . . .

I am currently working on a baby sweater that I'm making for profit. I'm jumping in to get motivated to finish this thing and actually get paid. It's similar to the Coats & Clark one on my Projects page on Ravelry. Just using my own stitch count and cables. I'll post pictures and progress this weekend.