Nothing new

There is nothing all that new to talk about on the knitting front.  Just thought I would update everyone on the sweater that never ends (sing the song with me, every time I say “the sweater that never ends” I start humming in my head.)  I have been making slow progress on the sleeves.  I keep measuring and measuring to see if I can start the raglan shaping, while unsuccessfully trying to talk myself into 3/4 length sleeves.  I know that I really want full length sleeves.  And I like my sleeves extra long so, I keep knitting.

Another big road block I already see coming is the neck finishing.  Most recently I had intended to make a fairly long kind cowly turtle neck type thing.  I am currently questioning that logic.  The less neck to knit the faster it will be done.  I am really not sure which side of me will win that battle.

I have picked my next project and was thinking I could get away with swatching a little bit to break the monotony, but I need the exact needles I am using now for the sweater that never ends.  I am very tempted to go buy another set of size 4s.  I need to have another cable length in 4s, right?

 

 

 

 

vacation pictures

I just got back from a week of vacation with my sister and her family in Maryland.  I always forget to take as many pictures as I should but here are some of my favs.

Here is Evie in action.  We were outside running through the leaves.  I tried to get shots of the older children but they run too fast.

Izzy in her Jayhawk outfit.

This is Evie on her Rockin’ Moose, practically her favorite toy.  When you ask her to “cheese” for the camera this is the face she makes.

Izzy and I got to do some arts and crafts.

Both girls love to read books.  Here we all are reading.

I took my knitting with me but managed to not knit even one stitch while away.  I did read a couple good books though.  Hopefully the sweater that never ends will get worked on some this week.

My mother the model

Mom loves it when I show up with newly finished knitted items for her.  She is not a big fan of the camera that comes too.  She is a good sport though.  Here are the photos I took of her in the new Eyelet Cardigan.

Front:

Back:

During our photo shoot mom kept asking if her head was in the shots.

Yup, it was.

Finished

The cardigan for my mother is finished (except for sewing on the buttons but I am calling it close enough.)  I am very very pleased with how it turned out.  I showed it to mom yesterday when we went button shopping and although the second sleeve was not attached she said she loved it.  We went to Sarah’s here in Lawrence, a great fabric store, but also they have a huge selection of buttons.  We found what we wanted right away and they are PERFECT!  The color of the button is almost the color of the dark flecks in the yarn and they are very pretty too.

All the buttons:

Some photos on the duct tape me, the first one is way out of focus, sorry.

Project Details:

Pattern – Eyelet Cardigan by Alison Williams

Yarn – Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed

Needles – US size 8

Modifications – I knit this in the round to the arm holes and added 3.75″ of length to the pattern.  I knit less ribbing on the sleeves and more of the eyelet pattern but made them approx. the right length.  I made  the neck and button bands narrower due to yarn constraints.  I also used 7 small buttons.

When first discussing this pattern Mom said she wanted the sleeves and body as long as possible.  In an effort to use all the yarn I did not have enough to knit the button bands as wide as the pattern calls for, but you may have noticed I am no slave to pattern instructions.  I think I even like the narrow button band better, it seems more delicate/dressy?  Here is the yarn I had left next to a 2′ ruler.

I think that is about 8′ of yarn left.  I really could not have cut it much closer.

Karma

I am still knitting the new cardigan for my mother.  Here is where I am at now.

Unfortunately I have hit a few obstacles while knitting this.  It is obvious that the knitting gods are punishing me for starting something new (please note that this excuses me from any personal responsibility for my mistakes.)

The pattern I am knitting is the Eyelet Cardigan (ravelry link.)  The pattern is by Alison Williams and it is a leaflet printed by Blue Sky Alpacas.  It is a cropped cardigan but mom asked for more length.  Also it is knit in pieces and then seamed.  I am not a huge fan of seams when they are not necessary so I decided to knit it in the round to the arm holes.

I added all the stitches from the left front, right front, back, and cast on.   I counted the CO row 3 times and got the same number, 156.  Great, so I commenced the 4″ of ribbing.

After the ribbing the eyelet pattern required some more math to center the pattern.  I knit the first row as I had figured and ended up off at the end.  I counted my repeats and checked them all to make sure I had not made a mistake.  Nope.  I could not figure out what was wrong.  I checked my notes.  Huh?  It says to cast on 152 stitches and I vaguely remember counting (3x) 156 stitches.  I was not knitting 4″ of ribbing again for 4 measly stitches so I decided to add some “filler” stitches around the pattern and continued knitting.

After about 3″ of the eyelet pattern I noticed that the increases I was doing for the bust shaping were not working out as I had planned.  The increases were almost done and I was at where the cardigan would hit mom at her high waist.  Not so good, it turns out I needed to add length (remember not cropped?) before starting the shaping.  Whoops, no quick fix this time.  I decided it mattered enough to rip out.  I have now reknit those 3″ and will now start the bust shaping.

A close up that shows the color fairly well.

The following is the only decent picture I have of the eyelet pattern, but it is not stretched so I need to stretch it and take a pic which is kinda hard.

Hopefully I will only have to knit things once from here on out.