WIP Cabled Hoodie

Every now and then I love to knit other designers' patterns for fun, for learning, for a break from figuring and charting and calculating my own things. I've designed and even written up several cardigan patterns of my own, but I wanted a little design break (although I am also still working on new designs simultaneously so not a total break, lol).

I opted to knit a pattern I'd purchased some time ago but never gotten around to knitting, the Cassidy hooded, cabled cardigan by Bonne Marie Burns from Chicknits.com. photo Chicknits.com

I was incredulous to realize I had only one or two yarns in my stash in enough quantity to knit the desired cable sweater, especially one with a hood, and since one yarn option really was not suitable for cables, that left me with a staple yarn, Berroco's Ultra Alpaca in light heather grey (imagine that). I got a good buy on the yarn at the Merc, one of my LYSs, during their recent sale.

The pattern is well-written, as I would expect from such a terrific designer as Bonne Marie, and not a difficult project. It amazes me how fast it is to knit someone else's pattern, although I am NOT happy to report that my skill in ripping out cables on the needles, dropping down and fixing them and re-knitting them back up the columns has increased, haha. I get to flying along with the needles and realize I've been paying more attention to the Nero Wolfe mystery I'm watching than my knitting... 

I'm almost finished with the back, I'll post more updates when I have more progress to show!

Cardigan

I promised to write a proper post about an FO that has been complete for several months now but it seemed I was either wearing it with no one around to photo it, or the room needed painting, or the light was poor, or our new camera needed getting used to, etc.

Finally, here is my version of the Harvest Moon cardigan pattern on Ravelry. Sorry for the blurry photo, but we are still figuring out the new camera!

 

I originally chose this pattern for several reasons, firstly because although I often enjoy making up my own projects, I was planning travel knitting and I like to include other people's patterns because it's a fun change to occasionally knit without thinking about the design process. 

I needed a plain cardigan for everyday wear, and selected three rather basic-looking options.  The clincher for this one was that I had the exact yarn in my stash already, Berroco's Blackstone Tweed in color #2607/ Wintry Mix.

Also, top-down construction is a favorite method of mine allowing you to knit-to-fit easily, and the I-cord borders add a clean finished edge. 

I chose to make my yoke a couple of stitches larger to accommodate my linebacker shoulders, then knit the rest of the bodice in my size and this worked very well for me.  

A few other simple mods included knitting the sleeves 2" longer to accommodate my albatross wingspan, and knitting the bodice down until it was about 9 " before beginning the pockets, for a custom fit.



Some folks on Ravelry have noted having a difficult time with the pockets and they can be a bit tricky.  One tip I picked up in garment design and construction is to always prepare your materials before beginning, and I applied this to my cardigan by blocking the entire pocket area flat and square before stitching them down.  

This way the stitches line up properly and behave when you sew on the pocket garter edge bands and sew up the seams, ensuring that they're flat and straight and that you are working up a single column of knitting.  

I also blocked the entire cardigan again, after knitting was complete.

I had a terrible time finding a button I liked and although I don't love this carved bone one, it will do until I find something perhaps a little more interesting.  It is a good idea to choose buttons when you select yarn for a project, especially with a top-down style, as this allows you to alter buttonhole size and technique, if necessary.

I've heard and read mixed thoughts on this style - a cardigan that buttons with one to three buttons near the top, allowing the rest of the body to hang open.  Some people seem to think they are flattering and others completely disagree.

While I think that some disagreement in opinion is simply a matter of personal style and taste, I also think that some of it may have to do with how the garment fits the wearer.

Since most women have hips that are the same size or larger than their bust measurement, an unbuttoned cardigan hem measuring the same circumference as the bust will naturally pull open around the hips.  This effect is especially pronounced when the shoulders or bust are knit too tight.

A cardigan that is pulled open at the bottom by the hips creates a triangle with a wide base and this will naturally draw the eye to that expanse of belly and possibly make it appear more prominent.

Choosing a proper size for shoulders and bust, and modifying a cardigan to skim the hip and waist area by adding a few stitches to the circumference towards the bottom (if necessary), adds a bit of breathing room called 'ease'.  This helps allow the cardigan to hang gracefully from the bust and shoulders, making a narrower opening over the stomach area, and creates a flattering, vertical line up the front. 

Of course, everyone is shaped differently and likes their sweaters to fit their personal style and comfort level - something I celebrate!  

Until next time, peace, blessings and happy knitting to you!

Getting Cozy

This snowy weather really gets my knitting fires burning.  All I want to do these days is knit, knit, knit, eat a little dark chocolate, knit, play in the snow, drink some hot tea, and knit some more.   Of course, real life doesn't cooperate with my knitting plans!

Mostly I've been knitting my beige heather wool cardigan and my grey mohair cardi shrug.  Both have had their ups and downs and will likely be some time before completion, but I'm happy overall with the progress made this week.   

In order to to make progress on the cardigan, I ripped out and restarted it from the beginning - twice.  

It was OK, but not a love thing.  So I went back to the stitch pattern and played around with it, adding some stitches and changing the proportions slightly.  Then I mixed in more tweaks to the top-down shaping, and I like it much better.  

The mohair shrug is a third version of the two I made last year, this time in a different stitch pattern and yarn.  

I still have several more versions I want to make, at least one in sock or fingering weight yarn.

While on my Michigan trip I found another button option for my grey cardigan.  I've loved the suggestions left on Ravelry and the comments to previous posts so far, thank you especially Doreen and Diana!  This bone one is really too small, but it works temporarily at least.

What with the trip last week, the crazy weather and power outage, and various commitments and appointments, I've not been able to correspond much, but to all my blogging friends and Ravelry pals I owe messages to, that is on my schedule for this week.

I hope to have more photos of my current WIPs soon and planned for the next post is a rundown of my trip north to Michigan.

One exciting thing at my post office box when I returned last week was a surprise package from the lovely Anne-Sara, proprietor of the equally lovely Wisp yarn shop in Granville (that I reviewed in a December 22nd post).  

Wisp is a wonderfully inspiring shop full of beautiful yarns, British home items, and books among other treasures.  

The books are cool, vintage-style cloth-bound editions like this one, with adorable little ribbon bookmarks.  Anne-Sara was so sweet to send me this copy by one of my favorite authors, Jane Austen - thank you so much Anne-Sara!!  

Wisp is offering a special discount of 20% off the price of all red and pink yarn until Valentine's Day.  Maybe a little hint to your sweetie, that a yarn trip to Wisp might be just the thing to put a sparkle in your eye, is in order? 

 

Tonight I leave you with a favorite poem of mine. 

Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening  

by Robert Frost

 Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Batten Down the Hatches

I am finally home from a wonderful trip to beautiful northern Michigan (see photo above), and I've got lots of knitting progress, yarn shops, photos and new experiences to blog about,  but most of that will have to wait since we are now in the midst of the monster storm bashing much of the US.  

Winds are gusting at up to 50 mph, a neighbor's giant tree crashed down across our street, blocking the roadway, and the icy roads are like glass. The dog has not yet been blown away as she goes outside to do her 'business', but I'm keeping her on a short leash and holding onto the deck railing - what an adventure!

Our power was out overnight (we burrowed under many layers of duvets and stayed toasty warm) and although the lights are currently on, it is intermittent, so just a quick update to let everyone know we are OK and I'll post when our power is reliably steady (despite it's occasional drawbacks, I love winter - yes those are snowshoes on my feet!).

Today is Groundhog Day in the US and Canada, and both Punxatawney Phil and Buckeye Chuck failed to see their shadows, a prediction for an early spring!  An early spring has only been forecast 16 of the 114 seasons of prediction.

Wild winter weather, predicitons of an early spring...  these remind me that "to everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.."

Progress continues on my Cascade 220 top-down cardigan, which was nearly one quarter complete when I completely frogged it and re-knit the yoke from the beginning because I was not happy with the experimental rate of increases, or the general proportions of the stitch patterns.

I enjoy a project like this to sink my teeth into and I'm loving how it's turning out now that I'm finally into the pattern stitch.

I'll have a proper post hopefully soon, until then, happy knitting!

WIP Wednesday and a Favorite Thing

This week, amongst other things, I've been prepping for a fiber adventure.  I'll be away from the blog for a few days longer than usual (I try to post at least once every week), but when I come back I should have some new yarn shops to share here and a run-down of my trip to a very snowy and knit-friendly place!  

I've got lots of knitting to work on while away, including my usual scarves, a new top-down cardigan, and a mohair shrug.  

The cardigan, in natural beige heather Cascade 220, is based mainly on a traditional stitch pattern I have been experimenting with all month.  It's a simple, pretty lace stitch combined with some other textures for a warm sweater I really need for this winter weather.  The cast on is shown in the first photo at the top of this post.

After I swatched and decided on the stitch patterns I scrapped the earlier red yarn, shown below, as it was not right for the texture I am using now.  I'll save that for another project.

The shrug WIP is a tweaked version of the two I knit in 2010.  I love the Louet Euroflax linen one I made last summer, but was less than totally thrilled with the Malabrigo Worsted version, and I'm now giving mohair a try before deciding which to write up as a pattern first.  

At present, I am knitting with the charcoal grey Elann Super Kydd mohair blend yarn I frogged from an earlier pullover.  I loved the pullover (and definitely plan a pattern project down the road), but this yarn was just too scratchy for me to wear next-to-skin, so I thought I'd use it to experiment with for this outer layer project instead.  

Obviously, I've not progressed very far yet, but hope to get a lot done during the trip.   

Alright now, the following is not a paid endorsement, LOL, just stuff I find good enough to share here as a 'Favorite Thing'.  

Although I don't use a lot of cosmetics or beauty products, when I do, I want to know I'm getting my money's worth and one company has been a tremendous help with this. 

Paula Begoun, aka the "Cosmetics Cop," had such resounding success from her books Don't Go To The Cosmetics Counter Without Me (now in it's 8th edition) and The Original Beauty Bible, that she founded two websites: Paula'sChoice.com, and Beautypedia.com, a product website and review website, respectively.  

Beautypedia experts analyze nearly every cosmetic and beauty product, from most major companies, available in the US.   Searching the database of professionally lab-tested products has saved me a ton of money over the years, by allowing me to read the professional reviews of the real product without the marketing hype.

I was happy to see that from now until the end of February, the entire Beautypedia database of thousands of product reviews is free to search (normally it costs $15-25 a year), so have fun.

I'll be back after this trip with lots of photos of my yarnie adventure and, hopefully, more FO's.  Until then, peace, blessings and happy knitting!

Who's got the button?

My gray tweed cardigan is finally blocked and dry and I have to decide on just the right button.  As this is a one-button closure the right button choice can really make the sweater.

I had in mind pewter metallic or solid black, so I dug through my stash to see what I have. 

Turns out, not much that will work.  What I have on hand are some fussy, vintage black glass (totally not right for this simple style), and some carved bone brown/ black ones (a little better, but maybe too organic).   I'm totally open to ideas, so any suggestions or links appreciated. 

I'll have FO photos and a full run-down on this project once I find a great button!

 

It's always fun when a new Knitty comes out, and this Winter issue includes an interesting variety of designs with a pretty fair balance of sweaters and accessories (photos from Knitty.com).

I especially love Heather Desserud's Chrysanthemums, a Norwegian stranded mitten design, and all the other nice color work projects in this issue. 

 

 

Sock lovers will be intrigued with the architectural Maeva, by Stefanie Bold, with it's Art Deco-ish cables and ribs.  An appealing design for both men and women I think.

Winter 2011 has lots of sweaters to love including Teva Durham's lacy  Lady Lovelace cardigan and capelet set, Kathleen Dames' Turn of the Glass fitted cardigan and Karina Liu's Jacqueline collared jacket. 

Knittyspin's  simple, trendy earflap hat Southern Lights, by Christine McCormick, might be good for my husband who stands at a cold bus stop every morning.  

Speaking of spinning, so far I am making good on my goals for 2011 by spinning a little bit every week.

This 4 pound batch of natural beige Louet Coopworth roving will take me forever!  

Although beautiful, this fiber may not be completely spun and ready to knit until winter 2012...  I might have to intersperse some more lively rovings in between now and then to keep me motivated.   Goodness knows I have plenty in my stash.

Have a fun, safe weekend and as always, peace, blessings and happy knitting to you!

Hello Ewe!

 

I just love the face on this sweetly curious sheep from our visit to a historical farm last weekend.  She seems to be saying 'hello you (ewe)!' in a friendly and cheery way.  More about our farm visit later on. First the knitting.

This project is a leftover from my vacation last month.  For travel knitting I enjoy working on patterns by other designers and I knew I wanted to bring large (cardigan) and small (shawlette, hats) projects.

After dithering over several cardigans, I chose this one because I had the pattern yarn, Berroco's Blackstone Tweed, in stash and that was the deciding factor. 

The pattern is Pipibird's Harvest Moon, and it's going pretty well so far.  I started this on my trip but it got sidetracked with my Ishbel shawl and the hats. Fairly boring with miles of endless stockinette, I've managed to slog through quite a ways and begun knitting down the bodice. Hopefully the agony will be over soon.

My crochet Noro shawl is about 60% complete and looking very autumnal I think.  I can't wait to finish this so I can wear it.

I don't knit with a lot of Noro, but the colors of this skein of Kureyon Sock were perfect for fall, and I like the slubby, thick-thin, rough texture.  Not a yarn for an elegant, refined, stitch-centric shawl, but perfect for something this earthy and simple. 

I've been playing around with different buttonholes and scoping out buttons for one of my current pattern projects.  This one is interesting.

Last weekend found us busy with a visit from my cousin Mike and our outing to Slate Run Living Historical Farm.

Lots of farm life activity was going on including cooking and broom-making, but they were sadly lacking a spinner, knitter or weaver on the premises!

I haven't posted nearly enough about spinning lately, but then, I haven't been spinning much lately either, much to my chagrin.  However, this week is another spin-in at an area LYS so hopefully I'll have more to share on that topic soon.