Bulky Asymetrical Cardi

This cardigan has been a blessing. Mindless stockinette with some seed stitch... and at a bulky gauge. Just what I needed right now. So much so that I was able to get both sleeves and the neckband done yesterday (and yes, I even made Matt and me a traditional Thanksgiving dinner). Let's do some project stats, eh?

Project Stats:

Pattern: Knitting Pure & Simple Bulky Asymetrical Cardi

Yarn: Knitpick's City Tweed HW in Blue Blood (uh, yum)

Problems with the pattern: none that I can remember. I like the KP&S patterns. They are pretty basic and straight forward. I also like that the waist shaping is done by measurement rather than row count (so I can apply it to other patterns... heehee). If I were to do it over, I would make smaller buttonholes.

Changes to the pattern: none. As written, with the excpetion that I used a heavy aran weight yarn rather than a bulky weight yarn. So my fabric is very drapey and loose (which is what I wanted). The yarn is a wool/alpaca blend (did I mention yum?) and it bloomed so beautifully when it blocked.

Overall impressions: well, it is still blocking, but pre-blocking fit seemed to be good. I love the yarn and the off center closing. I wanted a comfy, light, yet warm cardigan for around the house that looked good enough to pop out to the grocery store. I think it's a winner.

I also want to thank everyone for their kind words on the passing of Jake. Jake was such a wonderful companion. We're still adjusting to daily life without him and we know that it will take awhile.

Jake

Jake, fall of 2002
Jake lost his year+ long battle with his health problems yesterday. We had almost 14 years with Jake and he made our lives so much richer. We miss him terribly and look forward to the time when the memories will bring a smile rather than tears.

Fylingdales Cardigan

This is going in my top 10 favorite projects ever. After I found the perfect yarn, this cardigan was not only a delight to knit, but I love how it looks on me (it's blocking right now, so no modeled photos).

Project Stats:

Pattern: Fylingdales Cardigan from A Fine Fleece by Lisa Lloyd.

Yarn: Bartlett Fisherman in Wild Grape (this color is impossible to photograph. It's not a burgundy and it's not a purple, but it's somewhere in between. I looooove it).

Changes to the pattern: I think the only change is that I did 7 buttons instead of 5. I'm sure I shortened the sleeves, but I didn't go by pattern length, just knit until they were long enough.

Problems with the pattern: none that I found.

Overall impressions: I loooooove it (have I mentioned that already?). I know... and it's not even green! The Bartlett yarn is very wooly and a little rough to knit with. However, after it's bath, the yarn softened up quite a bit (still not next to skin soft, but I don't like wool next to my skin anyway. That's why I collect white mock turtlenecks). The color is de-lish. The pattern was an easy, fun and quick knit. I knit this in about a month, with lots of distractions. The fit is comfy and relaxed. I'm already thinking about the Bartlett Oatmeal I have in my stash.

That's project #21 for 2009. Three more to go and I think I need to finish a project for Matt. I've only finished two sweaters for him this year.

Fast, but not quite Furious

Fylingdales is flying along. Considering the amount of time I'm spending with Halo 3: ODST, I'm rather amazed that both sleeves are done. I have the buttonbands and the collar to finish. Fingers crossed, I'll have it on it's final blocking Monday. (of course I always underestimate how long it will take to knit the collar... but I'm optimistic).

This Fylingdales is a lesson of "right yarn meets right project". The yarn I'm using (Bartlett Fisherman wool in Wild Grape. Yum) is the third yarn I tried for this project.

I started this cardigan years ago before Lisa Llyod's book A Fine Fleece was published and she was self publishing individual patterns. (her site is gone... I'm hoping that it will return one day. I keep checking it). While I liked the yarn I used for it, I just sort of stalled on it. I used Reynold's Dover, a smooth and shiney aran weight yarn. It had excellent stitch definition and it was in my standard shade of green. Well, eventually I realized that it was never going to move forward, so I took it off the needles (I needed them for an other project) and realized that either I started the wrong size or my gauge was way off. It was going to be too small. So something in my brain had made me stop working on it.

When A Fine Fleece was published, I was re-inspired to make it (as it's included in the book). Plus I was seeing lots of pretty versions of it on Ravelry). I had some very pretty Cottage Craft yarn in a dark denimy blue that I thought would be sharp and practical (would look great with jeans). I would work on it here and there (the long ribbing followed by the st. st. section made it an easy "mindless knit"). When I got to the cabled section, I was in love. The Cottage Craft yarn was lovely... nice to work with and I loved the color. It's a nice soft wool. Actually it was too soft. I could not see the cables or seed stitch in the dark color and soft wool, especially at the gauge of the sweater. Sigh... frogged that one (never made it into Ravelry or here on my blog).

Meanwhile, I cast on Portland for Matt (after seeing a gorgeous one on Ravelry). It's a lot of cables and I'm using a wool/cashmere/silk blend (Jo Sharp's Silkroad Aran). It's not a "smooth" knit. While I love how it's looking, the actual knitting seems a bit tedious due to the lack stretch in the yarn. I needed a nice simple (mindless) project.... and since I had A Fine Fleece sitting right here... the third attempt at Fylingdales was cast on.

I remembered how hard it was for me to slog thru the ribbing and st. st. sections on the Fylingdales the first two times. Thought that would be a nice balance with Portland. Something to pick up and just knit. No charts, 100% wool. My intention was to stay concentrated on Portland.

I could not put the Fylingdales down. Since the cable pattern is super simple, I just kept going. Now I expect to have it done over the weekend.

There are many lessons here: sometimes a pattern and yarn are just made for each other. Sometimes a project goes into hibernation for a reason... even if you are not quite sure what isn't working. I can love a cardigan that isn't green.

Hopefully, I'll have photos of a finished purple cardigan on Monday.

Half Way thru November ALREADY????

Eeeeks... I need to get focused! I'm really starting to run out of time to get my 24 finished projects goal done this year. A month and a half and I have only 20 projects done!

Fylingdales is moving suprisingly fast:


Before I receive any comments about the fabulous color... that's not even close to actual color. Not that the sweater isn't a fabulous color ('cause it is! I looooooove the color), the camera does not pick it up at all. It either makes it too blue or too lavender. I try to do my best in photoshop, but I can only do so much.

Here's an other non-correct color photo:


As the photo shows, the body is done... and I went ahead and blocked it. Wow, do I love this yarn! It blooms and softens up so much after a bath. The drape at this gauge is fab. I think this is going to be a favorite sweater when done. Now I just need to get the sleeves done. Stockinette stitch in the round. Should be easy... if I stay focused!!!!!

Color... or not.

I have a love/hate relationship with photography. There are days that I can get a photo I'm happy with with no effort... then there are days like today.

Sometimes it frustrates me to the point that it might be a good idea to hide any heavy objects that are good for smashing (ya know.. like baseball bats or whatever). Today is one of those days... combined with projects that. just. do. not. photograph.

My Fylingdales is lovely. The color is sooo yummy. It's a rich royal (according to Matt) purple. It's called Wild Grape and it's somewhere between purple and burgundy. It is a killer to photograph. I've played with settings on my camera. I've played with Photoshop. I can not get anything even remotely close to the actual color. I'm moving fairly quickly on it, as I can't wait to be able to wear it! The color, the style... the warmth!


Of course the other project I'm working on is a similar color... with a similar problem. Seems that I've moved from green cardigans to burgundies/reds/dark plums:


Ya, again... the photo does not do the yarn any justice! The pattern in one of the new Knitting Pure & Simple's patterns. It's the Bulky Asymetrical Cardigan. I'm using Knitpicks City Tweed HW. The yarn is a little lightweight for the pattern (pattern is written for a bulky/chunky weight yarn and the City Tweed HW is a true aran weight). However, my swatch (and yes I did a "real" swatch), bloomed so beautifully at this gauge. I'm not a fan of bulky sweaters, so this is perfect: light, airy with a nice drape. Yet it's still knit at a large gauge, so it's going very quickly.

The last project with a krappy photo today is my Sampler Panel Afghan.


This started following a pattern (I think it's called Textured Panel Afghan... an old Annie's Attic pattern I got off of Ebay). However, I decided instead of repeating the 6 different patterns over and over, I would try to do a different textured pattern. This has worked well so far, but I'm starting to run out of appropriate stitch patterns (as I want them fairly dense... no lacey patterns). This is a project I started a while back, and put aside. I'm now working on it as my breakfast project and I'm back into the groove with it.

Meanwhile, I completed the first run of Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time. One of the best in the series (yet is seemed really short... but then I've been playing two RPG's back to back... and RPG's are total time sucks). Now I just need to get all the skill points and trophies. However, the good news: my Xbox 360 is back home safe and sound and repaired. Kudos to Microsoft's repair process. They made it as easy and stress free as possible. While I was not happy to get the Red Ring of Death, they certainly know how to handle it!

Do I know how to swatch or what?

This was supposed to be just a swatch (ya, doesn't everyone cast on almost 200 stitches to swatch?). Okay, it was more of a "I'll just cast it on so I have something mindless for a bit". All that 2X2 rib followed by all the st. st. should've been a nice just pick up and knit mindlessly when I needed a break from the cables of Portland.

Well, it was so mindless that I had those sections done in a few days, and here I am just a few inches short of splitting for the armholes. Hmmm. This seems to be a "right yarn/right pattern" thingy.

This is actually the third yarn I've tried for the Fylingdales Cardigan (found in Lisa Lloyd's book A Fine Fleece*). The Bartlett is a little rough, but I'm thrilled with my fabric and color. I had to do MAJOR photoshop playing to even get it close the the rich Wild Grape color I'm using. I'm having problems putting it down... even to play the new Ratchet & Clank game (okay, I'm knitting during the cutscenes, so I can do both at the same time!). Today will be more of the same, with a few loads of laundry (the knitting housewife's favorite chore: feels like I'm accomplishing something "housewifey", but in fact I have globs of time to knit between loads!)

*Normally I would link to the webpage, but both Lisa Lloyd's knitting website and the book's offical site have become dead links. I'm truely hoping this is a temporary problem and both will be back up and running again soon, as I love Lisa's work and just love to browse her patterns and look at the alternative photos of the patterns from the book (including some great mods she did).