Back to the Year in Review

(as soon as I remember where I left off...)

Kool Kardi


Quick summery: hand dyed the yarn with Kool Aid and Paaz. the pattern is the ribbi pullover, but I cardinized it.

Initial impression: very happy... on many levels. Had a great time dyeing the yarn. very happy with how it knit up and the pattern worked beautifully with the yarn.

Current impression: the sleeves are waaaay too long. I didn't do my usual 4-6" shortening on Chicknits sleeves, thinking I would just cuff them. However, even cuffed, they are too long. So I haven't worn it (oh, and I may still need buttons). A quick fix and this will be a high usage cardigan for sure.

Final thoughts: this is a great cardigan. fixing the too long sleeves (I'll still make them long enough to fold up the cuff, but I need to take 3-4" off) will make this a high rotation sweater.

Patrick the 2nd


Quick summery: a re-do of a sweater I made for Matt last year (which was a total disaster). The pattern is one of the worst written pattern I've ever used, making me a little bitter towards this project.

Initial impression: I hated it. I was very disappointed with it when I finished it (if you click on the title, you'll go the finished project blog entry). I didn't think it fit Matt well and I was most definitely very bitter about the whole krappy pattern thing.

Current impression: Matt's been wearing it and my bitterness has faded. I still love the cables, but wish I had made it a little bigger (both in length and size). I think it's a little too fitted (which is his preferred style, but I think this one should be more relaxed). I may have overcompensated due to how big the first attempt was. I think it'll probably go on the wooley board to see if I can block it a bit larger.

Final thoughts: While I no longer hate it, I still think that I could've made it better. Matt loves it and wears it a lot. So I'll give the final result a B+.

A good question in my comments from yesterday. Christina asked why I hated doing cables in the round. There's a couple of reasons... first I like doing the back side without thinking (the patterns are usually a knit the knits and purl the purls... so it's like a row off). Also I don't really like to track cables. I usually "read" them and this is much harder to do when you work only on the front of the pattern (it's harder to tell if you are on an even or an odd row). The other issue I have with cables in the round is the gap that can happen between the cable and the purl stitch. I have more of a problem with that when working only on the right side, but it's much more minimal for me when I work back and forth. Certain stitches that I love (like moss) can bias when worked in the round, so I prefer to work them flat.

I'll also admit that I think the mattress stitch is magic. I don't mind seaming. Well, I don't like perpendicular joins (like the sleeves and saddles). So my semi-seamless is the perfect solution for me. The perpendicular seams are no longer an issue, leaving only the simple side seams to work.

So, those are my reasons, and it all comes down to how I knit... and maybe even more about how I think about my knitting while I'm knitting. I know that some people hate seaming soooo much that they'll do anything to avoid seams. Since I don't mind seaming (probably because I grew up sewing?), I'll only avoid them if it's not an inconvience to me.

We're still digging out from our 24" of snow over the weekend. The roads are fine now, so I think some errands will be run today. Or I might stay in an knit.