Friday, August 10, 2007

Ta da! I can't believe I knitted this!


I knitted it in Austermann Bambou Soft in Burgundy (color 019).
I am not an experienced knitter; I started knitting about 18 months ago, this is my second sweater, the first one was a plain stockinette short sleeve top-down.
As I mentioned before, if I were to do it again, I would knit it in the round.
If you knit in the round, be sure to mark the 'seams' clearly before you start the cable part.
I knit them all flat and sliped the first stitch in each row; I think that was a big mistake too. Since each one of the slipped stitches spans two rows, figuring out the horizontal bars to pickup for the seam was difficult. I later read somewhere that if the edge is going to be stitched together, then one should not slip the first stitches.
The cable part was quite easy and fun to do, I practiced a few repeats on my swatch.
All said and done, I think this was a great learning experience and a very satisfying one too.
If someone had told me two years ago that I will be knitting the sweater on the cover of IK, I would have just laughed :)
If you have any questions send me e-mail, I'll be happy to answer.

One Thing I Know For Sure

is that this will be the yarn I'm using for the sweater:

RYC Cashsoft DK in Clementine. I had originally planned on using this for a pattern from "Knitting Nature", by Norah Gaughan, but decided I really didn't want to do a complete cabled sweater right now. (I already have one on the needles.) Anyway, I did get gauge with this yarn and I did knit up to the yoke, but the yarn doesn't look too great on US 8's. The gauge called for US 6's on the ball band, so...I will be knitting the sweater on 6's. The problem? I need to modify the pattern to get the right size. I'll start tonight and see where it takes me!

Questions

My yarn is on it's way from Knit Picks - Wool of the Andes in Amethyst Heather and I'm pretty excited to get it and start swatching.

I have two questions for those that are going to be knitting this.

The way the sweater is constructed, is anyone going to be knitting in the round? I'm really thinking that it would be easier to do this way, rather than knit the pieces separately and then join for the yoke. It would be easy enough to convert.

My second question is, will anyone be starting the yoke patterning down further? I'm a little on the busty side and a line right across isn't exactly ideal for me. Do you think it would be possible to start it sooner? I figure that the easiest way to do this would be to knit it in the round so I know when to start it. Thoughts?

Thanks!
MsLindz

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

I finished the sweater a few days ago, and it is being blocked right now.

Yarn: Austermann Bambou Soft (65% merino, 35% bamboo)
Finished size: 35"

I followd the instructions and knitted the front and back separate and joined them with the sleeves at the yoke; then I cursed myself while I did the seam for not having knitted the body as a tube.
The seams are especially hard to do with this one because the pieces cannot be blocked before seaming since they are all joined together at the yoke. So I had to deal with the annoying edges.

I added some short-row shaping at the bust (10 rows I think) in the front, and then added 4 rows at the neck for the back.

I'll post some FO photos soon.

Sunday, August 5, 2007

Schaefer Marjaana

Thank you for letting me join this knitalong. This will be my second KAL, but the first in which I start in the beginning line with everyone else.

I recently bought the Summer IK issue, and was drawn to this pattern. To my delight, I have enough yarn in my stash to make this sweater. I'll be using Schaefer's Marjaana, a silk-merino blend. DH gave me this yarn 3 years ago for Christmas, and I've been waiting for the right pattern since then.

I'm looking forward to wearing this sweater against my skin.

Friday, August 3, 2007

Cascade Pima Silk

OK I followed the link to WEBS(I have ordered there many times and live a afew hours away) and ordered the Cascade Pima Silk. I wanted to do this quickly as I am on a yarn diet starting August 15 through October, way too much yarn, LOL. I ordered this colorway...


It seems to have a slight turquoise overcast, which I found to be pretty.

Thanks for Letting Me Join In

Hi All
Long time knitter here, I will be substituting yarn for the sweater just haven't decided what yet, I am narrowed down to 4 choices, LOL.