Category Archives: cardigan

twenty eight days

11 Monday Feb 2013

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its monday here, monday february 11 and that means its a mere 28 days exactly until i get on a plane with a big red kangaroo painted on the tail, and head across the pacific again. in fact, at the time i’m writing this 28 days from now, i will have changed planes in LA and be on my way to chicago. i am completely freaking out about this. not the fact that i am going, or that i am travelling alone. that’s never really worried me before, and i have more reason than usual to be excited about this trip, both work and personal.

but i am freaking out because 28 days is not a lot of time, and i have a lot to do before i go. the main thing of course is write The Grant application. its not actually due until march 27 but considering i will be in new york city that day, i have no intention of worrying about it then. so i have a self imposed deadline of march 9 to get it to my relevant research office for submission. i’ve been a bit stuck with it. i decided, on advice, on friday night, to narrow my focus down to issues to do with mental health nursing. that didnt necessarily make my task any easier, but i am lucky at the moment to be away from home for a few days at a fully paid for grant writing retreat. we’re in a hotel down the south coast a bit, lovely little place called kiama, i think a few of you know it well.

bombobeach

we’re all tucked up here, at the sebel, right on the harbour

sebel

with this amazing view

kiama

in this lovely conference room

workshop
all of us typing our little fingers off, agonising over sentences, looking up references, working out budgets, reading each others bits, and possibly tweeting a bit

sotomorrow

this is the So Tomorrow table, with Ross and Samantha, my partners in crime. we are the naughty kids sitting up the back, with our macbooks. we have already been scolded. meh, whatever.

regardless, i got some good words done today, and am now back in my room

room

rereading them for the twenty millionth time

rightnow

before we go out for dinner. when i get home on thursday, this should be nearly finished, or getting close and then i can upload it all to the electronic submission system.

and then i have to do my presentation for the conference in virginia. of course, i decided to change my topic at the last minute. i didnt get the results i needed on the topic i’d actually proposed, so i sent them an email and they very kindly allowed me to change my topic. so im presenting on the stuff im working on for the grant, which at least keeps me in the same head space. but still, theres that to do. plus i start teaching in 2 weeks time.

plus i have a cardigan to finish knitting. its not going to get finished. who the hell am i kidding? this was it on saturday, from the back (thank you jane for the photo).

cardi

its still got quite a few centimetres to go, plus pockets on the front, and considering i feel guilty everytime i stop reading or writing, i’m not sure i can swing even less than a cm a day. but i will keep trying. its cold over there, i think im going to need it.

but right now, its dinner time, and there will be more talking about what we’re all working on, and all the technicalities you have to consider when you’re asking the federal government for large sums of money, and if i drank, or i thought it would stop me freaking out, i would be well into the red wine by now.

but it never did stop me freaking out. so i will make do. and i will get it all done, because i always do. but twenty eight days really isnt a lot of time!

wish me luck

k xx

deep breath

06 Sunday Jan 2013

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even though i worked quite a lot while i was in sydney, i managed to avoid going into the office. this week, i must face that ugly reality, especially tomorrow when the weather is threatening 43 degrees celsius (109F) and we have no air conditioning (air conditioned academic offices? pfft, why would we want to do that?!). thankfully, we have an air conditioned library, and i think that’s where i will be. i am not minding the heat so much this year, but it has definitely gone up a few notches, and there are serious fires everywhere. i would rather live somewhere where it snows, to be honest.

i’m surprised at how happy i am to be home. i felt the relief almost the minute i walked in on saturday night. my own bathroom, with the shower just right, my own bed – not too soft, not too firm, clean white sheets, big bay window, jasmine outside, birds in the morning (cockatoos even. at 7am. i mean, really, thats just rude). living in other people’s spaces gave me a renewed appreciation for my own, but also gave me some really great ideas for storage and organisation. so before it got too hot i set about moving furniture and tidying things up. i started with the crafty stuff. one of the luxuries of having a three bedroom house to oneself is spreading things out everywhere. you can just leave things where you put them and dont need to put them away (although that could be just me. i have a habit of leaving things not put away properly. ask trent how he managed 15 years with me not screwing a single lid on a jar properly. i have no common sense, really. none.)

so i havent really had to think too much about storage. recently, my dining room had become a kind of defacto sewing room. ive gone a bit off the sewing (long story), so i decided it could all go out in the sunroom, with the knitting stuff, to make a proper craft space.

sunroom

this meant putting all the random left over dog and camping crap in an actual cupboard, and throwing out a heap of empty boxes. i dont know what i was keeping them for…the zombie apocalypse maybe?! then i decided to attack the kitchen cupboards. its not a huge kitchen, but its got plenty of cupboards. they just werent…organised. things sometimes fall out on my head when i open the doors. the tupperware in particular is plotting a revolution in there, i swear. so i moved all the cooking and baking things into one space

kitchen

and all the crockery and glassware into another space (that i can actually reach without the chair), and i filled a box of old canned food that i havent even thought about opening in the 3 years i’ve been here (again with the zombies?!), and i wiped out the cupboards and put excess glasses and mugs in storage, and threw out most of the food in the fridge (which then meant i had to go to the supermarket. ugh).

then it was onto the office. i am lucky to have a whole room set up to work in, with a big desk and a powerful PC and two monitors even! but i have tended to use it as a ‘throw the unpaid bills in here and hope they will pay themselves’ kind of space. so i sorted through all the papers and put stuff away into drawers in the actual cupboard i have in here for that purpose, and now i have a nice clean work space.

office

and a nice uncluttered desk (unfortunately the bills have not somehow miraculously paid themselves)

desk

this year i have taken a bit of a leap and gotten rid of my usual ‘day to a page’ diary. im going to try and rely more on my smart phone being integrated with my exchange calendar, and use the whole ‘digital’ thing properly. but i couldnt quite bring myself to do away with the paper entirely, so i just got a one month to a page notebook instead and in it i wrote a list of all the things i have to do in january,

todo

and then i felt quite ill and needed a little lie down. something else i cant get rid of is paper books. i dont have a kindle or ipad, or any other kind of ereader, and i know it might be a good idea when i travel quite a lot, or to read work stuff on, but i just cant do it. my house is full of books and i treasure them. 18 years ago i crawled into a rehab with only a garbage bag of clothes to my name, after having pawned all my books in the month previous. yes a serious low point. and no they dont give you much for the entire penguin classics collection. anyway, i have worked hard to build that library back up again and im not getting rid of it. i bought and was gifted quite a few books over christmas, and just finished the first linda wallander ”before the frost”. the big decision last night was what to start next

books

i went for the mankell. i’ve been watching forbyrdelsen season 3, and i’ve obviously got a thing for scandinavian crime right now. also, it snows there, a lot.

finally, yesterday, i sat down to knit. there are three things i am working on, but really i should be concentrating on the socks

wanida

and the cardigan

atelier

the cardigan is ‘atelier’, (not pink at all like in this photo, but rather a lovely pearly grey). its in the madtosh pashmina i got from knitty city in NYC back in december 2010 and i want to wear it when i go there again this year, its coming along nicely now that i’ve got past the sleeves/yoke and am onto the body. but its not a particularly portable project, because im alternating three skeins of yarn at once. there is enough variation in this stuff to cause stripes if i’m not careful, so im being careful. its a pain the arse, but worth it i think.

both of these things would be done a lot quicker if i hadnt been side tracked by a little knit-along with lyn, sue and missfee bought about by brooklyn tweed’s clever little pre-christmas kits. we all got one of the ‘sempervivum’ kits and i am up to here (that is, not very far):

shawl1

i have laboured long and hard over the ‘lace on the wrong side’ rows with the goddamn ‘slip & purl two together through the back loop’, and i finally got the hang of it yesterday. you cant really see but its making a nice pattern.

shawl2

but i need to put it aside for awhile. its only 8 weeks until i leave, and i need the cardigan finished. for that reason, i am not even thinking about my other knitting goal this year, which is to try my hand at stranded colour work and maybe even steeking, enabled by the clever kate davies releasing a gorgeous book (which quite a few of us bought!). i want to make this one, the northmavine hoody

northmavine

and this one, the stevenson sweater

stevenson

but i want to replace the orange with red and make it into a cardigan (hence, the steeking). so much knitting, so little time. it would be so much easier if a) it  wasnt stinking hot and b) i didnt have to go to work.

speaking of, i had better stop procrastinating and get on with it. hope its not too painful in your workplace, wherever you are.

k xx

that time of year

21 Friday Sep 2012

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i am a fairly consistent cardigan knitter. consistent in that i seem to manage about one a year, and i always seem to finish them right at the end of winter when its turning too warm to wear them.

here then, is the latest effort, the ‘flaming june’ cardigan, from knitty spring/summer 2012.

according to ravelry i started it in march 2012 and i finally finished it, ready to wear, last monday, september 17. thats actually not that bad, for me. think about it this way. its a lot of knitting, in my size, to finish a stocking stitch/garter ridge cardigan, in madeline tosh merino light sportweight, on 3.75mm needles. it took a completely monogomous effort at the end, and a few days to block all the pieces.

then i needed some help from rosered to pin the sleeves so i could sew them into the armholes (backstitch, for stability. it looks a bit messy here but it smooths out when they’re on my arms)

and then mattress stitching the sleeve seams

and then sewing in all the ends.

there is a lot to like about this cardigan, the reverse garter ridge for the collar,

the lovely points on the sleeves and hips

i particularly love the points on the sleeves, they make me feel like wonderwoman.

i’m really happy with this, the lovely soft drape of the fabric, the gorgeous colour (‘ink’) that is very much me.

and even though i’ve lost 9 kilos since i started this cardigan, im still really happy with the fit. of course, by the time i wear it next winter, it might be too big, but i dont think i’ll care.

k xx

photos and accessories courtesy of knitabulous

the list revisted

11 Sunday Mar 2012

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i was meant to go to knitters guild group meeting yesterday but i have been really tired this week and a bit stressed lately (no, really?!) and i decided sometimes, you can have too much of a good thing. so i opted for a weekend entirely at home, preferably not talking to anyone. since last weekend i have been around people almost non stop, with my sister visiting. we had a lot of fun, including an afternoon on the beach

and a road trip for lunch and donuts

before the rain came back. now that its sunny again, i think i just needed some serious battery re-charging. and also to get through a lot of washing. oh the washing.

i did step out briefly yesterday to my local fresh produce market

and then this morning to take princess possum for a walk,

but then i retired to the couch where i played around with some madeline tosh ‘merino light’.

lucky i swatched and washed it

just so i could see how much it would run!

as well as grow.

not a lot on the growth. 26 stitches to 4inches before blocking, 24 after. which is gauge, thanks very much.

but wasnt i already knitting a cotton cardigan? didnt i start atelier some time ago and still havent finished? why would i start something else, i hear you ask (although probably only a non-knitter would ask that). and didnt i have A List?

yes i did, and still do. but lists, unless you are god talking to moses, are not written in stone. the purpose of this list was not because i am disciplined or a control freak.   i am, sadly, far from either. the purpose of the list was really to match my favourite yarns with my favourite projects in the hope that i would get some of them knitted. i have added only two things to the list, one is an unexpected purchase (more on that later) and the other should have been on there from the start, which was a pair of boy socks.

what this year so far is telling me is that i am not under any obligation to knit from this list in order, nor to stick to something if i dont like it. the whole principle of my approach to knitting this year is to knit only what i really want to wear with yarn i really want to use. so even though atelier (in MT pashmina) and amiga (in rowan calmer) are both cardigans i want in yarn i love, the reality of my time this year is that im not going to get both of them done BEFORE i can start the one i really want.

the one i really want was a rather elusive pattern for the madelinetosh merino light in ‘ink’ thats been burning a hole in my stash cupboard. i just hadnt felt right about any of my pattern choices so far, slow line, austin hoodie… neither of them quite what was i after.

then the new knitty came out. im not a big fan of knitty these days. its a wonderful idea but i think its jumped the shark in terms of patterns. and if i see one more small triangle shawl im going to scream. however, it had this cardigan pattern in it – flaming june. it was pretty much exactly what i was looking for, a slightly open texture, a pattern that had interest but wasnt fussy, a bit of flare, a bit of fit, not a tent. so i have now cast on

i want to wear this this winter, so i am just going to stick to this, and the afore mentioned shawl i am working on, for a while. that shawl is line break in dream-in-colour smooshy (cashmere) in ‘bronzed lake’ colourway. i was tempted by this because someone was buying some and i had only bought one skein last time i was in the US and had gifted it. i wanted some for myself. and i wanted something blue. so i started it last week and promptly made a mistake (can you spot it?)

i am no longer satisfied with ‘good enough’ in my knitting, so i ripped it

and now its up to here.

isnt it lovely? i’m also noticing a shift in my colour preferences for this year. last year was all about the red and black. this year im into blue and grey. i think they are both good versatile colours, and i should wear more blue anyway with my eyes,  so im lucky there’s a lot of blue and grey in The List!

the only thing that will stray from that is the ‘tarty pea’ socks if i ever finish them, and the ‘whitbys’ i need to make for a june birthday present.

maybe i better go cast them on now!

k xx

FO: adrift cardigan

15 Thursday Sep 2011

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before i started the previous two new projects on the weekend, i had actually finished something, and a rather ‘epic’ something, in the form of the ‘adrift’ cardigan. all the photos of me have a stupid look on my face (me and photo-taking not good at the best of times, but in a busy cafe this morning? eep!). so you get headless shots, but you know, its about the cardigan, not me, right? so here it is

pattern: adrift by carol feller. a really well written pattern, with a lovely short row collar, and easy top down construction. yarn: elsbeth lavold silky wool in ‘bristol red’. sticks: 4.5mm knitpicks options. mods: well, the sizing, mostly. the actual pattern is written for malabrigo lace. i will burn in hell before i knit another garment out of that stuff. its called lace for a reason, and even then it felts if you look at it. i chose the elsbeth lavold because of my experience with it for summer solstice. very light and pretty durable. but of course, its an 8ply (although i really think it knits more like a 5). so i looked at the numbers and my brain exploded. thankfully i’d done a swatch, and the brains trust was able to work out that from my gauge, i could just mostly knit the 36inch size. this seemed to work out, for the most part.

i do think its probably a bit big. the body seemed to take forever, and the back of it seemed too short, so i kept going, not realising that that was also going to make the front of it way longer. d’oh. so sometimes i feel like im wearing a blanket, albeit a very lightweight one.

i like the style, generally, but the curled up stocking stitch edges make it very casual. it really only goes with jeans. i tried it with a flowy skirt and tights the other day. not a good look. and quite possibly, the whole flowy foldy thing will be way out of fashion next year. all that aside, i would knit this again, but i’d make it shorter and probably do the 3/4 sleeve option.

for now, its a good seasonal-transitional piece that i’ll probably wear a lot before summer kicks in with a vengeance.

k x

new ways of starting things

12 Monday Sep 2011

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i started two new knitting projects over the weekend, but lest you think i’m out of control, i did also finish something. a fairly large something in the form of the ‘adrift’ cardigan. i even wore it to guild on saturday but i failed to get a picture of me wearing it. i could take pictures of it hanging up or artfully laid across the back of a chair, but i wont, because the whole point of a cardigan like that is what it looks like on. so that one can wait till later this week.

as soon as i’d finished it, i felt lost without a garment on the needles. i have other things i could be working on, and i did for a few hours. plain socks for trent, the celes scarf or evening stockings in wollmeise for me. i had a go at all of them. but i needed to know that there was something big happening, at the same time.

so i unravelled the ‘leaving’ cardigan that i’d started ages ago and decided i didnt like, and i finally chose another pattern for the lovely madeline tosh ‘pashmina’ in vintage frame’ to become. that was ‘atelier’. i really like heidi’s patterns, and her sizing is always really good, so i decided to just go ahead and use the swatch i’d already done for gauge.

i also decided to try something new and take the ‘harder’ option, making the i-cord version. rather than plain stocking stitch edges that roll up everywhere, i opted for the more formal and neat finish. ive seen i-cord edging on a few things now and love the look. but ive never done one. so out came the books and the knittinghelp videos, and i ended up with something that looks like this:

i wasnt sure if i had picked up and knit down the correct side, but i like the look of it so far anyway. the actual pattern doesnt make a lot of sense to me right now, but im sure i’ll have one of those lightbulb moments if i just follow along and see where it takes me. and its just lovely to be knitting with the pashmina, so i dont really care what happens after that!

i also started the project i talked about before, for my sister (the knitted artwork frame). i decided to go with wollmeise, not jitterbug, just to keep it slightly finer and lacey. i decided on this pattern:

the trellis border from the leaf and trellis shawl in ‘victorian lace today’. everything else seemed a bit ‘girly’. my sister’s not really the ‘girly’ type. instead of doing a slip stitch at the beginning of one row, and the knit-together-with-the-shawl at the end of the next (there being no shawl to knit together with), im just doing 3 knit stitches along the inside edge. i figured that should keep it pretty stable.

and as per jody’s suggestion, i did a provisional cast on, and hopefully when i work out the corners and come back around, i can just graft the two ends together, and it will be a square! i’m also using 4.5mm needles because thats what the pattern uses. im not sure if this is making the stitches too ‘open’ or not, but it seems ok so far so i’m just going to keep going for a while. its only twenty stitches across and wont kill me if i have to rip it and start over. i hope not though.

it feels weird to have started two new projects in ways i wouldnt normally use. i feel like im flying a bit blind, no real idea how either of them might turn out. its not a bad feeling though. it feels like maybe i’ve got a bit more confidence in myself to work things out as i go.

let’s see how long that lasts!

k xx

the perfect fit

16 Saturday Jul 2011

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i have been thinking a lot about a lovely comment that probablyjane left on the post about my greenfield cardigan. she said that she admired my ability to get a perfect fit in my cardigan, and its got me thinking about how true that is or not, and what i still need to do in that area.

as a big girl, the issue of fit is a serious one. it takes a lot of yarn and knitting to make me a cardigan. i dont want to put all that money and effort in for something i dont like at the end. yet i have done that too many times, and its especially the case when the item doesnt include any shaping! the featherweights,  february lady sweater and liesl are good examples of thinking that boxy shapes made for little people look good on big curves. they dont. they really dont. there is only one FLS i have seen on a bigger girl that looks any good, and shes not that big anyway. so i have sworn off boxy things with no shaping, that are just small girl things with extra stitches. in my recent experience, shaping pretty much always looks better. but the issue for me is what kind of shaping. i dont want to get around in tents anymore and hide away, but i dont like things to be tight and clingy. i need enough coverage to be comfortable and not have to tug at hems and closures all day. this poses something of an issue.

i have two cardigan projects on the needles at the moment that pretty much sum up my issues. one i started almost as soon as i finished greenfield, and its another top down raglan. this one is adrift, knit in slightly larger gauge and yarn than recommended to get a very drapey open fabric:

i know this is going to work because its a top down raglan and i can try it on as i go. i love knitting these types of garments, firstly because theres no seaming! but i do think this is really the best way to get a perfect fit. i always add extra shaping, whether its increases across the bust or back, just to make sure, but i probably wont need to with this one, which is already designed to have extra folds and swing. i like this look too because its quite fashionable at the moment and is really versatile. it feels modern and relaxed and wearing it wont stress me out.

but the other cardigan, well im not so sure.

its ‘leaving’ by anne hanson, and i spent a lot of time in knitty city in new york gathering together as much madeline tosh pahsmina in the now discontinued ‘vintage frame’ colourway as i could to make this. i had this pattern in mind, because its an aline, which is a good shape for me, but wasnt a complete tent either. also, it had some detail in the form of the twisted stitch ‘leaves’ that wouldnt add bulk like cables would. and, its in knit in pieces, which has its own set of advantages in that its easier to knit (ie less like a rug sitting in your lap) and the seaming actually gives shape and stability on a bigger garment. but im worried. im worried that its going to be too fitted and not drapey. im worried that i cant try it on before i finish it. im worried that the leaf pattern is a bit old fashioned for me (i know that sounds weird, but plain and simple means i can wear it with everything. a pattern starts making it occassion-specific). i have measured myself and am measuring as i go, but still, im nervous. i really really dont want to waste this beautiful yarn. im seriously thinking of frogging and trying for something more like this (with shorter sleeves!).

what do you think? im open to suggestions. but i do have a tendency to follow my gut instinct in this kind of thing, and ive been thinking about frogging leaving for a long time now. is it just inevitable then? and have i just wasted your and my time by blogging about it? instead of thinking music, i will leave you with some pictures of the garden i took this morning. its really cold and wet outside and im feeling a bit sad and lonely, like curling up under the doona for the weekend might be a good idea.

instead ive made plans to see the last potter movie tonight, and to knit with people tomorrow.

and really, deciding what to do with your madtosh pashmina is a pretty good class of problem to have. i’m looking forward to hearing how youre going to solve it for me!

k xx

another FO: greenfield cardigan

07 Thursday Jul 2011

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obviously im on a bit of a roll with the whole ‘finished object’ thing. it feels particularly good to have this one finished, firstly because its an actual garment and i didnt think i would get one done this year, the rate i was going, and also because winter has hit with a vengeance here, 100kmh winds roaring up off the snow and icy pacific, and i really needed something warm and woolly to wear. and boy, did i get what i asked for. i am wearing it for the second day in a row, and managed to get some pictures this morning:

so here it is, the greenfield cardigan from new england knits , in the berocco ultra alpaca light i originally picked up at looped yarn works in washington DC. they had a whole wall of it, and i fell in love. it was a beautiful yarn to knit with, and its come up really well in the garter stitch after blocking. it did grow where i wanted it to, length wise, so im glad i stopped knitting when i did, and it does get a bit of fluff pill on it, it is alpaca after all, but its really easy to just lift off as i see it. however, i made quite a few modifications to this pattern. i didnt do the neck cast on as directed, i could see from the picture it was already very scoopy, and i might be wide in some places but across the shoulders isnt one of them. so i followed someone elese modifications on ravelry to cast on less stitches and then start the raglan earlier. its worked out quite well, and sits pretty much where i like it.

i didnt do the leaf pattern on the front panels, i actually had an idea to make little pockets and sew them on, and i might still do that because i have two whole skeins of yarn left. i also added slightly different shaping in the body. the pattern says to do some decreases then increases, but i skipped the decreases entirely. i increased under the arms every 8 rows the entire length, and then about half way down i added some back increases to add some swing (every 4th row i think). i didnt want it to be a tent, but i did want flare. i think it sits pretty nicely.

(god i need a hair cut and that is so not my actual colour!). also, i added button bands. i started knitting the buttonholes in to the bodice as directed, but i could see i would need a bit of extra width across the bust, and some stability as well to stop the garter stitch from stretching. so i picked up and knitted 3 stitches in every 4 along both front edges and added three button holes. when i sewed on the buttons tho, the third one sat too low so i cut it off and am sticking with two.

a note about the buttons. they are a present from knitabulous who picked them up in liberty in london when she was there earlier this year. they make a lovely contrast against the black, and go with my winter colour scheme of red, black and grey. they make me smile everytime i look at them!

im really happy with how this has turned out. its not particularly fancy, just a basic black that will go with everything. i wasnt sure about the garter stitch, a bit wary of the possible bulk, but the yarn is not quite a DK so it sits pretty flat, especially after blocking. and the garter stitch with the slightly flared sleeves and the top buttoning actually gives it a kind of classic 50s look. i might not knit this pattern again but i would definitely use the yarn. its lovely and soft and not at all scratchy or heavy, and most importantly, really really warm! im just a little bit happy that its freezing cold and i can wear it lots!

kxx

a tale of two cardigans

29 Tuesday Mar 2011

Posted by in cardigan, knitting, WIP

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despite appearances to the contrary (ie, it not being cold), i hear that winter approacheth. i realised the other day that my snails pace on the leaving cardigan would mean No New Cardigan come the the cooler weather. dont get me wrong, i love Leaving. look at it, whats not to love?

gorgeous madeline tosh pashmina in the now discontinued ‘vintage frame’ colourway (mwahahah, i have seven skeins!), and a wonderfully detailed and elegant pattern. its going to be a very classy piece, if it ever gets finished. the issue is two fold. firstly, that wonderfully detailed and elegant pattern requires looking at the chart for every row. there are no rest rows. there are 32 rows in that pattern repeat, and they are all different. i can follow along to a point, but i still need to look. secondly, im alternating three balls at once (due to colour variations).

this does not make for transportable knitting. its stay at home knitting. its also not mindless knitting. so, its slow. i have been trying to be something like project monogamous, that is, knitting one thing for at least a few days at a time in order to make some kind of dent in each thing (thats monogamous, isnt it?!), and i had wanted to finish this cardigan before i moved onto the next one, which i knew would be in the berroco ultra alpaca light i grabbed at that fantastic looped yarn works store in DC. but it occured to me that i actually needed a black cardigan more than any other knitted object right now, and i was going to need it soon.

so i consulted the brains trust, and then ignored everyones suggestions, and cast on this:

its the greenfield cardigan from new england knits. i wanted a top down raglan but ive done lily twice and thats enough. and i wanted one with good sizing and shaping, and something that was a little bit pretty. greenfield seemed to fit the bill. i was a bit worried about garter stitch, i normally use stocking stitch for garments to keep the bulk down, but the alpaca light is only a sport weight, and is going to have lots of stretch in it which will make it block pretty flat anyway, so the garter stitch seemed safe. i also modified the neck line to reduce the fall-off-the-shoulder risk.

it feels great to be knitting a black top down raglan again. i think im just going to have to make a new one every year! on that note, could it just hurry up and be winter already?

kxx

show and tell #1

10 Monday Jan 2011

Posted by in cardigan, shawls, WIP

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the problem with starting new projects in the new year is how long its going to take before i have something worthwhile to show. i faced this dilemma on saturday when i went to knitters guild meeting in surry hills and had only a big reddish blob of yarn to show:

this is girasole, folded in half. ive got it on my longest cable and its still really bunched up, i cant get it stretched out much more than this:

so i felt like an idiot trying to talk about this amazing pattern and no one could really see anything. and because my little digital camera tends to take photos of this as a very pinky purple, ive pulled out the big guns to get a better colour representation. this is a bit more like it:

it is wollmeise lace in ‘merlot’ and it does look like a very good complex glass of red wine. the pattern is just fantastic, i cant speak highly enough of it. its so well charted, so easy to follow and the pattern repeats arent at all complex. i only have to glance at a chart every so often, and as you can see i have been a good girl and used life lines. ive only had to rip it once though and that was a while ago. if i get the transition row between charts right, then im set. it jumped from 280 odd stitches to 620 a while ago, and there are no more increase rows, but i have done more chart repeats than the pattern calls for. mostly because i really wanted to use as much of this huge 300g ball as i can. i have 133g left, so im not about to run out anytime soon. i did 5 repeats of chart E when the pattern said three, and just one of chart F because it was a transition chart, and  now i have done the first repeat of chart G. the pattern says to do two, but i think i can easily do 4 to match the multiples of chart E.

then there is a knitted on edging. thats the only part im not looking forward to. but its slow and steady on this one, i am not in any hurry to get it finished and my interest in it has yet to wane, even though its been on the needles for nearly 3 months.

i am not so in love with the shurtugal sock pattern but will get it done, if only because the malabrigo sock is so smooshy. infinitely more interesting is my other new cast on for this year, the ‘leaving’ cardigan in the madtosh pashmina. i think i might have already gone on a bit about how lovely this yarn is. and i mentioned that i had been talked into alternating balls and was knitting from 3 at a time. what does that look like, i hear you ask:

a bit messy but surprisingly manageable. i have tied one, two and three pieces of black wool to the top of each ball just to help me keep track of the alternating, and at “tuesday night knitting at the shop” i learnt a nifty trick for helping to carry the yarn up the side. so basically, i knit one row from each ball of yarn. im glad im doing it because there are definite differences in colour, and i can see it come through, but it works as a whole and just looks like nice slightly variegated yarn:

the pattern on this is lovely too and the twisted stitches really are just perfect for this yarn:

cant wait to be able to wear this. although with all this rain and warmth and 2000% humidity i may never need woollens again. my permanently frizzed hair is making me very cranky but at least i dont need a boat to get out of the house. yet.

k xx

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