skein

Ormond

My fourth garment for IntSweMoDo2012

Pattern: Ormond

Started: April 9th

Finished: April 29th

Yarn: Jaeger Roma in a summery pink colour, 10 balls.

Needles: 3.75mm, 3.50mm

 

Mods:  As you can see, short sleeves!  I ran out of yarn and ended up doing above the elbwo short sleeves, casting on eight more stitches (as I was working on a fatter bit of arm).  

The pattern's waist shaping is produced by changing to smaller needles.  As I was already starting with a size smaller,  I didn't fancy dropping down to 3.50mm, then 3.25mm, so I stuck to dropping down to 3.50mm for the whole of the waist shaping.  To tell the truth I can't see much difference, and the pattern is a ribbed pattern anyway, which draws in. 

The body is worked in one piece up to the start of the armholes, then fronts and back are worked separately.  Sleeves are knitted in the round and set in.  Front borders are worked as you go.  NO BUTTONS!  This is meant to be an open cardigan, fine by me!


Overall a lovely knit.  I liked the patttern, despite frogging repeatedly to get maximum yarn usage.  The yarn was great to knit with too, such a shame it's discontinued.  

 

Roll on summer! 

 

Deco

At last, I've finished! 

My third garment for IntSweMoDo2012.

 Pattern: Deco

Started: March 4th

Finished: April 29th

Yarn: Elann Highland Sport, Aubergine (not purple, more brown). 8.34 skeins.

Needles: 2.75 and 3mm

 

This is worked bottom up in one piece to the armholes, back and fronts worked separately.  Sleeves are worked top down, picking up stitches and working short rows to shape the sleeve cap.  Wide front borders and a collar complete the knitting.

 

Mods: Added about 2" in length, though you wouldn't notice, as it's a snug fit and draws up in length!

Started Deco front pattern at the same stage as would be if I hadn't lengthened it.  

Knitted less rows for armhole shaping as my row tension was out.  This meant that I piked up less sts for the sleeve cap (in fact did the tiniest size!) and worked few short rows, but I liek a snug fit around this area, it certainly makes a change from baggy sleeve caps!  As the garment is snug anyway it would have looked a bit silly if I had roomy sleeve caps.

Knitted half an inch more Deco cuffs, due to snug fit. I can unravel if I need to.

Worked buttonholes instead of lining with ribbon and having press studs and fake buttons.

 

A detailed, enjoyable pattern.  My second Kate Davies pattern this year! 

Acer Cardigan

My second garment for IntSweMoDo2012.   Another aran weight garment, from some matured stash yarn.  I thought that I'd never get around to knitting this up!  It's a dark olive tweedy aran weight yarn. 

Pattern:  Acer Cardigan

Started: 1st February

Finished: 26th February

Yarn: Classic Elite Kelso Tweed, 6 skeins.  Pleased, as I only had 8 skeins and didn't think this would be enough for a garment.   The yarn is a bit scratchy, but not as bad as I thought it would be. 

Needles: Started with 4mm for the neckline, went to 4.5mm for the body and sleeves, and finally 3.5mm for the bottom border, which I had originally knitted with the 4.5mm, but it was far too loose.

No mods, except changing the needle size.

The photos are a bit washed out, the colour is a dark olive.  Unfortunatly Mr C was rushing off to the boat and so we had to take these outside in bright sunshine.  In most of them I'm squinting against the sun, hence the sunglasses (Mr C's prescription ones!)

The pattern suits this type of yarn well.  A basic, plain cardigan with a ribbed yoke.  The only thing I would change is the width of the sleeves.  I like mine a bit more snug.  I'd either decrease down after the ribbing section or cast on fewer stitches at the start of the neckband on the sleeves section.

Overall, pleased with it.  I have used stash! 

Boreal

Pattern:  Boreal

Started: 25th December

Finished: 22nd January (apart from the ends)

Needles:  4.5mm for the plain knitting and 5mm for the stranded knitting,.

Yarn:  Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted, Sage (3.42 skiens) and Oatmeal (2.93 skeins).  Unfortunately my camera has completely misrepresented the colours.  That is OATMEAL not CREAM!!   Less dazling in real life!
Mods:  After casting on in lighter colour I knitted the first row, so no purl bumps. 

And the back view:

I switched to larger needles for the stranded knitting and worked the sleeves inside out, knitting on the furthest side of the round.  I found this out the hard way, after knitting the whole sleeve and seeing just how much I tighten up on smaller circumferences! 

Great Christmas jumper!  I've changed the colour setting on the camera and I think that this is marginally better:

Chickadee

And another FO!  That's four in a row, one more tomorrow then the run might be over!

Pattern:  Chickadee

Started: August 7th

Finished: October 26th

Needles: 3.25mm and 3.5 mm

Yarn: Green Mountain Spinnery Local Color.

Mods: Started the sleeve decreases  after a few rows, and more frequently (didn't take notes of course) so theya re narrower.  It meant that I finished all of the decreases earlier than the pattern states, but I wnated slightly shorter sleeves, and I'm happy with a narrower fit at the lower arm. 

I added length as well, forgot to take notes :) but about 14 extra rows.  My row tension was a little off so I probably added an inch to the pattern length as given.

I changed to a larger needle past the armholes.  Not really a fitting issue, more a decision to use a longer needle, and I didn't have one in the 3.25mm size!  I quite often start off with a smaller size for the yoke and then go to a larger size in the body so this was just a change in tactic, keeping to the same stitch count but using a larger needle.

I decided on a contrast colour for the final row of the borders, for a bit of interest.

I misread the yoke chart and had to swiss darn the little stitch between birds!  I wondered why it was both border and pattern stitch!

What I find is that although it's top down and can be tried on, the colour work yoke pulls in, so I had to steam it a little before trying on, just to get a better idea of the length I wanted.  Even so, it didn't fit properly until it had had a bath and relaxed a bit.  I had a fleeting panic that I might have to rearrange the yoke (hoick it up!) every time I put it on, but the bath sorted that one out.

The pattern has you working the sleeves first, before the body, but I am definitely a knitter who likes to work these last, after the body and borders are done, so I can get a better idea of the length.  I had to unpick the sleeves and add more inches once it was all knitted!

Overall I really enjoyed this knit.  It's comfortable to wear, not one of those garments I have to keep adjusting so it looks right.  Same with Cria. In fact I will certainly knit a few more from in the city. Next one for next year is Lauriel!

 

 

Cria

Cria is done!

 

Pattern: Cria

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino  11.5 balls (instead of just over 10!)

Needles: 3mm

Started: 19th June

Finished:  6th August

 

This is a top down design. You start at the garter stitch yoke, work short rows for the shoulders, incorporating set in sleeves as you go. 

 

Modifications:

* worked two extra rows before working the one row buttonhole.  As there is no edging/neckband I didn't want the buttonhole at the top. 

* worked 3 stitch buttonhole,  closer to the body of the garment, not so near the edge of the garment. I like my buttonholes to be slightly off centre, away from the edge,  so the buttonhole band isn't stretched out as much.  I don't like the ripply effect!

* worked short rows for the bust.  Rather than use Ysolda's calculation of where to start the short rows by your underbust measurement (if you have the book you'll know what I mean), I  measured from my shoulder for a rough idea.  My bust level fluctuates, depends on the bra! 

* the sleeves seemed quite wide, so I worked a size smaller, decreasing down across the first round after starting the sleeves. I omitted the plain rows before the first decrease too, though now I've finished the  sleeves they are still far too long. See below ...

* cuff buttonholes were 3 stitch, and worked further in from the edge.

* picked up and knitted stitches around the neckline, then knit the second row, decreasing down by a third.  Cast off tightly.  this was to pull the whole garment up and stabilise it a bit.

 

Baby cashmerino was not an ideal choice, though I like it much better now it's washed.  It's a droopy yarn and grows a lot. I've only ever used it for baby things, and the thicker weights of cashmerino in cable patterns, so didn't realise how much this would grow.   the sleeves have grown quite a bit, think it's the weight of the garter cuffs and buttons!   I'm thinking of cutting the cuffs off close to the start of them and pulling out about two more inches of sleeve, and grafting.   I really prefer my sleeves bracelet or wrist length, not covering my hands.   We took lots of photos trying to show off the cuffs:

 

and

but we thought this the best one:

And if I made this again?  I'd not cast on as many stitches at the very top of the sleeve (you knit front and back into this section, doubling the stitch count).  Probably omit the pockets too, but keep the pocket garter tops as decoration.  Nothing wrong with the pockets at ll, I'm just not a pocket person. 

A very interesting knit all in all, the work that has gone into the pattern's amazing!  I love Ysolda's way of showing the different sizes, with tables, right up my street!

Cameo

 

Pattern: Cameo by Kim Hargreaves, from her latest book Whisper

Yarn: All Seasons Cotton, approximately 13 balls (I haven't weighed it, and a LOT of the yarn was in tiny balls, reclaimed from a frogged mitred project).

Needles: 3.50mm (went right down in size)

Started: May 2nd 2011

Finished: June 3rd 2011. Actuall knitting finished May 27th, but I didn't get around to finishing it until this week.

Mods:  Just tweaked the sizing a bit. I made a smaller back, but larger fronts, and about an inch longer in length. 

It's a weird design.  A cropped cardigan, but with very deep raglans, and very wide sleeves, fronts narrower than the back as it's an open cardigan, isn't meant to close at the fronts.

 

I like it, but will probably just use it as a throw on at home.   Ok, criticism here.  I do not think that the yarn choice (All Seasons Cotton) does this design justice.  It's an acrylic cotton  blend, aran weight with NO DRAPE.  With such wide sleeves it needs drape.  My knitted fabric  isn't too dense or stiff, despite going down needle sizes, so it's not that.  The pattern makes it seem even thicker!  I can see this knitted in something like Debbie Bliss's Cathay (which is a dk weight and I think discontinued now) and it would be wonderful. Just not so in ASC.    Arms down, it looks ok-ish.

 

Arms bent, not so ok.

 

Oh well, at the very least I have something I can chuck on at home on cooler summer evenings.  And I've used stash which I really had no expectation of using, reclaimed mitred project = lots of tiny balls!  And a quick knit - I knitted a lot of this as carry along knitting which is why it wasn't finished any quicker. 

I started another Kim Hargreaves cardigan last week, but the yarn (Louisa Harding's Aimee) is not knitting to tension, so it's probably going to be frogged. I either knit it again in the given yarn (which looks great on the project pages of ravelry) or do something completely different. I'm a bit taken with Ysolda's new patterns - right up my street...

Heather Cardigan

Pattern: Heather, from A Season's Tale

Started: January 28th 2011

Finished: March 23rd 2011

Yarn: Rowan Kid Classic, nine balls.

Needles: 4mm

Modifications: shortened the sleeve cap by a few inches.  I had the same problem as with Peace - my sleeve caps looked horrible!  I think it's because the shoulders were wider than mine, so the sleeves tops were a few inches down my arm, making them bag a bit.  This cardigan is a relaxed fit, and I think a modified drop shoulder would work just as well for me. Pity I didn't think this one through.

Another thing I should have thought of was the side shaping.  I wish I'd knitted the sides plain not in pattern.  Oh well next time!

Button bands - in the pattern these are poppers on the inner side of the facings, I wanted to use my buttons so I knitted button holes insead.

The sleeves are a bit too long for me, but I will appreciate them in the cold weather!  I have just one kid classic jumper, which came in very handy this past winter, very lightweight and warm. I wanted another garment - and this one seems warmer!

 

Hallett's Ledge

Fittingly, my final garment finished knitting and my twelfth garment for IntSweMoDo2010 is finished on the last day of the year.  Just made it in time!

 

Pattern: Hallett's Ledge

Yarn: Felted Tweed Aran, shade 722, a rustt irabnge colour, JUST OVER 11 balls.  (See below for a whinge)

Needles: 4.5mm becasue I usually knit a bit loose.

Started: 17th December

Finished: 31st December

 

Modifications:  I didn't like the way the increases in the ribbed section looked, at all.  Very ugly. So I followed instructions on artlady's notes, and did the decreases withing the purl sections. MUCH better. I also went down two needles sizes as per artlady for the garer stitch eyelet bands.

 

I had to finish my 2010 lace kalendar stole first so I was late starting the sleeves for this, madly knitting as per pattern and again, hated the sleeve increases in the ribbing, so I had to frog half a sleeve and reknit it. 

From this

to this,.Much better.

 

I thought I might be running low on yarn, so went out and bought another ball just in case, different dye lot.  I really hoped that I'd have enough yarn.  The sleeves were knitted one after the other up to the armhole shaping, then the remaining yarn carefully weighed.  27g.  First sleeve cap took 15g!  So I was short by only 3g, very cross about this.  My garment is not longer or widerr than the pattern states, and  my tension was correct, so I don't have any idea as to why I ran short.  I would far rather a pattern erred on the side of caution and I had to buy another ball - I can always use this for a matching hat.

 

Love these buttons. They were bought online,  so I had my boubts about them matching - but they do, perfectly, and are just right for this fustic yarn.  Even Mr C commented on the buttons (and he's not one to notice the small stuff).

 

 

So, pat on the back for me, 12 garments in 2010.  That's 24 new garments these past two years, amd the wishlist hasn't decreased!

I go into 2011 with just two things on the needles, which is fantastic.

 

Happy New Year to everyone! 

Harriet

 

Pattern: Harriet from A Fine Fleece

Started: October 12th

Finished: October 28th

Yarn: Austermann Inka, an alpaca/wool blend, from stash, just under 10 balls.

Needles: 4mm

Modifications:  I knitted at a tighter tension, so the garment is more fitted (rather a bit too fitted, lol!) , but kept the length.  Added waist shaping, decreasing 4 sts each side.  I also decreased the armhole depth, making the body before armholes a bit longer.  It's a simple modified drop shoulder, so I worked the sleeve top down. 

The colour is more of a blue-red and darker than shown. We took them in a hurry - Mr C was about to go out, it had started to rain a bit and was very breezy.  I'm wearing slippers, and haven't even brushed the hair!  So best of five!

 

It's a great pattern, a real pleasure to knit.  This is the eleventh garment for IntSweMoDo2010. I originally planned to get the final garment on the needles this monht, but have decided to wait until December, and have a whole month off garment knitting,  This is the 23rd garment in two years!