pattern: baby cables and big ones too
yarn: lang soft shetland, charcoal (05), 10 balls
needles: 3.75mm, 24" and 16" circs
date started: 09.21.08
date finished: 11.13.08

finally, a sweater with no finishing! all I had to do was weave in the ends and block it and it was ready to go. it feels like I've had a streak of good luck with all these sweaters, the patterns have been straight forward and easy to follow.
my gauge was a little off, so I just knit a size smaller knowing it would come out in my size. I think I ended up with an inch of ease, or a little less, on this one.

I only hit one snag and it might have been because of my row gauge - I'll admit I've been too lazy to check while knitting. if I would have finished the cable, the sleeves would have been way too long on me. I couldn't finish the cable on the first sleeve, so I tried to start the cabling earlier on the stockinette portion of the second sleeve. I almost made it, but not quite. it'll just have to be part of the 'design' of the sweater, no one other than knitters would know anyway right?

I originally bought the soft shetland for the ram's horn jacket from knitting nature. once the yarn came though, I decided that the fabric was too thin and un-jacket like for the ram's horn and I wanted to knit this sweater pretty badly. it's sold as a worsted or heavy worsted yarn, but I don't feel like I lost any drape by going down to a much smaller needle size.

this yarn definitely gives the sweater a more rustic feel than the original one. it's tweedy-ish and soft, but not buttery merino soft. a warmer sort of softness, if that makes sense. since it doesn't have the plumpness of a merino yarn, the cables almost fade into the stockinette sections. a feature I was first worried about, but have since grown to love.

the only real question I have on this sweater, what to wear underneath? it's been tough finding shirts that work with this neckline. so far tanks seem the way to go.

Posted by bitter purl at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)

Posted by bitter purl at 07:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

pattern:turbulence u-neck pullover, knitting nature
yarn: laines du nord cashsilk, cranberry (12), 20 balls
needles: 4mm and 3.5mm circs
date started: 07.20.08
date finished: 11.14.08

I'm not sure why I only mentioned this sweater once before on this blog, but it was most likely because it was really quick to knit until it just sat there for months waiting to be seamed. I was so mad at myself for letting this one linger; when I tried it on after seaming I immediately fell in love and didn't take it off.

this pattern is pretty straight forward as is, leaving some room for mods. I used a tubular cast on for the hems, lengthened the body a couple of inches, and, the best mod, used short row bust shaping. the sweater in the book is short and boxy so these mods were key. I think my version has somewhere between 0-1" of ease around the bust, so even without waist shaping I don't feel like it's overly boxy.

the yarn? gorgeous, though hard to photograph. even though this is a similar blend to silkroad ultra, cashsilk hasn't pilled horribly yet. the sweater pieces have been thrown in my book bag, moved around the apartment, and pretty much manhandled. all I can see is a nice, clean halo forming, most likely from the cashmere. I'm going to chalk this up partially to luck and to the different plying.

this "finishing" thing is great, I have a new sweater to wear for thanksgiving dinner.

Posted by bitter purl at 09:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

pattern: hooded pullover #28, vogue knitting fall 2008
yarn: jo sharp silk road ultra, nero, 20 balls
needles: 8mm circs and 7.5mm hook
date started: 8.14.08
date finished: 8.23.08

three months after finishing it and about one month of use, I finally get to blog about the hooded pullover and the complicated love/hate relationship we've endured so far. don't get me wrong, I loved this pattern and would definitely knit it again...just in another yarn. how could you not love a cabled sweater that knits in just over a week? especially one as soft and warm as this one. the cables are gorgeous and I love how they seem to just pop off the sweater.

I followed the pattern pretty must as written, except when it comes time to join the sleeves and the placket. there seem to be some errors in this pattern that haven't been updated in the vogue site. because you first join the sleeves and body in the round and then begin working back and forth in the middle of the next round, the sleeves rows wouldn't be matched up anymore forcing you to work two ws rows on the left sleeve. also, when the pattern states "4th row rep of chart" for the sleeve it really means 4 chart reps total. during the hood turning the pattern seems to break down and the ribbing isn't maintained - you just need to follow your instinct in this section.

as much as I love wearing this hoodie, there are a few things that really irk me. it might just be the nature of the beast but it always feels like the sweater just wants to fall. I'm constantly readjusting. do you see how on the left of the picture (my right shoulder) the sweater looks like it's sliding down? it does this all the time. I'm not sure if it's just the weight of the yarn combined with the hood that's dragging it down or if I should have done more raglan decreases to fit my shoulders better. I also wish I hadn't done the hood increases since, as is, the hood is way too wide on me and ends up looking like a jedi robe.

the thing that irks me the most? this yarn! I don't think I'll ever be buying silkroad ultra ever again. not only does it pill like crazy, I'm talking malabrigo proportions here, but each ball had a knot or two in it. after using 20 balls for this sweater, the amount of ends to weave in was insane. I could have lived with the knots if the yarn still looked as lux as it did when I started, but my poor sweater looks used and abused. I think we're beyond a sweater shaver since it seems to make it worse. if this yarn had been plied differently I think it could've survived. I still wear it out, but I can see this becoming a house-only sweater soon.

Posted by bitter purl at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)

it's been freaking cold for the last couple of weeks and I need sweaters stat! I forced myself to just sit down and finish all my lingering wip's before starting something new. it was just getting sad finding sweater pieces all over the place. I'm hoping I can finally blog these before the month is up, but it's not only been cold but also grey almost every day so photos have been hard to take. I'm not sure why I let sweaters pile up like this. I say I hate finishing, but once I'm actually doing it I don't mind it and it seems to speed along. maybe I just like the act of knitting itself that much that I just don't want to stop. or maybe it's the allure of a new project that keeps me casting on. stopping myself these last two weeks has really helped me figure out what I really want to knit next.

which, of course, led to a ton of swatches. not all of them have a project attached to them, I just wanted to see what sort of gauge and fabric I would get. I'm still not sure what to knit with some of them, but I learned that my gauge and the label gauge hardly match up. I bought some bulky yarn and I'm getting more of a worsted gauge, kinda forcing me to change what loose plans I had for it. I guess that's where this little "break" comes in handy.

pattern: side slip cloche, boutique knits
yarn: rys soft lux, ciel, 1 ball
needles: 3.75mm circs
date started/finished: 11.06.08

I'm not a total masochist though, I knew I had to knit a little something beyond swatches. you already know how much I love this book, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I quickly got yarn for this hat. I basically followed the pattern as written and ended up only using one ball of yarn, not the two the pattern requires. I guess this means I can make a second hat as a gift later. This was my first time using soft lux and I love it. knitting it at this tighter gauge creates a soft, dense fabric. if it wasn't for the sparkle factor I would buy a bag of this for a sweater, but, really, I think this yarn works best for accessories (at least for me). I'm pretty happy with this project, but I've been struggling to get gauge on some of the other hats I want to make from this book. in a way, that's good since I still have one more sweater to finish.

Posted by bitter purl at 08:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

I haven't stopped smiling since last night.

Posted by bitter purl at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (22)