I had planned to post earlier this month about a finished vest, but things didn't pan out. oh, I finished it the vest. I just hated it. my pattern indecision should have been a sign. it doesn't usually take me weeks to find a pattern to knit. I'm the person that has way too many pattern ideas floating around. OK. so I don't like vests. there, I admit it. more to myself than you, but it's out. you know what else went wrong? not only did my gauge swatch lie (actually, I think I liked to myself just so I could get started), but I think the pattern lied as well. it told me to knit 10" armholes. 10"?! I'm not sure why I blindly followed this. never mind that the schematic clearly shows a 9" armhole. so not only should I not knit vests, but I shouldn't try to knit during thanksgiving weekend since apparently I ignore all sense when stuffed with too much food (and perhaps alcohol).

so what else is going on around here? I decided to force myself to clear out my wip piles that were taking over our apartment before I was allowed to start anything new. well, with an exception or two of course. so I've actually been making and finishing things! it's a crazy concept. the seeded jacket was unceremoniously frogged. the fabric felt heavy and too drapey. the first thing I decided to actually finish was tom's pentagon aran cardigan. I only needed to weave in a few ends and sew in the zipper.

pattern: pentagon aran cardigan
yarn: jo sharp silk roan aran tweed, brindle (121), 14 balls
needles: 4mm and 5mm
date started: 08.11.08
date finished: 12.07.09

this cardigan was first going to be an anniversary present (our first one!), then a thanksgiving present (who gives presents for thanksgiving?!), then christmas, then birthday, and now it's just a take this damn thing will you/ fake christmas present sweater. such indignities this sweater has faced. it really didn't need to take me over a year to finish, it just kinda got ignored. I had good intentions at times. I dragged it with me to maine last year to finish; when it was still dubbed an anniversary sweater. I even picked up the zipper this spring when I had hopes of this being a birthday present.

the zipper. I think that's what really stopped me in my tracks. I just didn't want to deal with it, so I stubbornly ignored it. of course, once I finally forced myself to sew it, it took less than an hour. the trick was to use double sided tape to "baste" it. then I pinned the hell out of it and sewed it with no fear. you can't have fear because the sewing machine can smell fear. it'll eat your fabric or make your zipper wonky at any sign of weakness.

besides the zipper, I loved working on this sweater. the pattern was straight forward and the cable pattern kept my interest throughout. I pretty much followed it as written, except I used a tubular cast on and cast off. the only issue I had was with the sleeves, they were way too wide and long. I simple ripped a few inches off and reseamed. talking about seaming, don't use this yarn for seaming! it'll just break in the middle of a seam. I know they tell you to seam with a yarn that's a similar color as the main yarn but I didn't bother and used some leftover koigu kersti. love it! it's like a little secret built in.

over a year later you would think tom would wear the hell out of it or, at the very least, feign excitement. I got nothing. part of me can't blame him. as much as I love the sweater, I don't love it on him. it's too loose in the body and his shoulders aren't broad enough for a drop shoulder design. in my mind he's more of a raglan man. he most likely let me carry on with this project more for my entertainment than his actual desire for the sweater.

of course, I had to make him something else to make up for it. definitely a much quicker gift that Ill show you soon.

Posted by bitter purl at 05:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I had planned to post earlier this month about a finished vest, but things didn't pan out. oh, I finished it the vest. I just hated it. my pattern indecision should have been a sign. it doesn't usually take me weeks to find a pattern to knit. I'm the person that has way too many pattern ideas floating around. OK. so I don't like vests. there, I admit it. more to myself than you, but it's out. you know what else went wrong? not only did my gauge swatch lie (actually, I think I liked to myself just so I could get started), but I think the pattern lied as well. it told me to knit 10" armholes. 10"?! I'm not sure why I blindly followed this. never mind that the schematic clearly shows a 9" armhole. so not only should I not knit vests, but I shouldn't try to knit during thanksgiving weekend since apparently I ignore all sense when stuffed with too much food (and perhaps alcohol).

so what else is going on around here? I decided to force myself to clear out my wip piles that were taking over our apartment before I was allowed to start anything new. well, with an exception or two of course. so I've actually been making and finishing things! it's a crazy concept. the seeded jacket was unceremoniously frogged. the fabric felt heavy and too drapey. the first thing I decided to actually finish was tom's pentagon aran cardigan. I only needed to weave in a few ends and sew in the zipper.

pattern: pentagon aran cardigan
yarn: jo sharp silk roan aran tweed, brindle (121), 14 balls
needles: 4mm and 5mm
date started: 08.11.08
date finished: 12.07.09

this cardigan was first going to be an anniversary present (our first one!), then a thanksgiving present (who gives presents for thanksgiving?!), then christmas, then birthday, and now it's just a take this damn thing will you/ fake christmas present sweater. such indignities this sweater has faced. it really didn't need to take me over a year to finish, it just kinda got ignored. I had good intentions at times. I dragged it with me to maine last year to finish; when it was still dubbed an anniversary sweater. I even picked up the zipper this spring when I had hopes of this being a birthday present.

the zipper. I think that's what really stopped me in my tracks. I just didn't want to deal with it, so I stubbornly ignored it. of course, once I finally forced myself to sew it, it took less than an hour. the trick was to use double sided tape to "baste" it. then I pinned the hell out of it and sewed it with no fear. you can't have fear because the sewing machine can smell fear. it'll eat your fabric or make your zipper wonky at any sign of weakness.

besides the zipper, I loved working on this sweater. the pattern was straight forward and the cable pattern kept my interest throughout. I pretty much followed it as written, except I used a tubular cast on and cast off. the only issue I had was with the sleeves, they were way too wide and long. I simple ripped a few inches off and reseamed. talking about seaming, don't use this yarn for seaming! it'll just break in the middle of a seam. I know they tell you to seam with a yarn that's a similar color as the main yarn but I didn't bother and used some leftover koigu kersti. love it! it's like a little secret built in.

over a year later you would think tom would wear the hell out of it or, at the very least, feign excitement. I got nothing. part of me can't blame him. as much as I love the sweater, I don't love it on him. it's too loose in the body and his shoulders aren't broad enough for a drop shoulder design. in my mind he's more of a raglan man. he most likely let me carry on with this project more for my entertainment than his actual desire for the sweater.

of course, I had to make him something else to make up for it. definitely a much quicker gift that Ill show you soon.

Posted by bitter purl at 05:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

something hit me all of a sudden a few weeks ago. I just HAD to knit something, anything, everything. I barely touched the needles while I was away, only working on a linen cardi from time to time. when I got back, I tried to finish it only to realize the sleeves were too small and that really I don't like working with spring/summer yarns. I needed some wool on my needles.

I had some red cashsilk in my stash begging to be knit up. I've wanted to knit the turbulence u-neck top since knitting nature came out, but either didn't have the time or the yarn. finally I had both and quickly got through the body and most of the sleeves. unfortunately I ran out of yarn before finishing the sleeves. I was able to order a few balls in the same dye lot, but while I waited I started

the pentagon aran cardigan, from knitting nature, for Tom. I've been wanting to knit him something besides hat for a while and he finally agreed when I showed him the picture from the book. I didn't have anything in my stash to swatch, so I just ordered the recommended yarn. this is my first time using jo sharp silkroad aran tweed and I love it. the color I'm using is 'brindle' and it's a greyish brown with little blips of beige, brown, grey, purple, and, once every million stitches, aqua. I started with the sleeves to get them over with and because they're just stockinette. I have the back done and started the left front but I sorta stalled because, to be honest, I wanted to knit for me.

I picked up this grey yarn at school products a couple of years ago and it's sat on my shelf taunting me since then. I've had no clue what to make with it since no where does it say how many yards are on the cone. I decided to go for it anyway and knit a little seed stitch jacket. I'm knitting it in one piece from the bottom up and 10 inches in it looks like I won't have enough yarn. I'll either have to search the world for another cone of this yarn or just suck it up and rip. really, let's just pretend this one doesn't exist for now.

of course, that means that I get to start something else while I decide. as soon as I saw vouge's fall preview I knew I had to knit the hooded pullover and started searching for the right yarn. I ended up finding jo sharp silkroad ultra in a crazy sale that I couldn't pass up. I started working on the hoodie last night during the olympics and I'm already done with the body. I forgot how bulky knits make you feel like a super fast badass! I'll probably start the sleeves tonight while I stay up late watching the olympics again (please no more volleyball!!)

I've obviously broken my 'one project at a time' rule and that whole 'no yarn buying' concept I had going for a while so I won't even show you my collection of swatches and sweater yarn I've picked up. there are already lots of patterns I'm eyeing up. I guess I'm going to be busy knitting this fall!

Posted by bitter purl at 03:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)