Purlwise

Thoughts on the final project

It's been a knitting marathon this weekend. The front two pieces of the v-neck cardigan are drying while I work on the vertical button band. Sleeves are on the back burner until I finish the crochet swatch and draw patterns for the next two projects. Nope, I haven't picked up the crochet project yet but will soon. Nothing fancy with that one. Just a simple child size vest in double crochet.

Here's what I've been thinking about for my final project. Inspired by my co-worker's sweater I'd like to make a notched collar jacket. My "napkin sketch" is below.

Since I won't have much time to knit this project the body will most likely be in stockinette with 2x2 ribbing for the collar and lower edge. I recently bought Jo Sharp Silk Road DK that I'd like to use but I'm not sure if it might be too rustic for this design. It will be interesting to see what Jean thinks about this idea.

Blue skies

Finally a full day of sunshine and blue skies.

This one was a joy to knit mostly because I encountered very few problems.  But, there are two things that bother me about the finished garment. First, my row gauge was off so it's about 1.5cm too long (including the sleeves) and second, it seems to look totally different on me when I look at it in my bathroom mirror. This photo makes it look bulky on me.

KarenJo asked if I would demonstrate the buttonhole next time SKG has mini classes. Sure, I'll do that if I'm available then.

Now it's on to the v-neck cardigan. The back is finished and the right front is nearly half done. The button band on this one will be knit vertically and then sewn on.

Only two more weeks until our next class. As always, there's so much to do and so little time.

Oh, those feet in the photo last week belong to Mittens, the one who can't resist sitting on my knitting.

One step back

Can't believe I fell for this mistake again.

I was nearly finished with the back of the v-neck cardigan and noticed a slight color difference between a fresh ball of yarn and the last one. I immediately scanned the piece under better lighting and sure enough, there was a noticeable change in shade farther down the knitted piece.  To confirm my suspicions I pulled out the ball bands from the already used yarn. Arraugh!!!, I had just used a rogue ball of yarn from a different dye lot!

On a happier note, Jean was in town this weekend so I stopped by to get help with the last for stitches of the round neck cardigan button bands. That's done. Now I just have to sew on 10 buttons.

Sans buttons

 

This one should have been finished this weekend but I hit a snag.

I'm stuck on the last four stitches of each button band.  After a few hours of trying all sorts of ways to finish those darn stitches I gave up. It will have to wait until Jean can show me the proper way.

Normally finishing an invisible cast off isn't difficult but the ribbing on this cardigan is a tad different than normal. Instead of starting and ending with two (or three) knit stitches mine starts and ends with four.  Jean suggested doing this when I mentioned that my first and last buttons seemed too close to the top and bottom edge.

I'll go ahead and sew on the buttons this week after I have a chance to steam the bands into shape. It looks a little curled. I shouldn't have gone down 1mm in needle size and decrease 10% of the picked up stitches.

About working the button band ...

stitches were picked up along the front edges and knit back and forth. Here's one more hint about how it was done - the short rows are done between the holes.

So for now I'm on to a new project, the v-neck cardigan. Here's what I got done today on the long car trip home from Winthrop.

It's Rowan Wool Cotton on 3.75mm needles. The stitch pattern and idea is from an old Kim Hargreaves' pattern called Alice (in The Ultimate Knitter's Guide by Kate Buller).

Buttonholes

This weekend was all about buttons, button bands and buttonholes.

Jean demonstrated one of the same technique taught in her button hole class at Madrona. Lucky for me. I was too tired to fully comprehend it during the Madrona class. 

She comes up with the most interesting techniques. I won't give it away but will mention I've never seen it in any reference book and it uses short rows.

Here's a closer look.

Sorry for the short post but ... I'm tired after another 10 hours of classes.