Garter Bottom Cardigan published in Petite Purls - Back to Basics

The Garter Bottom Cardigan is my latest pattern that has been published in the on-line knitting magazine Petite Purls (in the Back to Basics section) and is available for free!

Photo by Brandy Fortune

photo by Brandy Fortune

photo by Brandy Fortune

This cardigan was knit with Spud & Chloe (sweater), witch is an amazing blend of 55% superwash wool & 45% organic cotton.  The name of the color is Ice Cream (the whole line of Spud & Chloe yarns come with playful names to describe their colors).

2 new sweaters

All of those stitches from my last post have finally turned in to one of my new favorite short sleeved sweaters.

I followed the pattern Abi, omitting the pockets.

I also whipped up one of my new favorite long sleeved sweaters!  (technically it's more like a 3/4 sleeve length sweater).  I used Berroco Ultra Alpaca and followed a pattern by Ann Weaver called the Transverse Cardigan.  I had never knitted a "dolman cardigan" before.  Dolman sweaters are knit from side to side starting at one sleeve cuff & ending at the other.  This sweater didn't take much time to complete & I could see myself knitting it up again using the same yarn in a different color.  A few modifications were made: adding an eyelet row on the button band as well as a few extra garter stitch rows on that same button band & on the bottom edging.

Here is a picture of it spread out before blocking to get the general idea of how it was constructed.  I casted on for the right cuff (pictured on the left hand side of the photo) and then worked my way to the opposite arm sleeve, eventually casting off for the left cuff.  The sweater has a nice cropped fit without riding too high in the back.  The alpaca/wool blend of the yarn is soft, warm & light, just like I like it.

I found these amazing wooden buttons that finish the sweater off perfectly.

This past week my kiddos had a snow day off from school & I made them some girl finger puppets to play with.

Ouch! My hand!

I'm guessing that the slight discomfort in my left hand/wrist/forearm may have something to do with all of my holiday knitting, on top of the 500 yards of yarn that I have blown through in the past 8 days knitting a little something for myself ; )

Thankfully, the yarn that I have been knitting with has been a dream to work with... literally.  I fell in love with Dream in color- Classy when a student in my Monday night class began knitting a baby cardigan with it.  The pattern I am going by is called Abi.  It is knit from the bottom up & then the front, back & both sleeves are joined at the yoke & knit up to the neck.

I currently have 288 stitches on my needles.

Of course I couldn't just follow a pattern as written.  Instead of knitting the front & the back separately, I cast on enough stitches for both, joined them in the round & went on from there.

I am not sure if this will be done by Christmas, as I have to more hats to knit as gifts for family.

I can't sew, but I can seam!

My bobbled cardigan is complete & ready to wear.

The front closes with a thin braided looped around a single silvery button.  I found that even a 2 stitch i-cord was too bulky to wrap around this thin button.

I am not much of a seamstress.  A simple set of curtains, a mended pair of pants or replacing a button on a shirt is about the extent of my hand or machine sewing capabilities.  I don't even know how to follow a sewing pattern!  That doesn't mean that I can't SEAM a knitted sweater.  In fact, sewing up a sweater is one of my favorite phases of a project.  Lots of people dread this step, they make it this far & then never finish, or pay someone else to do the work for them.  Practice makes perfect.  My first sweaters may have looked like Frankenstein seamed them up, but with patience & attention to detail, seams disappear to the wrong side of the fabric & your sweater is now a wearable garment that you can be proud of.

I believe that this sweater involved the most seaming than any other sweater that I have knit before.  Knit in pieces, seaming needed to happen in the usual places: at the shoulders, sleeves set in to the body, down the sleeve seams and the side seams.  Then there was the bobble bands that were worked independently of the fronts.  Once complete, they had to be seamed to the fronts, across the back and finally seamed where they met each other at the back of the neck.

Phew!  Makes you want to knit something in the round ha? ; )

Wearing one fall project, working on the next.

My nice, warm tunic is done & has been worn several times.  I loved working with this yarn (Berroco Peruvia Quick) and with the large sized needles needed to achieve the correct gauge, this project was a quick knit.  I followed the Big Montana Tunic pattern by Cecily Glowik MacDonald found in my fall 2009 issue of Interweave Knits Magazine.  This tunic was knit in one piece from the bottom up, ending with the cowl stitches being picked up & knit in the round.

Before:                                                                                            After:

 

The panel running down the center front & back is actually a stitch pattern, not a cable, and it was easy to remember once a few repeats had been done.

I am now knitting up a pattern called Glide by Kim Hargreaves from a collection of patterns made specifically for Cotton Tape by Rowan.  Although Cotton Tape was discontinued long ago, I probably wouldn't have chosen to knit this fall cardigan using a cotton yarn anyway.  I needed a warm wool that would give me a gauge of 13 1/2 sts per 4".  I ended up choosing Cascade Ecological Wool.  This yarn is 100% natural Peruvian wool that comes in an enormous hank of 478 yards!

The cardigans back & left front are done and I am almost finished with the right front.  I think I am going to do something new (for me) and knit both sleeves at the same time.  I have always knit my sleeves separately, but several of my students swear by doing both sleeves at once so I'm going to give it a go.  I think that I've never done them this way because I enjoy the quick turn around of completing one sleeve at a time.  Yes, there will always be sleeve #2, but doing both at the same time could be akin to having a back of a sweater on my needles.

I am loving the bobbles at the bottom & edges of this sweater.

a treat for me & thoughts on blocking.

I have splurged & treated myself to a set of Addi Click Lace interchangeable needles!  I am loving the way my stitches are sliding off of the smooth nickel plated tips & along the flexible blue cord.  I whipped up a pair of fair isle mittens using the US#5 needle & the 32" cord (magic loop method).  I used Cascade 220 Heathers yarn. Cascade is a 'go to' yarn for me with so many colors to choose from.

Supervising from the background is my dog, Lucky : )

I have finished my Fall tunic & have included some pictures of my preferred method of blocking.  Depending on how many knitted items I am washing, I will either soak them in the sink or in my washer.  I will use a small amount of Eucalan added to the cold water & soak the load for approx 10-20 minutes.  The washer is then switched to a spin cycle ONLY and the garments are taken out when they are spun dry.

The pieces are then spread on top of large bath towels, flattened out & shaped just right.  On a nice day, the open, sunny window will have these dry by the next morning.  Blocking is the finishing touch needed for any knitted item to look amazing.  If not blocked, a sweater will look wrinkled & misshaped.

Meow

This past week I went to a baby shower for a co-worker who is expecting a little girl in October.  When I think of October babies I think of knitting either a pumpkin or an owl hat for them.  I set off to make a pink owl hat & as I was finishing the ears I realized that they didn't look very 'owl-ish' to me... they looked more like the ears of a cat.  So, a cat hat it became.  Still very cute & I hope it fits her little head.

Currently on my needles is something for me.  I realized that it had been quiet a while since I knitted myself something and now that the fall weather is here, I decided on a bulky pullover tunic with a cowl neck.  I bought 6 skeins of Berroco Peruvia Quick and I am just loving the loftiness of this yarn!  It is going to be perfect to throw on over a long sleeve & head out the door to pick up Lillian from school.  I am following the Big MontanaTunic pattern by Cecily Glowik MacDonald.  I should have this made up in no time seeing how I am using size 13 needles!