Blogged here!

28Aug2013: The embroidery. Yes, the embroidery. The pattern calls for ‘french knots’ and ‘chain stitches’ for the stems. My first attempt was truly awful, and I was this close to getting rid of the embroidery altogether!

But I was convinced by my peeps in the Rowan Love group to 1) use bullion knots instead, 2) make them closer together, and 3) make smaller stitches on my stems.

So I tried REALLY hard to do it right… and I actually loved it! I didn’t think I would, too. So kids, try everything before you knock it. ;)

Specifics: Bullion stitch was across one V stitch, with 14 wraps, then pulled tight into a ‘caterpillar’. All were off set by 1.5 V stitches, and staggered on each row.

Bullion stitches with mohair are a nighmare! I had to limit the embroidery to the front only, and even then, just an ‘artistic’ portion of the large flowers.

SIMPLY LOVE THIS SWEATER. It’s gorgeous, warm, and really wearable.

3Aug2013: It was like Goldilocks and the Three Sleeve Caps. I tried to do the sleeve cap top down, but it was too shallow. This could have been because m1 is tighter than decreasing. Still, I had to add rows to the sleeve cap after casting on provisionally and going the normal bottom up. (I cast on above the garter cuff). Then, the sleeve cap was too wide, so I decreased faster right after the underarm. Just riiiiiiight.

29June2013: I received an early copy of Rowan Magazine 54 (release July 15, 2013) and this was my favorite pattern that matched my immediately available stash!

Every time I knit with Kid Classic, I remember why it is my FAVORITE YARN OF ALL TIME. It feels great, it knits perfectly, it doesn’t pill, it’s kick-ass warm, it’s fuzzy, it has amazing yardage and lastly, it can knit at, like, 5 different gauges and look normal at each!! The only drawback is that I wouldn’t wear it next to my neck or on my forehead… those areas are too sensitive to itch.

I am casting-on an in-between value to achieve a 36” width: 79 sts. This pattern is so simple to change, because the colorwork is only in the center, and sparse.

I knit 2 more rows of garter (4 total) and 12 rows of stockinette before starting the chart, to lengthen the body.

The original pattern is for Frost with Kid Classic accents. I decided on all Kid Classic with bits of leftover of Kidsilk Aura, from my Sofia Wrap. I’ll eat my hat if you need even a quarter of any of those balls of Kid Classic. The colorwork parts are so minimal!! Just use whatever stuff you find in your stash, honestly!

There are stems and french-knot flower insides to embroider at the end. The chart does not show where they go, and the picture really isn’t that informative. Annoying! They should have put it on the chart!

I’ve decide on only half-intarsia, for sanity and fun. Once I get to a motif, I strand it, and then drop the bobbin. No background color is ever cut! It’s always a big decision to make, whether to strand over intarsia. It does affect the tension. If you want your sweater to be stretch evenly across, you will have to break the yarn between every motif.

IntSweMoDo2013#8