06-09-2018

Swatched with the worsted weight and got gauge pretty perfectly (surprise!). Rolling with it - I have some concerns about yardage, but I’m only short by 14yds per the pattern so if it comes down to it I can make shorter sleeves.

Love the look and shape of this project, but the size dims are wonky for me - the M bust is slightly small, the length and yoke are spot on, the hips are large and the waist is large. I’m no where near experienced enough to try to modify to accommodate my exact sizing, so I’m sticking with the M and if it’s too big I’ll still love it.

I’ve had this yarn in my stash since almost the beginning of my knitting journey. I had seen it used on a the city in winter project which was my first garment project and had to have it. Unbeknownst to me, it was a discontinued yarn and color and I had to stalk destash posts for months until I found it in a large enough quantity to satisfy my desire for a sweater done with it. I ended up finding it in Israel and bought it! Then it hung in my stash for years waiting for me to feel confident enough in my skills and to find the right project for it.

This is that project.

06-11-2018

I have no business casting on this project before finishing up at least one WIP. But the sun was shining, the humidity was down, and it was a perfect day to sit outside with my jeans on and make a few rows that make me happy.

I just love the way this yarn looks so far, and it certainly will be “pretty with jeans”.

I am alternating skeins - they look pretty similar, but I’ve been burned before. A little extra effort to prevent a disaster at the end.

06-13-2018

A bit of progress today, not much time to knit during the work week, but I like to squeeze it in when I can. Amazing how different the colors look inside vs. out in the sun. Either way I love the shading and the dimension.

06-15-2018

A bit more progress today. Just a few rows short of finishing the yoke. Soon enough she’ll start to look more like the cardigan she’s going to be. And I think I love this yarn even more now that I see it can’t be captured as the same color ever … . it’s almost a game now, what color will it be today.

06-17-2018

Finished the Yoke, split off the sleeves, and got the body completed through the V neck increases. Still a long way to go until we get through the waist increases and the body length, but I can see how people are making fast work of this one.

06-19-2018

More length on the body now - still have 4 waist increases to go and then who knows how long to get the right length, but we’re moving forward and she looks a bit more like a sweater now.

06-20-2018

Finished the last waist increase! Now I just need to add inches to the length.

06-24-2018

Finished the body stockinette section and the straight garter transition. Began the short row section and couldn’t resist - kept going until I finished short row section one. I’d love to have finished the rest of the body, but I ran out of time.

06-25-2018

Finished the body. Had to use just a bit of the fifth skein. Thankfully everything blended ok despite the fact that I stopped alternating when I reached the short rows since it broke my brain. The sleeves are next according to the pattern, but I may jump to the button band first. Still need to find buttons, eek!

06-29-2018

After hearing a suggestion from the designer to possibly do the sleeves separately from the body and kitchener stitch them onto the body, I decided to go for it. Worst case I have to frog them and start over from the body. So here we go, TaaT sleeves from the cuffs up. Just got done with the 3” cuffs and now have about 8” of knitting to go. It feels like slow progress, but I have to keep reminding myself that I’ll have both sleeves done at the same time and they’ll be identical in length. Fingers crossed I can make this work!

07-17-2018

Finished the sleeves after a 2 week pause. They took forever - I guess I’m slow at magic loop. And, even though I started a fresh skein when I cast them on, I needed to tie in a second skein for the last 3” of length. Thankfully the color blended ok.

After wrapping my head around the grafting process I got it done. Moved sleeve one to a holder, kitchener stitched sleeve two on, being super careful that the right sides were connected, slid sleeve one back to the working needle so the yarn tail was accessible and then kitchener stitched that one on. These are the most seamless looking seams I’ve ever done. Much cleaner than picking up stitches. I wish I had done the same for the button band.

07-19-2018

Off the needles! I made the collar band about 1.5x the width called for in the pattern, it’s not a huge difference but it made my buttons fit better - they’re a bit bigger than called for, but I had to have them.

07-20-2018

In the soak getting ready for blocking! Tried it on yesterday and it fits nicely, but it really needed to be blocked out to get everything to lay correctly. Ends are woven in, but I don’t cut the tails until after blocking.

Really looking forward to putting this on and wearing it.

07-24-2018

Finally dry and I managed to get the buttons sewn on. She is blocked, finished and ready to go! Looks much better on me than on the dress form, but I have to wait until the weekend for someone to be home and take pictures.

08-18-2018

2018 county fair entry for Cardigans.