Ahh... Spring.

It has been so nice and, well, Spring-like the last few days. I'm not holding my breath, this is Calgary after all. But for now I'm enjoying the weather. I might even wash my car! (We need the precipitation that will surely come quickly on the heels of me washing my car).

To celebrate the impending Spring, I have progress to show on my Prairie Tunic:

I'm about half way to the shaping at the top of the back. It is going fairly quickly, but it gets a bit boring. I was thinking about it the other day, as I purled across the row on those US 3's, maybe the "Prairie" in the name has to do with the work ethic it's going to take to stick with this... (I mentioned how I haven't ever finished a tank top, right? And how I've never knit a garment for an adult on US 3's, right?)

I have a sock-in-progress:

Very exciting, huh? Oatmeal colored, partially knit sock. Whee. Kickin' it up here at Yes I MADE that.
(Pattern: Cable Rib Socks from the Spring 05 IWK; Yarn: Phildar Preface in color "Naturel")

This sock-in-progress has been sitting, in exactly this condition, beside my computer for over a week. Patiently waiting for a heel. And waiting. And waiting. (I started the heel a few minutes ago.) These should be finished in time for my favorite time of year: When it is warm enough that I don't EVER NEED SOCKS!!! Next winter. There is always next winter.

I would love to tell you that I have been focussed on the Prairie Tunic, devoting my attention to it and it alone. I can't lie to you. You're my friends. Friends don't lie to each other. Friends might not mention certain things in order to spare a friend's feelings, but that doesn't really apply here...

the color is really washed out in that picture. I couldn't get it to show true for some reason. It's a much more saturated jewel-tone green.
The bottom lace band for Knitty's Soleil. I went to the LYS on the weekend for bamboo US 3's to knit the Prairie Tunic (my metal needles were far too slidey.)(what? that's totally a word.) and I wandered around for a bit. I didn't mean to. Really, I didn't. But, they had new summery yarns in. Like the Elsebeth Lavold Hempathy that you see above. Sigh.

I'm knitting this with smaller needles, as the yarn is a bit finer than the yarn called for in the pattern. I cast on for the size (or two, I can't really remember at the moment) bigger than I would have if I was using the yarn called for. It seems to be working out so far. I did an extra repeat of the lace pattern also, so that it would have a bit more length, since my gauge is smaller.

Finally, I just want to say THANK YOU for all of your kind comments about the Cable Front Cardigan (and, frankly, for those of you who comment frequently. I'm trying to be a better comment-responder...)! I am trying to make my way to each of your blogs to see what you are all up to and say Hi, but in the mean time, I wanted you to know that I really appreciated all the comments! You make a blogger/knitter/knitblogger proud!

Cable Front Cardigan

Begun: January 25-ish, 2006
Finished: March 26, 2006
I feel like I need to justify taking 2 months to knit a sweater. There was the Olympics in between. And the teal zippered cardigan. And... never mind. It took 2 months.
Yarn: Custom Woolen Mills Mule Spinner 2 Ply in color #03
Pattern: Cable/Rib Cardigan from Vogue Knitting Holiday 2004
Modifications: The ribbing on the cabled pieces changed to flow directly into the cables; added length to body and sleeves, used i-cord rather than twisted cord for toggle loops

The yarn, which I love, was slightly tacky (i.e. tacky=sticky, not tacky=Britney Spears) and quite "rustic" (i.e. there were pieces of straw in places), which made cabling a challenge. After washing, the stitches filled out and the yarn softened up. I will probably acquire more of this yarn for projects, er, for next winter...



(Not to mention the fact that I got a little panic-y back when I was starting the sweater and aquired 2 extra skeins, just in case)(this was at the time of the alpaca shortage crisis of January 2006)(so now i have 2 1/2 extra skeins)(I think I'll do a cabled vest with some of the extra)(Just not right now)(are you sick of the parentheses yet?)



I love this sweater. LOVE this sweater!! I think I will switch back and forth between this sweater and the teal zip-up cardigan for the next month or so.

If you have been paying attention (there will be a test) I am stuck in a rut have a tendency to lean towards raglan sleeved sweaters. Knit in the round. In one piece. There is a reason for this: I don't like having to construct a set-in sleeve sweater. I suck at it find it frustrating to say the least. BUT this sweater... The sleeve caps fit almost perfect!* There were almost no hitches in the seaming!** Happy knitter!!

Now to work on that Prairie Tunic. It's +6 today. If I didn't live in Calgary, I would assume that this was the beginning of warm weather. However, we will have at least one or two more big blizzards before spring really comes.

*I didn't notice until I was seaming the sleeve caps that the initial bind off for the sleeve cap didn't match the initial bind off for the arm holes for the body. A little fudging. Don't look too closely at the armpits.
**Due to the aforementioned disparity in sleeve cap/armhole bind-offs, the seaming close to the armpit area was a little wonky. Also, I noticed when I was seaming the sleeves that I did the increases differently on the two sleeves.

Who are you again?

I haven't posted in a LONG time!! Yikes... I have progress to report.

First:

Yes!!! The cable front cardigan pieces are FINISHED and blocking. Hopefully they dry quickly and then comes the dreaded seaming. I can't wait for this sweater to be finished. The second front went much quicker than the first, probably because I didn't need to look at the chart every single row.

Second:

I actually finished this last Sunday, but for some reason forgot to post it. I love this sweater. I want to wear it every day. The yarn (Red Heart Cozy Wool) is so, well, cozy, as its name would suggest. I like this incarnation much better than the Blackberry it was previously. I liked that pattern, but it just wasn't right somehow. I think I'll try to grab more of this yarn from Zellers before they sell out of it or before their yarn section gets taken over by fun fur.

Third:

As I was finishing the last piece for the cable front cardigan, my copy of the spring Interweave Knits arrived. Suddenly I was all about the spring/summer knits. I am knitting the "Prairie Tunic" (although what makes it "prairie" is a complete mystery to me) with yarn from a sweater of my mom's that I frogged. I don't remember what the fibre content of that sweater is, but it had some linen and cotton in it (I think).

Now for a "that Lori sure is strange" confession: I have begun probably 20+ tank tops since I got back into knitting. I have completed 0 (that is zero) tank tops since I got back into knitting. I don't know why. I have completed many (many) sweaters and assorted other projects. Why can't I finish a tank top? I have knit vests, they are basically the same thing, aren't they? Why this strange block when it comes to tank tops? So, I am putting this here, in the hope that it will propell me to finish this one. I think it will make a nice layering piece. If I finish it, of course...

It's going pretty quickly, even considering it is knit on US 3/3.25mm needles. I haven't ever knit a garment for me (or a comparably sized adult person) on needles that small, so we'll see how long I feel that this is going quickly...

Thanks for all the nice comments on my last post, way back when. I knit the second front piece using the row notes I made for the first side and with the first piece beside me to make sure I was doing it right. I think that picture, which was a fluke, is one of the only pictures of myself that I have ever liked. I should see if I can have that as my driver's license photo...

Cable Front ... finally

Whew.

(I actually finished this Thursday evening, but there wasn't much point in trying to take a picture before the weekend (i.e. in daylight) as the cables sort of vanished when photographed in the evening)

Purely by dumb luck and an absolute refusal to do any more math I figured out how to adapt the cable pattern for the arm edge:

Hopefully I can stumble across the same solution remember what I did for the second front.

I'm not going to mention the fact that I almost forgot about the neckline decreases, remembering to look at the directions exactly at the right spot!!!

I am taking a bit of a cable break for the moment. I frogged the Blackberry (scroll down if you want to see it) from back in January. I never could get the fronts to not balloon out and it was just annoying. I like the concept of that sweater, but it didn't work for me (in that yarn perhaps). The yarn is on its way to becoming a simple raglan-sleeved zip up cardigan/jacket.


And, I forgot to post pics of the scarf I made with the thick and thin that I dyed way back in January.


The funny thing about this scarf/color is that it makes me look like I have very blue eyes (I don't. They're hazel.)

(no, i didn't plan out what i was wearing to match the scarf. yes, i realize that i tend towards variations on the same color if/when i ever actually wear color. no, i probably won't change my color preferences any time soon.)

Uh, wait, that can't be right...

the model in this picture is probably not as pear-shaped as the image above would suggest. picture of a magazine picture. my bad

Feeling very proud of myself for making it to the armhole on the first (of 2) cabled front of my cardigan, I decided to take a look at the decrease directions to remind myself. I have 12 stitches in ribbing before the first cabled section. I bind off 6 stitches for the armpit (for lack of better vocabulary at the moment), then decrease 1 stitch each right side row 6 times. 12 stitches decreased. No problem.

But then I looked closer at the picture (ignore the pockets. I decided I don't need pockets on the front of my cabled cardigan. Especially breast pockets.)(that should bring a whole bunch of new googlers by to visit. Hi Googlers!):


I don't know if you can see it. The left hand edge (on the left front) of the celtic-knot-type cable section eventually becomes the selvedge for the front. There are no instructions, hints, suggestions etc. for how to adapt the cable chart to make this workable... argh. The knitters at Vogue Knitting obviously adapted the chart somehow, but didn't give ME any clue how to do it...

I plan to wing it. Cause I'm cr-azy that way.

ehem.

The Never Ending Cable Front Cardigan

Need I say more?

I have sleeves and a back, but, creative and resourceful as I am, I can't make them into a workable garment without the &#%$@!^ fronts of the cardigan.

This is the SAME front that I have been working on since the dawn of time. It will not end. And, shockingly, the pattern calls for ANOTHER front piece. Equally cable-y. Oy.

(Note: It is not solely the cables themselves that are causing this to be such a slow knit. It is a combination of the cables, which I love, and the yarn, which I love. The yarn is not very, erm, slide-y. I don't know how to describe it otherwise. It makes the cables stand out really well, but it isn't very smooth to work with: slightly sticky and rough.)

Yesterday I was looking around my living room and wondering what was wrong. Finally I realized: I was only working on one project. !! I only knit one project during the Olympics, (well, except for the sock) (and the baby booties while the Olympic Knitting and I were fighting) and since then I haven't gotten back into my multiple projects habit. It felt strange.


I avoided the cable front cardigan yesterday, choosing to finish the socks. Then, as the cable front cardigan whimpered for attention, I cast on for a present for my friend's daughter. Then, I cast on a scarf with the thick and thin yarn I dyed a while ago. (the scarf has since been frogged and will be re-started soon). Still the stupid, selfish, time consuming cable front cardigan front gave me the puppy-dog look begging me to finish it.

Enough with the passive-aggressive attention seeking!! Fine!! I will work on you!! Just no more puppy-dog eyes!!

Oy.

I am almost at the armhole (is that the right word? it doesn't sound right) shaping, which should make things go a little quicker, but, I still feel like this may take until next winter to finish.

(I really really really love how this sweater is looking. Don't get me wrong. I can't wait for it to be finished. I plan to love it and wear it every day until people start to look at me funny)(funnier than normal)

I may need to cast on for a few more projects. THEN I'll get this thing finished...