Eyelet Cardigan

The knitting on the Eyelet Cardi is done, with modifications.


Click here for a bigger pic, and here for a detail of the neckline.

Stats:
Pattern: Eyelet Cardi, from Bonne Marie Burns (who gives great pattern support)
Size: Who knows? (I used the 6.5st/in numbers, in an Ex Lg)
Yarn: Elann's Endless Sonata, Burnt Orange (13+ skeins)
Started: April 29, 2004
Finished: ... not quite til the ends are in...

I have been foiled again. It looks kinda big, huh? Sort of wide...? Well. It is. While I was very careful to check that my gauge was spot on at 22 st/4 in while working the sleeves, I apparently never checked it once on the body, because every random sampling I took after the fact was exactly 20 st. Exactly.

I didn't notice the whole hugeness thing until the neckline. It was WAY too big to only pick up 100 or so stitches and I scrambled to try to find the cause. I was convinced I had screwed up the decreases somehow. Unfortunately, I read patterns very closely. [I just need to start pencilling in little tidbits like "check your gauge right now" and "are you still making gauge...? Are you sure?" throughout the patterns going forward. ] Anyway, in the end, I checked the damn gauge.

Since the neckline was [is] huge, I added five rows of ribbing to hold it up. I also added a couple of extra garter stitch rows to the fronts to help with the curling factor. (I am certainly not going to go through the heartache of grosgrain ribbon at this point.) The neckline looks ok, for being sort of spontaneous.

I haven't found a bit of decent advice about the ends, so I am taking it with me to my sock class tonight to ask the fine folks at Woolwinders for advice. I will post any good info. I also may throw the thing in the washer/dryer and see what happens...

In conclusion, it is a very roomy sweater. My stitches grew straighter by the row, and overall, I am pleased with the way the actual knitting looks. ...But I am mostly crushed. I have so many sweaters planned, but am obviously cursed with my inattention to detail. I had already started a small sweater for nephew #2. It has no shaping, so I am going to see if I can manage to get it at least mostly right. That, and stick to scarves for adults for a little bit.

That's right..... More IDEAS!

Because Fridays are for ideas.

This has to be a quickie, because the last of the meetings (for TWO WHOLE WEEKS!) starts shortly.

In the PONCHO dept.:
They are all the rage this fall... If you don't want one (and how could you not want one??), you must know a teenage girl who will just die if she doesn't get one. Here are some easy, yet gorgeous poncho patterns. I need to figure out how to fit all of these into my list of to-dos.

• From our own amazing Stephanie, the lovely Mission Falls Poncho.
• Knitty knew the poncho explosion was coming, all the way last fall! Check out the easy-as-pie Villa.
• If you haven't checked out Berroco's free pattern archive, you are missing out! My current favorite (I am picturing Big Wool, or Manos or something) is the Loretta Lynn.

In the For You or Your Secret Pal dept.:
Handmade stitch markers! So beautiful and so useful! Plenty of your fellow knit-bloggers are selling them at reasonable rates.

• The SP2 hostess with the mostest, Heidi, has some beautiful charms.
• Kim over at Gibson Girl design has some pretties (in two sizes!) which you can purchase via PayPal.
• The boys at Threadbare have some lovely designs by Sarah Peasley, Handknitter.
• And for those of you looking for a new craft, here is a mini-tutorial on how to make some, by Stefanie at GlampyreKnits.

That's all I have for now, I'm late - I'm late - I'm late! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Is it Friday yet?

I wanted to post a picture of Cardi's almost complete yoke today, but I woke up late. Maybe tomorrow it will be a picture of Cardi's finished yoke!

In the meantime, I will post some stash pictures.

First up is the knitting basket. All current projects on any pair of needles needs to fit in here if it isn't on the go with me.



Clockwise from the Creamy Esperanza (which is only cast on, not really a WIP yet), there is the blue wave scarf, the mittens (that need some of their ends weaved in), the Premiere for the Shell-That-I-Haven't-Started-Yet, the remaining Elann for Cardi, the cast on for a Nephew #2 sweater, and underneath them is the longest scarf ever (on hold).

Whew.

Then, there are the totes.

• Totes in the den. Top is "charity" knit stash, acrylic worsted mostly; Middle is all wool all the time, used to call it the felting stash, but since I have never felted anything (yet) that is sort of misleading; bottom tote is the "gift" stash. I have better yarns in small quantities for hats, scarves, mitts etc. (And yes, there are a couple items off to the side that don't fit in the totes, but I am not yet willing to admit that I need another one.)
• Totes behind the couch. These each contain one or two big projects worth of yarn. There is one full of peace fleece for an Everyday Cardi, one full of GGH Goa for a Boogie, one with Patons wool for a Dolman Revisited (IK 2003 winter?), enough Uxbridge Tweed for something... etc.
  

It's not too bad, eh? I mean, I have seen worse...

And now, hi ho hi ho.... (At least I have a knitting group meeting tonight!)

The only thing in the world that matters today...

Yesterday, at 2:50am, my little sister had a baby!


Alexander, 9lbs, 8oz and 21.5 inches long

He looks gi-normous to me, but I wouldn't know about such things. I do know I am sending her some fuzzy yarn for insomnia scarves, some pampering things, and some cash.

His big brother hasn't met him yet, but we expect fireworks when the little king finds out that his house is no longer a monarchy. However, judging by the way big brother follows his big brother, I think in time they will be inseparable.

In far less important news, here is a picture from my Capitol walk.


Click here for a shot of the moat-building.

I also snapped a great shot of one of the fountains... Something about it reminds me of how these Business Process meetings make me feel, but I am not sure if I am the horse or the rider.

Rock beats scissors

And shawl beats cardi:


cardi-eating shawl

The shawl is a simple 5 stitch rib on size 15s. I am using Outback Mohair in Marengo, and am on a desperate search for a nice ribbon yarn for the fringe. I KNOW I should have searched for this elusive tape BEFORE casting the thing on and finishing two-thirds of it... But that would take some of the fun out of it.

If you have seen the Marengo in person, and know of a good ribbon (I am thinking along the lines either of Tagliatelli/Rowan or Zen/Giotto) that matches its apparently very difficult colorway, let me know!

I did pick Cardi back up last night when I ran out of balled mohair. In doing so, I discovered that my eyelet row appears to be two or three inches too high. I am ok with this (now) as long as it doesn't mean that I have put the thing together wrong from the start.

So, if you have done the sweater tell me this: the stitches that were bound off on both the body and the sleeve should line up when they are connected, right? Meaning that the only seams I will need to sew will be the underarms?

If that is true, then I think the problem is that I measured the 4 inches (after the join, before starting the eyelet row) incorrectly. I measured 4 inches along the raglan seam, not straight up from the "armpit." Since a diagonal is always shorter than two sides but longer than one, my eyelet row will be right under my freakin' chin. Which will be FINE. G*damn geometry.

Lastly, I read some great body-philosophy over at Amy's. Check out her shapely tank post. It is beautiful. I want to write more about this, but the meetingsfromhell are about to start....