Indecision City

I bought this beautiful yarn for a project way back last summer, in July 2012.

It is Alpaca Silk (50% Alpaca / 50% Silk) from Blue Sky Alpacas.  It is sport weight and it is in a rich purple color.  I bought 3 hanks of it from a woman on Ravelry for $24, including shipping.  That is a fantastic deal, because online, one hank goes for about $14.  It's like getting one free!  Love it.

My original project idea was from a book called French Girl Knits by Kristeen Griffin-Grimes:

Interweave Press

This book has beautiful French-inspired knitted garments, with seamless construction.  The project I was going to choose to do was called Delphine, a lacy tank top:

Delphine, Interweave Press

Once I copied the pattern and started to do my research on needles and gauge, I discovered that I needed 7 different sets of needles: 2, 3, 4 circs in two separate lengths and then another circ in yet another length.  Ahh, oh crap.  I don't want to be doing all of that!  Yes, gorgeous tank, not so fun knitting experience.  Ugh!

I was bummed when I came to terms with it in my head.  I then poured over my knitting pattern library (with the help of Ravelry: I have it all in their database, where I can search the patterns without actually thumbing through all of my magazines).  My next choice was another lacy top that will use about the same amount of yarn.

It is from Debbie Bliss's Magazine, Spring 2011.

Debbie Bliss, 2011

I chose Cropped Lace Top, pattern #13 (lucky 13, I hope).

Cropped Lace Top - On Right

The sweater is the one on the right.  The construction is knit in 2 pieces from bottom up.  Seam together. Uses one set and size of needle.  Sounds good to me.

I am using size 5 circular, knit flat, not in the round.  I actually started this one and when I got to about 2 inches knit, I was half through one ball...I only have 3.

I put waste yarn through the loops and took it off the needle.  I had 13 scallops (pattern repeats) which measured over 24 inches across.  I need it to be only 20 inches...Drat!  I did not do a meaningful gauge swatch.  I knitted one to make sure I got the pattern repeat down, then casted-on.  My bad.

I even went to the beach with it when my sister came to visit:

Siesta Key Beach, FL

So, I did what anyone would have: I ripped it all out.  Ugh.  Yup, back to the drawing board.  I continued my pattern search and came up with a cute shawl that can be draped into a wrap, shawl or scarf.  It is called Summer Flies shawl.

A fellow knitter on Ravelry, esqknits let me use her finished pic to show what it would look like when it's finished:

Summertime Blues by esqknits

How beautiful; I think that looks very stunning, especially in that aqua blue.  I'm still sticking with the purple, so I can only hope that it is as eye-catching as her Summertime Blues shawl.

Third times a charm??

Cabled Cardi KAL - Part 1

A KAL is short for Knit-Along.  A Knit-Along is when two or more people knit the same thing at the same time and help each other and are generally there for companionship  and support during the project.

These KALs are often done online in large groups or at knit/yarn shops.  My sister and I will be doing our own KAL and I will be blogging our progress.  We will go at my pace, or rather, I will blog our progress as I progress.  I'm a lot slower than she.  My sister's name is Kathy, so I will just be referring to her as Kathy throughout these posts.

Kathy chose a cabled cardigan from knitty.com called Mr Greenjeans.  Here is a pic from knitty:

Picture from knitty.com

It is a one-button cabled cardigan with raglan sleeves.  It is worked from the back of the neck, down, then the sleeves are picked up at the raglan armhole and then the sleeves are knit in the round (no seams) to the cabled cuffs. Then stitches are picked up along the front and neck edge and a ribbing is knit.

Ok, not too bad.  The experience level is "Tangy" per knitty, and that means, intermediate. I never let the experience level stop me from doing a project.  The techniques needed for this cardi are basics of any raglan pullover.  Should be no problem.

The yarn we are using is Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool (100% pure virgin wool).  I am using Natural and Kathy is using Birch Tweed (78% pure virgin wool, 13% acrylic, 9% nylon).

Natural

Birch Tweed

Kathy mentioned to me that she was going to use Fisherman's Wool and I said, "Hey, I have a few skeins of that in Natural already.  I was going to knit you an Irish Cable sweater one time, remember?  I guess your not getting that Irish Cable sweater!"  Yeah, she figured she wasn't getting one, since I've had this yarn since before Ames closed in Raynham, MA (~the year 2000-ish).  Still has the Ames price tag on it: $5.00 on clearance.  What a steal because it is about $12.99 for an 8 oz skein now.

We are using size 8 circulars.  The pattern instructs to change to 7's when you cable.  We are going to stick to 8's because the cables tend to be tighter anyway, so going down a needle size will only scrunch them up further.  

First the cast-on is done and we get an inch or so into it:

Nancy's Start

Nancy's Close-up

Kathy's Start

Kathy's Close-up

So, we are off and running.  Kathy is already way ahead of me.  It was snowing in MA when she was knitting, so she sat and literally knitted all afternoon on one weekend.  I, on the other hand, not so much.

So, check in every once and a while to see how we are doing on the Cabled Cardi KAL!

Related Posts

• Cabled Cardi - Part 2

NY City Cowls

One of my friends is going to NY City to visit her sister and her husband.  I was invited to go, but other financial commitments (ahem, a sick cat) has prevented me from going; this has made me very sad because it was going to be a Sex in the City sort of weekend (minus the sex, hehe).  In other words, a girls weekend in New York City.

When you live in Florida, you tend to get rid of your warm weather clothing a little bit each season.  It comes to a point where you barely own a jacket.  As a "Sorry-I-Can't-Go-But-Thanks-For-Asking-Me" gift, I thought I would knit up a snuggly cowl for her to wear while she is up in NY.

The pattern comes from the Knit Simple Holiday 2011 issue designed by Vickie Howell.  I then chose chunky baby yarn.  Never underestimate the greatness of baby yarn!  I chose Patons Beehive Baby Chunky in a light green called Quicker Clover (70% Acrylic/30% Nylon).

I used size 10 straight knitting needles and about 1.25 balls of yarn.  I knitted several rows of a k2, p2 ribbing to start.

Then I started to cable.  I had never done a cable quite like this and I thought something was wrong at first, but once you do a few, it starts to look very nice.

Here is a close-up of the cabling:

The pattern instructs you to either sew adornments on the folded cowl or make buttonholes and sew buttons on.  I chose the button route.

I chose some nice bling buttons for the NY girl in her.  I situated the cowl and figured out the placement of the buttons and sewed them on.

I buttoned it up and it is complete!

I had to try it on and test drive it for a bit while watching TV.  In the words of TV Guide: I Cheer it!

This should keep her warm as she sees the sights with her sister...Have fun, Cathy!

I thought this came out so nice that knitted up a second one to give to another friend for her birthday.  I chose black bling buttons for her.  Happy Birthday, Kj!

Send me pics of you guys wearing them...I'll post the pics!

Oliver & Ryan Sprinkles Baby Hats

I had one skein of Premier Yarns Serenity Chunky Sprinkles (75% Acrylic/25% Nylon) in a blue, green and white called Tadpoles.  It is very soft and I bought it last year without really knowing what I was going to do with it.

I now had a reason to use it.  My two close friends both gave birth to boys this year and I can now knit them hats.  Baby clothes are so adorable and faster to knit or crochet up than an adult garment, so it gives a faster done-with-this-project good feeling.

I just used a basic k2, p2 ribbing pattern so it will be stretchy to grow with them.  

I used a size 11 needle, because they weren't kidding when they call this chunky yarn.  Because it is chunky, it worked up even faster.

One hat will be for Ryan, which I topped it off with an i-cord, in a sort of fanciful curly-q fashion.  That will be for Christmas.  I currently have it folded at the bottom edge, but it can be unfolded to fit his growing head over the winter months.

The second hat will be for Oliver, which I topped off with an old-fashioned pom-pom.  I used my cell phone as a guide for making the pom-pom.

Once wrapped I tied a short piece of yarn around the middle and cut the loops at both ends and fluffed it up.

I then took the original yarn that was used to tie the middle and with the crochet hook, threaded those ends through the top of the hat.  I turned the hat inside-out and tied those ends in a knot to secure it the the top of the hat.

I love how the pom-pom is just as big as the hat.  Too darn cute!  I got to meet Oliver last Wednesday and I was able to give him his little Sprinkles hat.

I still need to meet Ryan, who is up in Mass.  I might be coming for a visit over Thanksgiving, so I hope that I will be able to see a few friends and meet Ryan while I'm there.