Colonnade Jacket

This sweater is going to drive me to drink!  Let me start from the beginning...

 

I love this sweater, the Colonnade Jacket from the Interweave Knits Summer 2013 issue:

I bought yarn for it at the end of November of 2013 and did a gauge swatch and have not did a thing with it until the end of March.

 

The yarn I bought is Berroco Vintage (50% Acrylic, 40% Wool, 10% Nylon) in a blue color called Cerulean, at my LYS Brandon Yarn Boutique.  It is so soft and has a heathered look to it, not completely solid in color.

Love It!!

 

Anyway, as you can see in the picture of the jacket, there is a lace on the entire front edge.  This pattern is written so that you knit side to side, so at the beginning and end of each row, you are knitting the lace pattern, with knit or purl sts in between.

 

This is where the drinking comes into play.

 

I wanted to challenge myself and read the pattern from the chart and not do words or a written out pattern.  Seems like an easy chart:

I mean, I have seen some pretty involved charts, and this one is easy.  WELL, it turns out my brain has not been wired to read charts.  I tried, really tried to get the hang of this.  I just could not successfully complete a pattern repeat through to the 10th row to save my life.  I would goof-up on something at some point.

 

I attempted this pattern on a gauge swatch, of course.  I'm crazy, but not that crazy to jump in on the project before getting the sts down pat on a practice swatch.

I grabbed leftover acrylic from my stash to practice.  The orange string is my lifeline.  Yes, a chart and a lifeline.  Two new techniques to me in this one project.  The object of the lifeline is that you have the string in your project at a point where you know that it is error free.  Like you are good up to that point and you mark where this point is.  You continue to knit and if you do make an error that you cannot fix, you can rip out your work down to the lifeline.  The lifeline has secured your row and you slip your needle in the stitches that the lifeline is holding.  Viola!  You do not have to rip the whole thing out and you just resume knitting from where you marked.

 

The use of the lifeline is critical in lace knitting.  There are yarn-overs (yo) and slip, slip knit (ssp) all over the place, where you would never be able to recreate that if you dropped a yo somewhere or whatever the error may be.

 

Once you get to a point, you insert a new lifeline and continue knitting.  I use two, so that when I am ready to place the 3rd one, I remove the bottom-most lifeline and use that same string again.  You remove it by simply pulling it out.

 

In the above picture with my practice swatch, just above the bottom repeat, there is an error.  A big boo-boo.  I had ripped out the whole thing multiple times and since I had not put the lifeline in at the start, I had to cast-on again and again and again.  Like I said, I was chart reading and really trying.

 

When I made that boo-boo, I just started back at row 1 and continued with my first lifeline.  It worked!  I had to rip back a few times to the lifeline in my practice swatch.  Well, at least that is what it is there for.

 

I continued with my practice swatch for a few more repeats and then bound off.  I wanted to graduate to my actual yarn that I will be knitting with and with the size needle I determined I would use.  Not bad, I have removed the lifelines, which I was gaining confidence on:

I can do this!!  Ok, so I cast-on for the project, ahem, 180 sts.  Jeepers, I hope we are good-to-go!!

 

I place my lifeline at Row 1, my first knitted row.  Good thing, because I messed up and ripped out... a few times at various rows.  I was getting a bit fed up with this.  So, I reverted back to the way I like to knit: with flashcards.

 

I write out each row on an index card in words or abbreviations.  I have one card where I mark what row I am on and where I have placed the lifeline.  This way, I am only looking at the very row I am knitting, not distracted by symbols or viewing the entire chart and losing my place and translating in my head what to do next.

Let me tell you, this has worked out SO much better!  I no longer feel the need to get drunk after knitting or requiring blood pressure medication.  I am using the lifeline as I go and I feel much better about the project now.

I'm not that very far along, but at least I actually want to keep working on it, rather than ditching it and looking for another project to knit with my boutique yarn.

Knitting for Charity

It is that time of year where I am sewing and knitting for charity.  The company that I work for participates in the American Cancer Society, Relay For Life event each year.  We start fundraising in October, leading up to the event in April.

The way I have chosen to raise money is to do clothing mending, sewing challenges and knitting coffee cup cozies (or bottle cozies), however you want to use them.

I wrote previously about the coffee cup cozies in these posts:

• Coffee Cup Cozies
• More Coffee Cup Cozies

I have knitted up about 20 or more of them and sold about 15 of them!  I started out knitting them sort of plain, with the self-striping yarns, to keep it simple.  Well, if you know me at all, then you know I can never keep something simple.  I started making cables and making them in sport team colors with horizontal stripes.

If you would like you very own, custom knitted cozy, please email me at moxiebrown25@yahoo.com.  The price of the cozies are $5, but if you are out-of-town, then $6 (to cover the cost of shipping).  You choose your color(s), style & size!

If you would like to donate to a great cause, please go to my Relay Homepage! 

Tampa Bay Rays

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Seattle Seahawks & Denver Broncos

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Pink & White Stripes

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Zebra for Carcinoid Cancer

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Ministripes for Small Cups

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Mini Cables in a Solid Color

 

I'm having a great time knitting these up.  They are great on your coffee cup, water bottle or glass bottle!  Let me know what you like!!  Help support a great cause!

 

Thank you to those that have supported me and bought a cozy already! :-)



Cabled Cardi KAL - Finished!

Happy New Year!

 

I am so relieved to be posting this project as a Finished Project!!  This is my Cabled Cardi Knit-Along with my sister.  We started this project back in March of 2013.  Which isn't a terribly long time when you talk unfinished projects, but I am still feeling a sense of accomplishment.

 

Here are my past posts related to this so that you can catch-up:

• Cabled Cardi KAL - Part 1
• Cabled Cardi - Part 2

I visited my sister in Massachusetts in December for my "Holiday Break" and brought this sweater.  What I still had to do on this was finish the cabling on the body and pick-up and knit along the edge for the ribbing and button holes and knit the sleeves.  Yeah, still a lot!

Here is where I left off.  I really need to knit more than a foot of cables.  The original pattern called for knit stitches every other, so a cable, knit, cable, knit...I did not properly read the pattern and so cabled each one.  Good grief!  I wanted to rip it out, but my sister said that it should be fine.  So, I continued.

 

I then picked up stitches to do ribbing and buttonholes along the inner body edge.  I had a too-short circ needle, but used it anyway.  This really was a challenge because my knitter's elbow was bothering me because of the cumbersome nature of squeezing it all on and holding it.

I know, like what is that picture??  Exactly, but I was able to pick-up the exact number of stitches required to do a k2, p2 ribbing evenly along the edge.  Whoa, go Me!

 

The ribbing is about 12 or so rows, so at row 6 you need to do a button hole.  From trying on my sister's completed sweater, we both agreed that more buttons would be better.  I knit in 4 buttonholes.  I also reduced the hole from a 3 st to a 2 st hole.  The holes will stretch, I know this from past experience.

Once the ribbing was completed, I have 4 buttonholes.  They are not exactly evenly spaced, but good enough.  The top and the second are a bit off, I think, but no one will notice. Shhh!

Next was the sleeves.  The sleeves were left as live stitches so that they just simply go back on the needle and you knit.  I did have to pick-up a few stitches in the armpit.  The pattern instructions were confusing to me, so I did my own thing.  I have picked-up stitches before, ahem, I just did it for the ribbing, so no problem.  I looked at how many stitches I was going to need for my cable repeat in the round.  Once I figured that out, that was the number I needed on my needle.

I decided to make this a short-sleeved cardi, so that it is Florida friendly.  We are talking 100% wool this sweater is made out of.  No joke, it will keep you toasty through cold times, but I don't need that kind of warmth, typically, around here.  Layering is popular in Florida, so short-sleeves is just right.

My sister gave me 4 green buttons (no pun intended - the original pattern name was Mr. Greenjeans). 

 

I don't see us doing many more KALs (Knit-Alongs) because she will knit me in circles, like she did with this one.  But, maybe there will be times where we knit or crochet the same sweater or accessory.  That will be when I showcase our projects together.

 

I was toying with the idea of dying this cardi.  The natural color is really not in my color pallete and maybe something in blue or pink would be nice.  I heard that you can dye in  Kool-Aid.  Hmmm....

Vivien's Layette

I had scheduled a few vacation days mid November to chill and get a jump start on my Christmas shopping/knitted gift knit time.  Since I was going to be off from work, I wanted to pay my friend a visit who had a preemie baby in September.  You know what that means??  I needed a homemade gift, pronto!

 

I had crocheted a few baby blankets:

• Bata Blanket - Finish
• Bata Blanket #2

But did not have the time to crochet up a baby blanket so I chose a baby layette.  The pattern was a free pattern I found on Ravelry by Linda and here is her blog: http://clickertyclick.blogspot.com/.  Very crafty gal!

 

I chose Cherub DK Multi by Cascade Yarns in Rainbow Sherbert (55% Nylon/45% Acrylic).  This yarn to so soft and was a pleasure to work with.  One skein worked up this newborn baby layette.  I used a size 4 circular needle.

 

This yarn is so sweet!

 

I followed the pattern to the T.  I could have made it a bit longer, but it all worked out in the end.

 

 

This sweater had raglan sleeves (sleeves that are worked with no seams) and I am in love with raglan sleeves!  You leave the stitches live at a certain point you simply place them back on the needle and knit in the round to complete them.  So simple!!

 

 

The sweater design had eyelets as the pattern.  Nice and simple = fast knit.  No time for fancy-smancy lace design right now!

 

 

Stitches are live, so I placed them back on the same 40" long circ needle  and I finished the sleeves using the Magic Loop technique.

 

 

The hat was way too small.  I will make another hat for her at a later date.  The sweater did fit:

 

 

So cute and little!

 

 

I posted this pic of me holding Vivien on Facebook and everyone thought that I was a natural and/or thought that this was my baby or I should be having one!  Ha!  I like other people's baby's...I'm good!

 

After I fed her a bottle, she fell right to sleep in this position.  No boppy needed after the feeding.  I'm glad that Vivien is healthy and doing well and (on the side, am happy that the sweater fit).

 

Until next time, Baby Vivien!

 

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 - Part 2

No, I have not forgotten about my KAL with my sister.  The Knit-A-Long is just taking a long time.  It could be that the weather is getting nicer and I don't want to knit with wool anymore.  Actually, that is exactly it.

Kathy is pretty much done with her sweater, as I am the pokey one, am still knitting the body with all of those cables.  Just to refresh everyone on what the Cabled Cardi was, here is a link to Part 1:

• Cabled Cardi - Part 1

Here is also a pic of what it is supposed to look like when we are done:

from knitty.com

Since its cast-on, I have done most of the body.  The raglan sleeves have waste yarn keeping the live stitches for the sleeves holding-tight until I get there.

Top Portion - Front

Looking at these pics, I'm not really liking the color, or the absence of color, much.  Oh boy....

Top Portion - Back

At this point is where I will start the cabled-ribbed part.  It will have no bottom ribbing, that this cabled bottom portion will serve as it.

The cabled was going well, it just takes awhile.  There are a bunch of cables that using a cable hook might take too long.  The quick technique for doing the 4-stitch cable is:

1. Insert right needle tip into the back loops of 2 stitches on the left needle.
2. Pop all 4 stitches off the left needle.
3. Place the loose two stitches back on the left needle and place the 2 stitches that are on the right needle back on the left needle.  They are now in a different order.
4. Knit, like normal, with the new order of stitches on the needles.

That creates the cable without using a cable hook.  With there being only 4 stitches, it works well.

I have made decent headway on the cabling portion.  But.....there is a minor problem.  Not problem really, but a I just realized I did way more work than I needed too.  Crap!  You'll see:

Here is the cabling.....can you see from the first pic in this post, what is different about it???  Scroll back up and compare the pics.

I did too many cables!  You are supposed to have a ribbing between each cable and I just kept on cabling.  Ugh!  That is way more work than what I was supposed to do.  I do like it, but not what I had in mind.

I only just realized it today, when I looked at the pattern to see how long I am supposed to knit these darn cables to.  I saw the pics and was like, Ah, what is that pic?  Are there different ways you can knit the cables?  Did they give us choices on how we wanted it to look?  Well, the answer is No.  I just did my own thing and did not read the pattern repeat right.

Looks nice, but I'm concerned now that once I put it on, the cables with bunch to the back of me, rather than a nice fan around me.  The cables tend to bunch together, making a ribbing of their own.  The problem with that is that my gauge is now off, with the potential of being too small.  

Well, I'm now putting it back in the bag and will wait it out.  I don't really know what I am going to do with it.  I have a few options:

1. Continue and hope for the best 
2. Rip out the cables and start the cable part again
3. Rip out the whole thing and reknit it in another yarn
4. Rip out the whole thing and call it a day

Not sure.  Tough choices, since I have spent a ton of time on it already.  I'm having second thoughts of the yarn I chose because it's wool, itchy wool, and can't have it next to my skin.  I'm in Florida, when am I going to wear this?  Only when I'm in Mass, visiting?  I can just wear my sister's sweater that she already knitted.  Hehe.  

I may just rip it out and start it again with another yarn.  A softer yarn.  I'll see what my sister says about it.  I've already placed it back in the bag.  The only bummer is that the project is using my popular size 8 circs.  I like those and tend to use them a lot.  I could have used them on the Weekend Shrug, but used straights instead.

If this happened to you...what would you do?  Let me know!

Weekend Shrug - Part 1

Hooray!  

I'm back to knitting and blogging.  This is a good thing!

My newest project (yeah, yeah, I know I have a few UFO's hanging out there) is called my Weekend Shrug.  It was a free pattern on Ravelry called Ribbed Lace Bolero by Kelly Maher published in her blog: 10 feet high.

Kelly Maher's pic of bolero - Front

Kelly Maher's pic of bolero - Back

Isn't that cute?  I wanted something that I can do in cotton or cotton blend, versatile with my spaghetti strap and sleeveless blouses, and will be a quick-knit.

I went to my local yarn shop (LYS): Brandon Yarn Boutique to find the perfect yarn.  I knew if I went to Joann's or Michael's, I'd end up not liking the yarn I chose or something, so I decided to splurge and do it right.  My time is worth it!

Anyway, I chose Berrocco Weekend (75% Acrylic, 25% Cotton) in Pitch Black.  I am using size 8 and 10.5 knitting needles.

Weekend is a nice acrylic/cotton blend that feels and acts more like cotton than acrylic.  It is not springy like acrylic, but true to form like cotton (aka, no give).  Just what I wanted...something that can get thrown in the wash; carefree.

First you start out by ribbing a k2, p2 on the 8's.  I would use my 8 circs, but they are tied up with my UFO Cabled Cardi KAL.  Oh well, I have so many straights, that is what I used.  It was a little awkward because I used the 14" ones, which gave me arm fatigue holding them up.  I did not realize how spoiled I had gotten with the circs!

Little ribbing

Next you start the lace or open weave on the 10.5's.  These were even more awkward to work with at the 14" length.  How did our foremothers knit all day with these things?!

Kathy, my sister, talked my into buying the 10.5 circs.  Her convincing argument was that you only have to buy them once and you will always have them.  So true...consider me convinced.  I printed out a Michael's coupon and bought them at 40% off.  Yeah me!

Once the open weave portion is done, then you knit the ribbing again, back on the 8's, and connect the corners which meet under the arm and sew.  Right now, I would consider myself only about 25% done.  I have about 6" of the open weave knitted and I need about 18".

I will not let this shrug stay a UFO for long.  I have been wanting a black short-sleeved shrug for awhile and have been too cheap and lazy to go shopping for one.  I figured that I would be crafty and just knit the darn thing myself.

Cheers to a quick knit!

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