Tag Archives: stranger cardigan

Finished!

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I finally got around to seaming and blocking my Stranger Cardigan!

And… I like it.  I don’t love it, but I think it’s partly that it took me an age to finish (I get annoyed with projects that take too long), and it’s partly because it’s pretty warm here (and no one loves a thick wool sweater when it’s super hot).

Anyway- pictures! Ignore me being a total dweeb. I have trouble looking like a not-crazy person when taking finished project pictures.IMG_0360

I like the shoulders- the seam between the two cabled panels is very pleasing- so neat and tidy!  And the sweater turned out nice and long- it goes down to my mid-thighs, so it’ll look great in the winter with leggings or jeans and a comfy t-shirt.IMG_0353But, I think it’s a little too long in the arms.  I’m always so paranoid about having too-short sleeves, I end up making them too long.  It’s a curse.  I might rip them back, or I might leave them.  It could be nice to have long, cocoon-like sleeves in the dead of winter.IMG_0379Of course, my favorite part is still the lovely cables up the front.  That’s what drew me to the pattern in the first place, and I still love them!  These cables might find their way onto some other projects, too.IMG_0413I’m pleased with the finished product, all told.  And I’m even more pleased that it is finished.

What’s your most recent finished object?

Cephalopod

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I finally finished it!

Or at least I finished the knitting part!

And, it is glorious.

My Stranger Cardigan is all knit up, and you hardly even notice that the sleeves are a different color than the rest of the sweater.

The only thing is…

I think this sweater is meant for someone with significantly more arms and legs than I have.  Perhaps an octopus.  Or maybe a cuttlefish.  Look at this bad boy!OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOof!  (As a side note, finishing the last arm was a pain, to say the least-  all that sweater flapping around in my lap!  Ugh!)

But, wait, a little origami, and Hey Presto!

A sweater!OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERANow I’ve just got to sew up the underarms and block the bejesus about of it.

I’m so close I can taste it!

OK. New Plan.

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I’ve finally got my act together.   I’ve sulked long enough, and I think I figured out a solution.  I think I can make this sweater work.  I’ll live to knit another day.

But first, I had to rip an entire sleeve.  It was… an unfortunate amount of ripping.   I poured myself a nice stiff drink and went to town.

God… look how different that yarn is.  (New yarn is on the right, old, scraggly yarn is on the left.)OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI remembered someone telling me, or maybe reading somewhere (not sure where… I just know I didn’t make this up), that if you had two different dye lots that you had to make work, you can work them in stripes to blend the two colors together.  It was worth a shot.

First I tried 2-row stripes, but that ended up looking really stripey.  (I didn’t even bother taking a picture of this one- it didn’t look good.)

But, when I tried narrow, 1-row stripes, I managed to get a pretty even color.  And, since I’m using a big circular needle, I can slide the needle back and forth after every other row.  That means I don’t have to break my yarn or juggle extra balls of yarn!  Winning!OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERASee?  The sleeve (the bottom portion of the picture) is pretty close to the rest of the sweater.  It’s still a smidge blue-ish in real life, but only so much that someone looking really closely would notice it.

The only problem is that the combination of new yarn and old, frogged yarn makes the fabric a bit of a mess.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERABut at this point, I’m just going to cross my fingers and hope that it looks OK after blocking.

Have you ever had to get creative to get around poor dye-lot matching?

Heartbreak

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I’m completely heartbroken.  My hopes have been dashed.  My best plans of a simple, fun, and easy sweater are completely falling apart.

My yarn came in the mail.  (Actually it came in the mail a few weeks ago, but I was so disappointed, I threw it into the closet and pretended it hadn’t showed up yet.)  Usually new yarn is a source of joy, but ugh…

Look:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOK, it’s kind of hard to see in a photo, but take a closer look:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThe ball of yarn on the left is the new yarn- it’s significantly more blue-gray.  And the half-finished sweater is on the right- it’s a lovely pink-y lavender.

I know they look pretty similar in these photos (it’s been established my photography skills are lacking), but in real life, they’re significantly different.  Even my husband commented.  I’ve got the whole sweater finished with the old yarn, except for the left sleeve.  I can’t have a sweater with one different color arm!

This, boys and girls, is why you buy all your yarn at once.

Now I’m going to go drink a lot of coffee and come up with a plan.

Cable Sweater: Back with a vengeance

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Now that I’ve finished my EPIC SECRET PROJECT, I can go back to my lovely purple sweater!  Time for more cables!

(Apparently I really like cables-  I’m still really enjoying them after more than a month of cabling.  I should make more cabled projects!)

I finished off both fronts, which are both generous 10″ by 30″ rectangles of thickly cabled loveliness.  Then I did something else that I really enjoy, but don’t do nearly enough- a three-needle bind-off.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThe tops of the front panels are joined together at the spine with a beautifully neat row of three-needle bind off.  The cables come together perfectly, and it just looks so professional.  It’s a technique I don’t use much, but one that always gets me excited.  It reminds me of a zipper, carefully mushing two separate pieces together so that they fit perfectly together.  It’s just so satisfying.

Then, I picked up a bunch of stitches across the back and now I’m chugging along on a big ol’ panel of stockinette for the body back.  If I were to do it again, I think I’d add another big cable running down the spine.  But I don’t feel like ripping out all my work, so I’ll just leave it as is.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI’m still unsure how wearable this sweater will be- it’s kind of an odd shape.  But I’m absolutely loving working on it.  If it ends up being unwearable, I can at least rip out the back and sleeves and be left with a pretty scarf.

Cables sweater- now with even MORE cables!

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I think I might be in love!

At least in love with this cable.  It’s such a fantastic combination of beautiful, squishy, substantial, and interesting.  The big cable is a 12-row repeat, so it’s keeping my interest, and the little cable is a 4-row repeat, which makes it easy to keep track of where I am in the pattern.  I’m enjoying it so much!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI’ve finished one side of the sweater front (I think it’s the right front, not that it really matters, because there’s no shaping!).  The pattern had me mark a couple spots with scrap yarn-  I think these marked stitches will have to do with adding in the sleeves later.  But, honestly, I’m not worrying about it too much- I’ve decided that for this sweater, I’m just going to follow the instructions, and trust the pattern writer.  It’s very relaxing.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI know I just said that I was going to follow the instructions blindly, I can’t help myself to a little “improvement” here and there.  The pattern asks for the little cables to be exactly the same on the left and right front pieces.  I decided to make them mirror images.  After all, it’s not any extra work, and I think it’ll make the finished product look a little nicer.  But that’s IT! No more changes! (Unless I run out of yarn and decide to do something different with the sleeves.)OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI’m fully enjoying this project!  Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) I’ve got some more design work coming up, so I don’t know how much more headway I’ll be able to make for a while.  But, even if I can’t be working on this project, I know I’ll keep thinking about it.

A new day, a new sweater

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I’ve made a decision, and I’ve started my new favorite project (or at least my favorite for right now)!

I grabbed my lovely Haze Heather Wool of the Andes Superwash and started casting on.  It’s really a lovely color, perfect for spring knitting with shades of lilac and violet.

26320I purchased a copy of the Stranger Cardigan.  I wasn’t sure about that shape, frankly, I’m still not sure.  But, those cables!  How could you pass up those cables?  They’re too pretty for words.Stranger1_medium2[1]I cast on with nice big needles (for maximum coziness) and have been chugging away at it for a few inches.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt’s been so long since I’ve done a real cable project- I’d forgotten how much fun they are!  So interesting to knit up, and so satisfying after they’re finished.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI don’t know how the sweater’s going to look when I’m done, but so far, I’m loving this big, cozy, cabled panel!

A(nother) Sweater

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Apparently I’m on a sweater kick.  I mean, I always appreciate a good sweater.  But, I feel like I’ve got a bit of a bug under my skin lately about knitting sweaters.  (Or maybe it’s just that I’ve started looking at Pinterest more- so many pretty projects, so little time.)

I’m thinking that my next sweater should be for me.  And I think it should be more modern and girlier than my usual fare of plain-ol, top down pullovers.

And I think it should use this lovely lilac yarn I’ve had stashed away for almost a year.  (KnitPicks’ Wool of the Andes Superwash in Haze Heather)26320My first instinct is to go simple and easy to really show off the color.  Add in an interesting, modern silhouette, and I’m in love!

Worsted Boxy by Joji LocatelliResize_of_a04_medium2[1]But, oof, that’s a lot of stockinette… like, a lot…

Maybe I want to keep it simple, but do a more classic, relaxed silhouette.  And maybe add a little textural interest, just enough to make it fun.

Mailin by Isabell KraemerIMG_6038_medium2[1]But, then we’re back in kind-of-old-fashioned-and-not-terribly-flattering country.  (Although I do really like this pattern.  I’ll have to keep it in mind for a later date.)

Maybe I need something a little fiddlier- something with a ton of teeny tiny cables?

Little Wave by Gudrun JohnstonLittle_Wave_1_medium2[1]Maybe… but it’s not as much of a “wow” project as I was looking for…

Oooh, look at this one!  An interesting, modern shape, a perfect canvas for super-cool cables, and I think it would look pretty killer in purple!

Stranger Cardigan by michiyoStranger1_medium2[1]I think we might have a winner!

What do you think?  Which would you pick?