FO: Buchanan Tee

I finished a fantastic little summery top a couple weeks ago.

It's the Buchanan sweater from Kate Davie's wonderful little book appropriately titled "Yokes".   The last sweater I made of hers was the whimsical Owls pullover.  Sadly, I left it in storage and I want it back (along with that denim pencil skirt, ugh, sometimes I just miss my stuff).

There are several winners in the Yokes book.  Loads of simple, creative designs that would be flattering to most- there is quite a bit of waist shaping worked into these patterns, which, hello, I can't do without.

This was designed with a heavier wool in mind- a mohair blend!- but I couldn't do a short-sleeved top in wool.  In my mind, it called for cotton, specifically some of my jealously hoarded long-discontinued Rowan Calmer.  It behaves like wool but it's nice and light weight, making it perfect for summery little tops that you dream of wearing.  Lately, I've been in a "suns out, why am I freezing?" sort of place so it hasn't gotten any real use yet.  I can't wait.  Tomorrow is a warmer day according to the Met office.

I loved the colorwork on the Yoke of this.  It's much bolder and graphic than traditional fair-isle yokes.

All-round, a winner.

FO: Olive

Oh, ugh, I am so disappointed with this little pullover.  It just looked so adorable and casual and wearable on the model, I jumped right on it with needles and yarn.

I mean, it made the model look like this:


(c Helen Isager)

But me?  It had quite a different effect on me:

Ugh, really??  I even added waist shaping to try to pull in the sack a bit.  This just doesn't fit me at all, and I have no idea how my neckline ended up being a gaping maw of terror.

See?  The cute little scoop neck just splays out across my shoulders and I'm tugging at it constantly to re-shape it into a scoop.  I got gauge, I made the smallest size knowing it would be billowy and I'm not exactly willowy, but still.  I wanted it to fit and I was really thrilled with the colors I chose.    

It had cute details though- the yoke and the sleeves are in garter stitch, and the rutching at the neck and waist added interest to the sack.   I was in love with the shiny Danish packaging of this pattern and didn't see the reality of the situation before it was too late.

And I loved the yarn I used- Sanguine Gryphon Bugga in Tulip-Tree Beauty, with some assorted scraps for the garter bands.  I like the fit and drape of garments made in sock or sport weight yarn best, and because most of the knitting was fairly mindless I didn't take me all that long.  However, being handyed, there is more purple in the top half of the body than the lower half.  I didn't alternate skeins. I can live with that- it's not the worst thing about this pullover.

So I'm gifting this, which is just as well as I'll never wear something that I have to fidget with constantly and even wearing a sack around the house is just a bad idea.  I'm still searching for a lightweight casual sweater.  I've been having fit issues all over the place this year, which seems to be a phase that I can't get out of.  Maybe it's a time to make some socks for a bit.

Pattern is Olive from the Amimono collection.

FO: Dia

Some days, I'm just too impulsive for my own good.  

A trip to browse the haberdashery department at the local John Lewis led me to see a beautifully knitted sample of this:

Oh! Oh! Oh!  What a lovely pullover!  Never mind that I dislike working with linen and cotton (although wool would have done quite nicely) and I didn't bother giving the pattern a read-through to figure out just what doing color work would involve.  Sign me up!  Oh, and the Creative Linen yarn is on 60% off?  I always wanted a boxy summery sweater!  I'm be lounging around in my harem pants in my riad in no time.

Off to the races I was.  I knocked out the sleeves first and soon realized that the flawed logic of this design.  The Creative Linen was terribly splitty, meaning it was painfully slow to do lace work without it looking sloppy as ice cream on a hot tin roof.  

Once the sleeves were done, I started the body.  Like all Rowan patterns, it is written to be knitted flat, but I merrily joined it together in the round until the arm pits, where I switched to the color work.  

Have you ever tried to do colorwork that wasn't in the round?  I hadn't before this.  

It was terrible.  In fact, I had to walk away for a few months.  

I picked it back up again, only to give up again.  Another couple months passed.

Finally, I made a deal with myself.  Two rows a day.  I have to complete two rows a day on this.  I didn't even know if it would fit, never mind look good, but I kept up my personal bargain, and in a few weeks I was sewing in the ends.  

Ta dah!

I am so sick of looking at this thing, but here it is.  I don't have it styled at all here, but it is in my "not bad at all" category.  It's boxy, yes....even though I did three repeats of the lace to lengthen the torso a bit and there's not waist shaping at all.  I'm not really good in boxy things- it makes me look too stout and barrely and I just don't need that.  Halfway through I decided this would be gifted, so it doesn't have to look good on me anyway, ha!

This thing was a BEAST to knit.  I would not recommend it.  The way Rowan patterns are written are not for the faint of heart, either.  Although I did see someone leave the sleeves out and turn this into a vest, which looked just fine.  I think that any time you do any sort of color work, it should be knitted in the round, even if this means steeking (slicing the sweater carefully to make holes for the sleeves).

 I'm glad it is over with- I was getting so very sick of seeing this day in and day out, just taunting me.  I've learned my lesson- stay out of John Lewis.  I practically sabred a bottle of Champagne to celebrate.

Happy that it turned out okay- about halfway through I was overcome with despair that it just wasn't going to hang together right once it was sewn up.  Relief: it looks just fine.

However, I am so very sick of it that I no longer want it.  There's nothing wrong with it, but I feel as though someone else can lounge around their riad in harem pants more effectively than I could.

The deets: After my gauge being a little lose, I decided to knit the smallest size as written.  I used 5 skeins of Creative Linen in ocher and just 1 of salmon pink.  The pattern is Dia from Rowan 55.

FO: Porto Sweater

All this travel means I have a lot of plane/train/bus time to turn wool into garments.

I'm way behind in actually figuring out what I've made at this point, and even if it's a proper garment. I'm pretty sure there are some pretty glaring mistakes going on. A sock with two heels? Check. I sweater with three arm holes? Probably. A shawl where I run out of yarn at the very last row or precious, no-dye lot handpainted artisan yarn? Yup. Staring at it right now. I just keep going.

This was a little-known pattern from Twist Collective called Porto. It struck my fancy as just something that would be good to wear. I understand that most people, when they think of something good to wear, run to the store and buy it.

It just seemed like the perfect comfortable casual sweater for fall. The medallion cable details on the sides give it some nice waist shaping, and the cabley details at the v-neck add some interest to an otherwise very plain, wearable sweater.

I used 9 skeins -a bit over 1200 yards- of Rowan Purelife Organic Wool, a straigtforward DK weight of wooly goodness.

I think it's discontinued now, but the color is "Parsley", which is barely a hint of green natural dye on white wool.

I made the 36" size. It didn't take me so long to knit up- about a month- but I used size 4 needles to get a nice, tight gauge that is not terribly bulky. It fits, it's warm, I've reached for it every time I've gotten a chill. It's just comforting and easy to wear and I love it so.

FO: Bluebell Boatneck Pullover

Another sweater, complete. I am hoping that I will get to put this away now for a few months now that it's finished, but alas. Paris. Optimistically, I will hope to keep it out of wintertime clothes storage for a trip to the arctic, pessimistically, I will keep it out because it's Paris and I'll probably need it on a freak day in July.

Actually, this is a gift, so I won't be wearing it at all. Oh, and the recipient is a bit smaller than me, so the sleeves will be more likely to hit their wristbone, and I'm wearing it with negative ease.

It's a really simple sweater- From the "Fitted Knits" book. The columns of waist ribbing gives it structure and shape without too much fuss. I made a couple of small mods in the sleeves (like working them in the round and not letting the sleeve flare too much at the end) and it's just a cute, functional sweater. I might tinker with the neck a bit, as even after blocking it rolls out and just looks unfinished.

It only used 4.5 skeins of my beloved Cascade 200 Tweed- 990 yards for the 36" size. I can not get this yarn to die, as this is the second sweater I've gotten out of a bag of this yarn, plus a hat. I am so sick of it, but I'm really honestly trying to use up what I've got instead of having odd skeins of leftovers uninspringly take up room in my stash for eternity.

I'm totally laughing at this guy helplessly crashing his boat against the side of the pond. Which I considered him doing okay, granted I've seen a ton of people rowing their boat backwards in this lake. The pointy end of the boat is meant to slice through the water, and somewhere in their nautical training, they failed to notice this design feature.

FO: Wisteria Sweater

Oh, hello! I've been on a real sweater kick lately. I think it's a kind of "make hay while the sun shines" sort of philosophy, except it's "Make warm sweaters while you can still bear to wear them".

While we've had a couple odd warm-ish days, and a few sunshiny days (which were bitterly cold) spring is indeed coming. A trip through the countryside north of here revealed a slight tingle of green to the trees, and a couple fields were growing something green but the TGV whips by them at 200 mph, so I couldn't tell you what. I've been having a tendency to travel to fairly arctic climates this past year, so winter sweaters have been a year-round wardrobe staple anyway.

I've been wanting to make the Wisteria Pullover from Twist Collective since it came out in 2008. When I fall for an unusual pattern, I usually wait a little while before casting on because it takes a little time for reality to hit me and for me to realize that whatever garment I choose might have not been the best choice. This is why one of my first sweaters was an enormous, fully cabled monster that flattered no one, but I'm saving it for when I'm in my late 70's and can only hope to get lost in a garment.

I had even bought yarn for this: a gorgeous dark purple Madeline Tosh called Oxblood. I hed even started swatching for this sweater with the Tosh, before my stash and I were so rudely separated by an ocean. The Tosh will have to find a new purpose now, as I had acquired some really gorgeous Mondegreen from the Verdant Gryphon and got to it.

This yarn was amazing. It's an unusual blend of 60% Blue Face Leicester wool, 20% silk, and 10% baby camel. The baby camel causes it to have a slightly fuzzy soft bloom, but the underlying silk gives it a sheen, and it overall creates a dense and beautiful drapey fabric, with really nice stitch definition. Oh, and the color. I'm always a fan of neutrals, but this a beautiful steely gray with purple undertones.

The pattern was well-written. The cabling took a little time, but the rest of the sweater was simple. The only mod I made was I added another 2 sets of waist shaping decreases. I made the 40" size, which is bigger than I normally make but I wanted a slightly roomier sweater, but I didn't want it took look sloppy, hence the extra decreases. The only other thing I would change if I made this again would be some short-rows at the bust. The sweater is the same shape front and back. Because it is roomy, it's not a bad fit, but even the flattest of pancakes would have better results fit-wise if it had some boob shaping.

Oh, my row gauge was off and I realized the sweater was getting to be tunic sized if I didn't cut it off (It's knit from the neck down) so I have 6 rows less cable pattern at the bottom edge. But I love the necklace of twining cables. It really makes the sweater unique.

Despite the fact that I was told "Hey, you'll be ready to go to the Ren Faire in that" while I was knitting it, I find it to be wearable. It's unusual, but in a graceful sort of way. This isn't a light weight sweater at all. It is cozy and warm and snuggly, and it held up so nicely through multiple wears so far.

I love it. New favorite.

FO: Beagle Pullover

I have waxed on previous years about my obsession to knit men's sweaters. I love them so. And you have to love them, as you will be working on them for a really long time.

This one was another design from the Norah Gaughan Men collection. It's the second one I've made from this booklet- the first one being the Devon pullover- and I really love the designs. Rustic, not too fussy, totally wearable.

I knit the sleeves on this first, and then put it down to knit a couple of hats for friends. When I picked it back up to do the body, I was able to finish it in two weeks without bloodying my hands too much. That's a lot of stitches! Give me a deadline, and I will give you a sweater. The only modification I made was that I knit the body in the round and then split at the pits.

The yarn I choose was a discontinued bag of Cascade 220 Tweed in Stone color. It's good workhorse yarn like anything else 220. I was a bit sick of the tweedy bits by the end though. I don't often knit with tweed yarns but I now know that I much prefer a subtle, heathery tweed instead of flecks of ground-up crayola bits in the yarn.

It's warm. It fits. I love the textured stitches. It's pretty much perfect. While drop-sleeves aren't my favorite fit, they are the simplest, especially if you are working around a stitch pattern.

I used 6 skeins of yarn on this- 1320 yards. My trick to getting it done was to try to force myself to get through one skein every two days. A great strategy for getting through the dark days of winter as well. This is the 44" size, which gives the wearer a couple inches of ease without it being too bulky.

My only gripe is that the sleeves are a bit long and the cuffs need to be rolled. I want to fix it, he says he doesn't mind. Still. I might fix it.

The photoshoot was in the town of Amiens in Picardy. I'll have more about our outing there tomorrow, but it is home to the most massive cathedral in all of France, and it's cold and a good place to wear a good wool sweater.

FO: Cadence Pullover

Well that was fast.



I decided rather cleverly that everyone who would normally get knitted gifts around the holidays from me would get them very unseasonably this year. The logistics of having to pack up a sweater, keep it around for months in a yet-to-be-determined location and then ship it from overseas seems a bit silly to me. And expensive. And dicey. As our pseudo-winter breaks into buds and crocuses and birdsongs, heavy woolens will be gifted.

This sweater is a Xmas present for someone a tad bit smaller than me. As in, someone I have several cup sizes over, several inches in height and about ah, I don't even want to discuss weight. Let's just say I got the curves in the family. I could bench press the giftee without it being a big deal. Despite the fact that I could squeeze into the sweater like Lana Turner, this was intended to have some ease and be less form-fitting. So use your imagination.



It's the Cadance Pullover from Jordana Paige from the Fall 2010 issue of Knitty.com. It's a simple, top down design with the only embellishment being a set of lace diamonds around the collar. This is the 35" size.
It's a simple pattern and the heavier gauge yarn meant it was done before I knew it. I usually labor away on sleeves for ages, but I had both of them done in 3 days.



Once again, UPS Brown is my go-to yarn color. I used 1.5 skeins of Cascade Eco. I did a bit more waist shaping then called for, but otherwise, it's the same front and back. I would usually add some short-row shaping or darts to accommodate womanliness, but in this case I didn't have exact measurements so I let it be.



I'm sending this out today, cheerily wrapped with ribbons and tinsel, wishing everyone a great holiday and Happy New Year 2013.

FO- Placed Cable Aran

About a month ago, I had the brilliant foresight to cast on for a warm, comfy sweater. I'm now wallowing in self-congratulatory glee.

I'm still working through my stash alphabetically, so I grabbed some Cascade 220 from the bin. It's the workhorse yarn of the craft world. It's not super-soft, but it's durable and has good stitch definition, and comes in oodles of colors. You can use it on just about anything that requires a worsted-weight yarn. Plus, it's affordable- You can find it for around $7, and if you hunt for a sale you might pay $4. I used 5 skeins for my sweater total, so you can feasibly create a sweater for the price of a single Andrew Jackson.



This is the Lapis Blue Heather color. It's not quite navy, with quite a bit of purple and greens worked in. It give the garment an interesting tonal effect without being too loud or clown barfy.

I was looking for a big, comfy sweater pattern and, with some modifications, settled on the Placed Cable Aran from the Fall 2007 Interweave Knits. I didn't care for the funnel neck (nothing with the word "funnel" in it is remotely sexy) and I thought it distracted from the lovely cables on the front and back.



I found the yarn a tad splitty, and it did bleed quite a bit when I soaked it. Otherwise, I'm happy with it. I feel a bit of a prickle when it's right up to my skin, but its not so bad that I find it unbearable. I always wear a cami or a thin tee under sweaters anyway, so it's only really noticeable around my neck and wrist. I know that bothers a lot of people, but I'm fairly tolerant of slightly scratchy wool.



I didn't like the rolled hem at the bottom edge, so I added an inch of 4x4 rib to keep it from rolling up.



This sweater has basically no shaping and no sleeve caps- they are drop shoulders. It's just a big, roomy comfy warm. Really, it's just what a bitterly cold and blustery February ordered.



Instead of making a giant funnel neck, i picked up stitches and made about an inch of a roll-neck. It lets the cable design pop a bit more.

I'm hoping to squeeze in one more big winter sweater project before the weather turns warm, and then silks and cottons and linen will be on the brain. Last week was fashion week in New York and you see a whole lot of people dressed skimpily and suffering in the cold for the sake of pleasing the fashion gods. I'm not quite that bold and I'm still buried under layers and layers of woolies for the time being.

The specs:

This is part of my A-Z Stashdown Challenge- C is for Cascade (I still have some B is for Berocco Ultra Silk in my stash, but that is my first springtime sweater knit project). I used 5 skeins of Cascade 220 Heathers in Lapis Blue- about 1100 yards- and US size 7 needles. It's completely mindless, movie-theater knitting until you get to the yoke, and then it's almost completely mindless knitting-group knitting from there.