FO- Biggie Smalls Sweater

I finished my Baby Cables and Big Ones Too sweater a few weeks ago.

After making and gifting a Cobblestone a couple of winters ago, I really wanted to make myself one...



Finding a pattern that was a bit prettier and feminine seemed like a better idea though:



After my run-in with the sharpie, I lost heart for a bit but finished it with duplicate stitch in mind. That's a whole 'nother story, as duplicate over garter stitch is not easy. I will be needing help.

I love the top-down raglan construction and the cables gave me a lot to do before an endless bit of plain old stockinette stitch. Round and round we go, and not a seem to sew except for a few stitches under each armpit.



The back isn't really that lumpy- I threw it over a shirt that had a tie in the back. I love the color I got from the Eucalyptus dye. I got a lot of variation and subtlety darker stripes throughout the fabric.



I had trouble getting gauge but with my trusty calculator I was able to figure out that I would be okay if I just made the smallest size.



I also changed the pattern to make the cuffs a bit asymmetrical by starting one cable a couple inches lower than the other.



oooh i need a haircut badly. Next week.



Despite my lingering anxiety over the little muddy spot and subsequent felting on the neckline, I'm really happy with this sweater.

The specs:

Baby Cables and Big Ones Too by Suvi Simola. I made the smallest size (32 1/2") but ended up with the 40" size with my gauge, which is pretty much exactly where I wanted it. (PS, a friend of mine who is much smaller than me couldn't get gauge either and she made the Large size but ended up with a perfectly-fitting small.) I used a size 5 needle.

The yarn is scrumptious- Valley Yarns Northfield. I bought two of the 250 gram hanks for a total of 1300 yards, dyed it in Eucalyptus with and alum mordant...and I still have quite a bit leftover despite the yardage the pattern calls for. I even split the yarn up when I got to the sleeves with the thought that I could make them 3/4 length or even elbow-length if I had to. The yarn is a DK weight 70% Merino, 20% Alpaca, 10% Silk. Its tightly cabled structure means you won't have the pilling a Merino/Alpaca blend usually will have. It also means it's great for cables- they really pop and have great definition. Plus, there is no itch at all to the sweater. Ooooh I love it. I'll be using this yarn again in future projects. It's pretty damn luxurious without the vertigo-inducing price tag.

I might go around the neck with a crochet stitch of some type- where the cables gather the fabric it leaves an obvious pucker. Not a huge deal, but it bothers me a little bit.

Lucky me: it's been dreary and cold lately and I've been able to wear this despite the advancing of the season. It's bright and kind of cheery without being nauseatingly happy.

FO- Lion Neck Cardigan

I forget how much city there is around me after a long snowy winter. As the weather turns suddenly, getting outside becomes a priority. I spent the past few days revisiting New York places that I abandon during the winter. Central Park, the Bronx Zoo, Prospect Park. All of these places are much nicer when you aren't sliding around on ice.

I had finished this rather dramatic cardigan a few weeks ago. Thankfully, the nights are still cool enough to need a cozy layer and I have gotten quite a bit of use out of it already. I was always a little leery of sweater coats. They looked frumpy and too bath-robey for me. I was fond of one that I had a few years ago that had a collar trimmed in ostrich feathers. One of my co-workers got drunk and told me I looked like a Mexican wrestler. ¡Dios mío! That comment tainted my Bette Davis fabulousness I felt when I was flouncing around the office donning my elegant sweatercoat.



It's just fabulous enough. The ruffle makes it Bette Davis chic, but not so overboard that it would be considered Bette Davis drag queen impersonator chic meets Nacho Libre. Meow.







The specs:

I used 9 skeins (about 1000 yards) of Rowan Scottish Tweed Chunky in Burgundy (funny, I just noticed that it's not a tweed yarn at all.) It's a fuzzy woolen spun 2-ply yarn. It does have a bit of an itch factor to it, but not so bad that it's uncomfortable on my bare arms.

The pattern is a top-down raglan from Wendy Bernard's "Custom Knits". It's a simple and fast knit, with enough shaping to make it elegant and slimming. I made the large size- in the sample, she has a tie that stretches across the front to hold the two cardigan halves together. I would rather have them meet in the middle and button in the front, so I went up a size from what I normally would make based on measurements. I crocheted an loop and salvaged an oblong wooden button from my button bucket. Unsurprisingly, the ruffle took a ton of yarn- at least 240 yards. After blocking, I ripped the sleeves back and re-worked the ribbing since they grew quite a bit.

*****
I have two woolie sweaters that are almost finished, and then it's on to more seasonal knits for me. I approach this time of year with mixed knitterly feelings- wool is my absolute favorite material to work with, but it's hard to sit on the beach in 80% humidity with an ever-growing wool sack resting on my lap.

FO- Opulent Raglan

As I was searching for a new project to cast on for, I realized that all the sweaters I made were heavy wooly winter affairs that get stashed away as soon as the snow melts.



I had some Elsebeth Laavold Silky Wool in my stash. It's a 45% wool/35% silk/20% nylon blend. It's a little unforgiving when it comes to tension and consistency, but it's a lovely, drapey, lightweight yarn. The yarn isn't a completely homogeneous blend, so you end up with a textured, tweed look.

I really like Wendy Bernard's patterns. She's really conscious of fit and it shows in the finished product. She does a lot of top-down raglans, so it's easy to try the garment on and tweak as you go. This pattern was from the Fall 2008 Knitscene.







I love the ruffly elbow-length sleeves.



I'm quite pleased with it, and it was a fast, easy knit. It's more femme fatale then girly-girl. I loved the details of the asymmetrical cable, the square neckline and the sewn hem. It's a very flattering, wearable sweater with a little bit of sexy oomph.

The specs:

I used 4.5 skeins of the Silky Wool dk weight in Gooseberry for the 36" size- about 864 yards and I used #US. I wanted a fitted sweater with negative ease, so I chose the size an inch smaller than my actual bust size.