Category Archives: sweater

Weekender On The Weekend

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As we slog through these last few confusing days of winter I find myself excited about Spring approaching in a few days. And in the spirit of spring cleaning (please ignore the not spring cleaned toys in the background) I found myself wanting to “clean up” my WIPs.

I pulled out my Weekender this past weekend and put a few rows on. I’m still slogging through the body but it makes for nice TV knitting with all the stockinette in the round. I have knit past my stitch markers for the purl details a few times. But those are easily fixed.

I’m not finding myself super engaged in this project so I don’t expect it to fly off the needles anytime soon. But I’m hoping this will be a slow and steady tortoise like project that I can enjoy next Fall maybe?

Happy Knitting!!

My Current State

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Hey guess what? The laundry from yesterday is still there. I decided it was a good idea to delegate the folding to my hubby since I washed and dried it all. But he has a different world view on how quickly these kinds of things should be done. I’m curious to see how long it will take to get put away? For now, I’m just dressing Jellybean and PB from the baskets, lol.

But for now I have comfy yoga pants and my Weekender Sweater. The ladders are still there no matter what I try so I’m hoping that the blog advice that they will block out and even out when its done is true. So far I’m really pleased with the even colors I’m getting with the helical knitting. I have almost put one complete ball of the Malabrigo Rios into this sweater. Here’s hoping the next balls fades in nicely as well!

Happy Knitting!!

Ladders….Not The Good Kind

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I have continued to pick up my Weekender and knit a few rounds at least a couple times the past week. This is good knitting for movie night with the husband because I only have to pay attention to two spots and they have stitch markers. I am now just beyond four inches done for the body. But once again that little knitter in the back of my brain was jumping up and down trying to get me to notice something…

I am getting pretty significant ladders on the other side of my slip stitch detail. Like I can see my fingers through them when I pull at the work. I am pretty sure this has something to do with my tension and I am working the slipped stitch.

Now the really big question is….how much does this bother me? You can’t really see it when the knit just hangs. But I feel like I could adjust my technique and correct for this. Am I really ready to rip back four inches of sweater body? I think I need to sleep on this one…

 

Weekender Progress

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I took my Weekender along with me on holiday travels. It got a fair bit of activity on it before the Arya Shawl took over my brain. I think now I have roughly three to four inches of body knit so far. That is decent progress considering last we spoke about this one I had only just connected the ribbing in the round.

Being as I’m working with Malabrigo, I am alternating skeins using a helical method. It can get kind of tangled and I have to stop every inch or so and untwist my working yarns. But I’m pretty sure that says more about my knitting skills rather than the method. With small humans in my house I have to pick up and put down my projects A LOT.

Everyone once in awhile I flip my project over to look at the “right” side. Thank goodness Andrea Mowry designed this to be worked inside out. This knitter could not purl that many stitches in the round! But I do find myself admiring the slip stitch detail on the front and back.

I do admit that I’m a little concerned that A) this Kansas winter won’t stay cold enough for long enough for me to need a worsted weight sweater and B) I won’t actually finish this till spring at this rate…oh well!

Happy Knitting!!

Let’s Helix This Thing

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My Weekender is joined in the round! I flew through the first hem like it was nothing. And then it took me a day or so to power up enough for the second tubular cast on for the back hem. But I managed quite nicely and have the whole project joined in the round.

My next new challenge is to use helical knitting to alternate my hand dyed skeins. This is my first go at it and I’m interested to see how managing the yarn cakes will go. I used a single skein to knit my ribbing because honestly I didn’t have the brain space to alternate while knitting flat and absolutely no one would notice if I had or hadn’t. I have markers in for the center front and center back slipped stitch detail.

I’m knitting the 48.5 inch bust sweater for roughly 4-5 inches of positive ease. Which is less than the pattern calls for but as I’m more average size than most knitting models I don’t want something so baggy that it will make me look bigger than I actually am.

I also would like to note that I have not gauge swatched either. I am going to gamble on this one because it’s an over sized sweater anyway and I hope to be able to block it a little either way if needed. Surely this will end in disaster but I’m doing it anyway!

Cast On: The Weekender

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Okay, here is my second birthday day cast on. I finally cast on the Malabrigo Rios in the Fresco y Seco color that I wound up in my last winding frenzy. I cast on the Weekender by Drea Renee Knits aka Andrea Mowry.

This sweater had a split hem and the front and back is cast on separately. I started the front hem and you guys….I learned the Tubular Cast On. It did take me a lot longer to slow down and learn this. I watched at least three YouTube videos and painstakingly did the first set-up TWICE.

It’s definitely not perfect but I can see how it makes a nice clean edge that seems to come out of now where. I’m hopeful that my second hem is a little neater. I need to work on keeping my gauge consistent across and slipping the correct stitches.

I’m excited to get this sweater going in the round so I can have a nice zen project that can just work endlessly in circles. Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Faded Party Top

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On my actual birthday back in November I used my personal day to stay home and just introvert and knit. It was glorious and I cast on not one but TWO sweaters that day. So I’m going to give you a peak at the first one.

This is going to be the Party Top by AbbyeKnits in my stash of Moonstone Dyeworks Merino DK. I have started with Wild Honey color for the color and the first section of the fade.

I took my measurements and cast on a 40 inch bust size to allow for 2 inches of negative ease on my 42 inch bust. I even put the project in my birthday present knitting bag my family got me from Tanneicasey. With all my travel in November and Thanksgiving chaos I’m not sure I ever showed that to you all.

The bag holds my pattern, yarn and supplies nicely. And this fade even looks lovely just sitting in the bag! I didn’t get very far for two reasons and the first is that twisted rib takes forever for me as I’m a thrower.

And the second reason is that I realized I probably need to gauge swatch if I am going to make a successful sweater. I have two skeins of the Hard Cider so I think I will work from the outside of one ball to make and wash a swatch for gauge. This is a cropped fitted sweater so I best not take any chances…even though I’d rather just be making the sweater.

Happy Knitting!!

Ready For The Hem

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Hallelujah…I think I’m about done with my Autumn League Pullover! I slipped on the “try it on” tubing and slipped into the sweater. I am pleased with my waist increases and the overall length.

For sure I am going to work the hem or ribbing portion using a split hem method. I will simply divide the sweater into front and back sections and work the hem in two pieces by knitting back and forth. I think that will give me the hip ease I need while also be visually pleasing as it lays against my pants.

The one place I’m not SUPER happy about is the under arms. I can see in these photos that there is a ton of extra fabric in my upper arms. As a volleyball player my arms are in decent shape where as my chest and belly show the effects of birthing two children. I am just a mixed body type and probably should have modified the sleeves.

But at this point I’m going to finish the sweater and see how it looks blocked and finished. Maybe the baggy sleeves will just add to the “sweatshirt-ness” off the project. Or maybe I will hate them and I will rip them back and work in decreases and arm shaping. I’m the boss of my knitting and I get to decide!

Happy Knitting!!

Trying and Thinking

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I have been giving my Autumn League Pullover a little more love lately. It really is so close to done that it seems ridiculous to let it languish. I plowed through several more inches of stockinette body and decided to slip it on my try it on tubing.

I have a tank on underneath but it is fitting well across the bust. But it is getting a bit tight over the tummy area. it may not look like it in the photo with the cord and stockinette rolling up. I am considering adding some waist increases to account for my belly and hips. I want this sweater to be a comfy and lounge piece. I feel like being tight across my waist is just going to make me not want to wear it.

I don’t think I need a ton of extra stitches, maybe just three or four sets of two stitch increases on each side? I need to math the gauge a little bit. The other part that I am considering is to work the hem as a split hem instead of a band. The split will help the fit as well me thinks…

Happy Knitting!!

Dare I Crop?

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When I digging around in my yarn stash the other day I came across something unexpected and yet spectacular. I found three skeins of DK weight superwash yarn all from the same indie dyer. I had picked these up at different times from her over  the past year when I had the money saved up around the time of her updates.

The dyer is Moonstone Dyeworks out of Acadia California and she has an amazing podcast that enables me all the time. I realized that the skeins really blended and coordinated quite well as I stared at them in my drawer. Almost, dare I say, a really fantastic fade? From left to right they are Falling, Hard Cider and Wild Honey.

I did some pattern searching on Ravelry and found that I might be able to eek out a Party Top by AbbyeKnits in my size. I would JUST have enough yarn if I managed my fade very precisely. This is a cropped sweater and I’m not sure I’ll like it but I can’t put it out of my head. I can just feel this pattern wanting to jump on my needles. I even went so far to research the pattern comments on Ravelry and found a knitter who made a similar faded option in a bigger size than I.

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I literally have two other sweaters quantities wound up and ready to jump on my needles for a Weekender and a Radiate. Why am I so drawn to this when I haven’t even cast on either of those sweaters? My wishful knitting is just on overdrive lately!!

What is a knitter to do!?