Category Archives: sweater

Checking Fit

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After three days of some pretty monogamous sweater knitting I have a good jump on my Charlotte Winter. I thought it would be a great idea to check the fit before I got too much farther.

I really think it’s not too bad! I mean the bottom is still bunched up on needles. But the yoke fits nicely and there is not too much ease in the armpits that I can tell so far. And it should button nicely.

Not to mention the color work turned out pretty spiffy! I think I may pause on the body and work the sleeves to maximize yarn usage. I don’t think I’m going to run out but I may want to lengthen the body if I have enough yarn. Plus turning the sleeves might be easier without a fully body of bulky sweater weighing me down.

I’m torn between working on this sweater and finishing PB’s sweater. Both are kind of ready for sleeve island. It’s kind of a toss up, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

Charlotte Winter Progress Day Three

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I managed to squeeze in a third day’s worth of knitting over my Christmas vacation. On Day three I managed to finish the raglan, separate for sleeves and start the body with A-line shaping.

Given my post baby #2 enhanced waste line I opted for an a-line shape to provide better coverage for the back 40. I think at this point I have used two full balls of the grey yarn and starting the third. I have six total. And I haven’t slipped this one to check fit either.

Here is a gratuitous shot of car knitting in my new favorite pajama leggings. It was a bright and cold trip home from Christmas with snoozing dogs and babies in the back. A pretty darn good trip except for the PB had a blow out in her car seat in the last 5 min of the drive. I think she just wanted to give me a belated Christmas present, lol.

Happy Knitting!

Charlotte Winter Sweater Progress Day Two

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My Charlotte Winter was my Christmas vacation progress. I seized the opportunity of grandparent and auntie baby sitting time to see how far I could knit on a bulky sweater project.

Here is my Day Two progress:

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I managed to complete all the garter ridge stripes and I’m finishing the raglan increases. It’s getting to be a lot of stitches on the needles at this point.  But man it was nice to have some soothing garter stitches to watch my kids play and catch up on some Christmas movies.

I did take some time here to bury some of the ends for the color changes in the yoke. I didn’t trim them because I want to block them first. But it really helped to make this project less messy and more manageable. I have one more day’s worth of progress to show you before I had to go back to real life.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Charlotte Winter

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Over the Christmas Holiday we spent several days at my parents house and off of work. Hooray! For this I had a goal, I wanted to work on something for myself in the day leading up to Christmas. I had my birthday yarn all wound up and waiting. And I had also swatched and done my sweater math for the Charlotte Winter. THIS was going to be my “my parents can babysit so I can breathe and knit a bit” project.

This was the first day’s progress. Gotta love bulky weight yarn and big needles right? I worked out my color work plan started cruising through the raglan increases. I had a bit of trouble keeping track of right side and wrong side since I wanted the “wrong” side of the garter ridges to show. And I may have made a few mistakes but garter stitch is very forgiving and no one will ever know.

Stay tuned for more progress tomorrow!

Happy Knitting

Chugging Along

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Jellybean’s sweater now has a decent amount of body knit up. (And a nice collection of yellow lab dog hair…)

I still have a ways to go as the body needs to have 20 inches. I may have 10 or 11 inches done. I measured but for the life of me I can’t remember what the number is, I just know it wasn’t 20. This project has been a nice meditative knit for what little TV watching I get these days. Just round and round with a little interest of garter bands on each side “seam”. Jellybean has really enjoyed watching this grow though he hasn’t seem interested in helping with any stitches. Such is the proclivities of a 4 year old.

Happy knitting!!

Houston We Have Sleeve Separation

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Oh thank the knitting gods and goddesses…Jellybean’s sweater is finally divided for sleeves and cruising in the round!

By the time I got to the last raglan rows I was really having to work move all those stitches around my needles. There were a TON! The only slightly upsetting thing is that my gauge changed from working back and forth to in the rounds and there is a line I can see in the finished fabric. No one will ever notice but me….but it still makes me sigh every once in awhile.

But I have successfully divided and have…gulp, 20 inches of body to go. I think I might need a couple of good movies in order to crank this one out! I”m back to work today but I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and is ready to rock in the new year!

Happy Knitting!!

Finally In The Round

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My Jellybean has been PATIENTLY waiting for his sweater. It’s a sport weight top-down raglan cardigan in his absolute favorite purple. But I have had trouble mustering the mojo to work on it.

I had trouble getting it cast on and it took two tries. I was making good progress until the rows were getting really really long. And the work is really bunched up on the cord of my needles. And I have been to busy (read: lazy) to get a longer cord from downstairs. I am ALMOST at the sleeve divide and thank god have gotten this thing to the point it’s in the round. So yay, no more purling!!

I really do love this pattern so far. The only thing I’m not wild about is the button holes. But I’ll reserve judgement until the buttons are installed. Either way Jellybean is really anxious to be able to wear this thing so I need to get to knitting faster!

Happy knitting!!

Swatching Like A Responsible Knitter

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I really want to cast on some of my birthday yarn from my momma for a sweater for me.  I did some searching and had three finalists pulled. And in the end garter stitch won. I picked the Charlotte Winter by Carrie Bostick Hoge won out.

It’s a top down bulky sweater with raglan increases all knit in garter stitch. No purling!! (Well except for the sleeves). And I was a  GOOD knitter and started a swatch.

The bottom garter section was knit on the pattern US 15s while the top section was knit on US 13s. I found that not only was it easier to knit on the 13s but I also like the fabric better. I even washed and dried my swatch to be sure! Now I guess I get to do some sweater math….

Happy Knitting!!

Better The Second Time

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My buggered cast on has been rectified. I was able to restart and *correctly* follow the first set of increases.

This is my Mackenzie 5-ply for Jellybean in the 7 year old size. It’s a pullover but it has a button placket at the neck. So I am slogging through the knitting across and purling back right now. I’ve done the first button hole and ready to start the second.

I have the project living in my Bags by Awesome grannie bag. It’s the PERFECT sweater size and Jellybean likes that it has donuts on it. Win win 🙂

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Mackenzie 5 Ply

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I had been wishful knitting a sweater for Jellybean. And Jellybean LOVES purple and I just so happen to have a sweater quantity of purple Knit Picks Brava Sport in my stash. I decided to cast on the Mackenzie 5 ply by Rebecca Newman

So I printed and read my pattern. Dutifully cast on after some gauge swatching and promptly knit the first page of instructions. Well….PB is on a sleep jihad much like her brother as an infant. So what little knitting time I get here lately is deeply affected by lack of sleep. I completely buggered the raglan increases. So an evening’s worth of work you see above? Yeah….it needs ripped. Sigh

I’m not too mad because it’s my own bonehead fault. And I know the yarn will stand up to ripping so I guess there’s that!

Happy Knitting!!