Tag Archives: garter

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!!

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!!

FO Friday: PB’s Sporty Cardigan #2

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Well, ladies and gentlemen….PB has a new sweater! The Second Sporty Cardigan is finished, washed, blocked, buttons added and ends trimmed off. Now I just need cute baby photos to put the icing on the cake.

I went with the round two tone buttons. As you can see I really worked a lot of buttons into this sweater. And the top two turned out really close together. But I kind of like it. Now I can fasten the top two buttons and let the rest of the sweater hang open to show a cute onesie underneath.

Note: Blocking didn’t completely correct my buttons bands but it greatly improved them. I’m marking this a win and moving on.

Pattern: Sporty Cardigan for Boys and Girls by Cecilie Clark

Yarn: Frabjous Fibers Messenger Kit and Knit Picks Comfy Sport. I used roughly 266 yards or 89 grams of yarn to make a 12 month sized sweater. This included every last drop of Frabjous Fibers so no pesky leftovers hanging out in my stash!

Needles: US 4s (I forgot to switch to 6s for the body so I just kinda rolled with it. My gauge is just a little tighter and my sweater a smidgen smaller than I wanted but it’s still lovely)

Mods: See above or check out my Rav notes.

Happy Knitting!!

Whoosh Went The Sleeves

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I have been binge watching old 90s and 2000s television cop shows after the kids go to bed. And thanks to Psych and Diagnosis Murder I managed to knit the crap out of some sleeves!

I weighed my remaining yarn after finishing the button bands on PB’s second sporty cardigan. And I KNEW I didn’t have enough to make decent sleeves. So I considered my options and I decided to extend the garter ridges from the yoke into the sleeves. Then I took the remainder of my two colors and split them into two even sets by weight. One for each sleeve.

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I was kinda tired and just winging it. After six garter ridges with associated decreases I thought it looked good (and I was tired of purling, to be honest). This was of course not having any idea how far my striped colors would get me. So I knit the two colors until I ran out of each color. What resulted….well, elbow length sleeves at best.

I thought about ripping back and adding more garter ridges to make full sleeves but I honestly didn’t want to think about burning precious knitting time redoing it. This sweater will look perfectly adorable over long sleeves peaking out or just as elbow length sleeves. Kids get sleeves really grubby anyway…I’m just saving myself laundry duty!

Happy Knitting!!

WIP Wednesday: Easy Peasy Triangular Scarf

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Good Wednesday morning, I wanted to pop in and show you my Easy Peasy Triangular Scarf progress.

Knitting with the ramen yarn is still kinda kooky but I don’t mind it. And I have the pattern in my head now. I just have one stitch marker to remind me to work the faux icord edge thingy.

And with the growth I’m really starting to see the yarn colors start to play. I have progressed through the primarily pink and I’m getting oranges and purples popping in and out. The best part of this project is that Jellybean likes to sit with me and I let him help pull the yarn out of the sock blank. Very slowly and carefully of course! It delights him to no end that he can just go ‘riiiiiippp’ and mommy has yarn to knit with. This project will have good memories for sure!

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Gidday Baby Sweater

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PB’s Gidday Baby Sweater has been done and sitting for quite awhile. I just couldn’t muster the gumption to dig out and sew on buttons. Well after a couple of poop-splosions this week I was running out of sweaters for PB. So here is her finished Gidday Baby.

I found some nice neutral semi-transparent buttons in the right size in my button stash. Which is impressive because my button stash is minimal at best. Are they the best buttons for this sweater….no. But do they look okay and make a perfectly serviceable sweater…..yes!

I made some mods in order to shoot for knitting a 12 month sized sweater. I’m not sure if I exactly made it 12 month sized but it’s big enough for PB to wear. So I’m taking that as a win and running with it. My Ravelry details can be found here with a brief description of my mods.

Now do I dare start a true 12 month sweater for PB? And if so what should it be???

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Easy Peasy Triangular Scarf

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I bit the bullet and decided to cast on one of my wishful knitting ideas.

I pulled out my Nickie’s Knots sparkle sock blank and after much deliberation decided to use the pattern for which this yarn was designed for. It’s called the Easy Peasy Triangular Scarf and the pattern is not listed on Ravelry. But I had a copy of the pattern from the dyer/designer. I initially started from the wrong end of the blank but I quickly remedied that.  The pattern is pretty easy to memorize and incorporates a faux i-cord edge on on side. Otherwise it’s all garter stitch and simple increases.

Working with ramen like yarn is a new experience but not altogether unpleasant. I’m a good chunk of the way into this and I don’t hate it, so I’m going to keep going. I really like the sparkle and how the subtle yarn variegation is showing up. It will be interesting to see how this crinkly looking project will look after a good bath when it relaxes into it’s new form.

Happy Knitting!!

A Sweater…Minus The Buttons

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PB’s Gidday Baby sweater is all done but the buttons.

I need to give this thing a good bath and blocking. It’s not going to solve my obvious sleeve tension issues but it will even out the body stitches and give a nice fresh smell. The sleeves didn’t turn out as long as I thought and I probably should have extended them. But I was kinda over knitting them and bracelet length are okay for babies right?

I need to dig out some buttons as well. I’m really not sure what kind or color I’m looking for. I may just hit the fabric store and browse until something strikes my fancy.

Happy Knitting!!