Baby Sophisticate is rocking and rolling! This is Stashbustin’ #25 in my queue of projects.
This pattern is amazingly easy! Why did I wait so long to get started? A few hours and I’ve already divided for the body! Gotta love worsted weight yarn on size US 8 needles. And this project definitely soothes my recent bout of baby fever… 🙂
I predict a FO in my very near future!!
Due to some good advice this past week from another blogger, I decided not to wait to cast on my Stashbustin’ #21, my Neon cardigan!
Being a good knitter, I swatched!
Two things learned:
1) I need sharp metal needles, bamboo won’t do. This Berroco Pure Pima can be splitty and wood or acrylic exacerbated this.
2) I did not get gauge (need to try again when I get a new set of metal needles)
3) This pattern is incredibly easy to get off and even in my swatch I know I made mistakes
Sigh…I am not deterred. But I admit I might need a glass of wine before I re-swatch. I really love this garment and want something that will fit when I am done. Gauge will not defeat me!!
Happy Monday
I really really really really want to start this sweater!
(Photo from Joji’s Ravelry page)
It Neon by Joji Locatelli. And I have the most wonderful green Berroco Pure Pima all caked up and ready to go!
Just a couple of problems…
1) Stashbustin’ 15 or my Ombré Billow Blanket is soooo close to being done, but it’s not quite finished.
2) Stashbusting’ 20 or my Spiral Staircase Shawl is only 1/2 done and waiting for me in the bottom of my project bag.
I love both of these projects and I am enjoying working on them, but…..there’s always a but! I know that I could easily become addicted to Neon and forgo working on anything else. Which I normally don’t do! So in the effort to love all my knitted children equally I vow to finish the Billow blanket and get at least 3/4 done on the shawl before working on my Neon.
I feel like its the appropriate carrot on the end of the stick to power me through these two current WIPs!
Happy Tuesday!!
Here she is! Stashbustin’ #18 aka Shalom Caridgan finished and thanks to the husband photographed!!
This is an awesome pattern! Just as an aside this is only written for a small/medium size or 32″ bust. My chest is a bit bigger than that so I followed the author’s suggestions and tweaked the pattern for my needs.
I did dork up the garter border a bit. See my 911 post here and my fix here. But all in all I’m very happy. This will look great over a tank (as pictured) or thrown over a long sleeve tee in the fall/winter. Not sure I would re-knit this particular pattern but it’s a great addition to my wardrobe.
Remember my sweater 911 from last week? I mistakenly knit part of my garter edge as a stockinette edge. It looked something like this….
After some hemming, hawing, and wine drinking I decided on a fix. I picked up my yarn and tapestry needle and went to work. I ended up with something like this..
I cut a length of my leftover yarn and threaded on my tapestry needle. With the right side facing me I simply stitched over and around each one of the 7 edge stitches with a whip-like stitch creating the top of a faux purl like bump. When I reached the stockinette section I turned the work around and stitched back across but this time staggered by half a stitch. This way I could create the bottom of the row to create the look of garter stitch. It didn’t turn out as perfectly as I wanted but it definitely looks better then when I started.
I think the corrections are hardly noticeable when looked at the garment as a whole. Stashbustin’ #18 is officially complete! I hope to snag the husband some night this week so I can get some shots of this garment in action!!
Happy Monday and Happy Knitting!!
I was sooo happy to finish my Shalom Cardigan (Stashbustin #18) that I snapped a few quick photos with my iPhone….
I was so happy and excited! It fit great and I had the perfect button for it….and then I found them! Did anyone notice the two glaring mistakes in my sweater above? Here is one of them….
I totally messed up the sweater edge/ribbing. I know exactly what I did, I was on a purl row and purled row all the way across…sigh. This happened in two obvious places. I didn’t even notice until I was ALL the way done and bound off and washed/blocked.
After much brainstorming (drinking a little wine) and consulting of the online tutorials and blogs, I have settled on a solution. I have lots of yarn left over. So I am going to cut a small length and with a tapestry needle sew over the stockinette stitch to create an artificial garter ridge. So that is my mission today is to fix these oops.
Wish me luck! I hope to have a success story to share with you later….fingers crossed!!
I don’t have a FO this Friday because I got all the way done with my Shalom Sweater and found two glaring errors I need to fix. That is for another post…..
So I’m hoping to distract you with a little cuteness….
Here are some action shots of my Snug…
Many thanks to Baby B for being a good sport about taking pictures in a sweater in June, lol!!
I’m off to work and then to work out how to fix my sweater problem, TGIF.
Happy Knitting!!
Tah Dah!
Stashbustin’ #16 finally has buttons!
I was walking through Joann’s this week and these puppy buttons caught my eye. They are super cute and matched my chocolate yarn. And it made me think of that commercial on TV where the little girl talks about her puppy brother, lol. So of course I had to buy them.
I was hoping to snag some pics of this on a real baby this week but my friend’s sweet Baby B has an ear infection. So we snuggled instead of having a photo session.
I’m off to work and to get ready for my parents to visit this weekend! TGIF!!
When I was organizing my craft space vi found five hanks of some Berroco Vintage Chunky in purple. I made my last two sweaters, Mud Season #1 and Mud Season #2, from this yarn. I love this yarn! It’s wool blend that’s soft but yet easy care. It knits up beautifully and who doesn’t love chunky projects?
I have settled on my next stash buster: Shalom Cardigan by Meghan McFarlane!
(Photo from Meghan’s Ravelry page)
I’m terribly excited! And thanks to the tips on the pattern page I’m going to alter this a bit to fit my bust size by simply making the garter border a few stitches bigger. I’ve also been a good girl and swatches for gauge.
I had to go down to 10 1/2 US needles to get gauge on my unblocked swatch. I’m probably not going to wash or block this swatch as I didn’t get any difference in my last two Vintage Chunky swatches. And I’m out of Soak and need a trip to a yarn store, lol.
It’s a three day weekend for me thanks to Memorial Day. I’m hoping to give this sweater some attention this weekend. But I have several other WIPs and a test knit for a new pattern by a fellow blogger. I’m also excited about this test knit, it’s completely adorable!!! And the hubs and I have several projects in our new house. Not to mention I might need to make a trip to the yarn store…hehehe. I’m sure I can get it all done right?
Happy Knitting!!
Stashbustin’ #16 is almost complete!
I bound off the last edge last night as I was catching up on my DVR. I had to pull in a lamp this dark yarn really started to play with my eyes as I was trying to pick up and finish the crochet edge, lol. However, I love love love using the leftovers of my Berroco Vintage Chunky from my Mud Season. I haven’t found a yarn that Berroco makes that I haven’t liked yet. And it didn’t hurt that this project was chunky yarn on my big needles, lol.
I didn’t exactly follow the directions to a tee….not that they weren’t very well written! Hinke did a great job of spelling things out and including lots of links to tutorials. I just kinda took her directions as suggestions, lol. I used a knitted on cast on instead of the crochet on waste yarn. I also cast off in pattern instead of a sewn method. I also accounted for three buttons instead of two. And finally I crocheted all the way from the left bottom corner, around the hood, and down to the right bottom corner.
I still need to find the right buttons for this project. But I’m not in a rush. I think this little sweater is going to stay with me. It’s the partner to my Mud Season and hopefully I can bundle up a little one in this when the hubs and I decide to have kids. Â And then mommy and baby can match. That means the buttons have to be special. Next up for this sweater is a good bath and blocking!!
Happy Knitting!!!
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