Tag Archives: top down

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!!

Wonky Button Bands

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My Leksak now has finished button bands. Are they still button bands when there are no buttons? Nevertheless, I had a great time working on this. But I do admit to plowing through them at a pretty good clip after the kids’ bedtimes. And that may have triggered a bit of wonkiness in the bands.

I for SURE did not county my stitches as I was picking up each side. Even though the pattern told me to, I thought “it will be fine”. And you know what? It’s okay but not great. I can totally tell one side has a few more stitches than the other. I kinda stretched the bands for this photo so it’s not as noticeable. I get so little knitting time these days I can’t really face ripping it out and re-doing it right now. I think I’m going to finish the sleeves and block it before I decide. I mean acrylic really isn’t known for “blocking out” problems. I just need time to think on it before I decide.

As for the sleeves, I have one done! And I made a happy accident. Instead of starting my round at the underarm when I picked up the live I managed to get distracted by Netflix and start at the back of the arm.

You know what? I kind of like it. I didn’t take the time to remember/look up/actually do any jogless stripe technique. So now the jog is at the back of the sweater where on a baby you won’t actually see it as much. (Honestly, jogs never really bothered me all that much.) This placement kind of made sense in my brain and I think I will repeat it on the second sleeve!

Happy Knitting!!

Leksak Stripes Complete

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My Leksak has a completed body!

I very pleased with the way the striping worked up in this sweater. Next up is a unique button band that involves not breaking the yarn from the garter hem. I’m intrigued! And now that I have completed the body work I am a lot more confident that I won’t end up playing yarn chicken. This Berroco Comfort is 50/50 Nylon and Acrylic but it actually has a nice hand to it. I’ll see how it wears but I might consider this for future kids knits….

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Leksak

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I had finished PB’s Second Sporty Cardigan and I couldn’t stand the thought of not knitting cute baby girl sweaters. So I did some Ravelry searching and stash diving to find a good match.

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I found Leksak by Yarn-Madness. It’s a top down raglan style tunic (or pullover if you prefer) made for DK yarn. It has an interesting button band construction I found intriguing and I had two colors of Berroco Comfort DK languishing in my stash. Comfort DK is a 50/50 acrylic and nylon blend so very washable and very durable. And I like the idea of a tunic for my sweet PB. And I am for SURE making the open front construction versus the pullover closed construction. (P.S. Leksak is Swedish for “toy” and I am of Swedish decent so I that kinda hooked me as well.)

The colors are a minty green and bright blue I originally got for making hats. While not a a pairing I would normally make I think they actually work well now that I can see them knit up together. I will be playing a small bit of yarn chicken on this project but I think with some strategic order of operations and yarn management I can make it work.

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!!

WIP Wednesday: PB’s Sporty Cardigan #2

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Well even after my greatest attempt to screw this up, I made it through the raglan increases on PB’s second Sporty Cardigan.

With this second attempt I didn’t even count my stitches in the various sections when I divided for the sleeves. I just put all the stitches between the markers on holders and figured I can fudge any extra or missing stitches later. I’m the boss remember?  The Knit Picks Comfy sport is definitely a little rounder yarn than the Frabjous Fibers sport. But honestly I don’t care, this will be cute a sheep’s nose regardless!

I’ve started striping in the Frabjous Fibers yarns. I plan to knit the body to pattern and then add the button bands. The sleeves….well they will be determined by how yarn I have left in what colors, lol. But this should be a great satisfying “use up most of the yarn” kind of sweater!

Happy Knitting!!

Oh Yarn Balls

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You guys….baby brain and sleep deprivation are a real thing. I’m back to work (and I take PB with me) and I feel like I run ALL DAY LONG. I am happy with my choice but boy is it a different way to work. It definitely has it ups and downs. I have found myself doing the silliest things.

Case in point….PB’s Sporty Cardigan #2….I picked this up and merrily knitted during a nap. I thought I knew where where I was but that was a bald faced lie. I started doing my increases on the wrong side of the work. And after three garter bumps my issue became apparent. I literally exclaimed “Oh Yarn Balls” to the bewilderment of my hubby.

I took a deep breath and told myself I was the boss of my knitting. I knew that this would bother me and I really needed to fix it. So I pulled out some fingering waste yarn and put in a lifeline where the work was correct. And then….I ripped out the needles and frogged.

I was totally racing the clock of PB’s naptime. But I managed to get all the needles back in the stitches without too much headache before PB woke up.

I was quite pleased with myself and I know I’ll be happier with the finished product. I’m just mad I lost an ENTIRE nap time worths of progress on this baby sweater to a stupid sleep deprived mistake. I literally ended back right where I started. I guess the silver lining is that even when crazy tired I can still read my knitting….after a few row anyway, lol

Happy Knitting!!

 

Cast On: PB’s Sporty Cardigan #2

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Since I seem to be on a roll with baby sweaters and finishing the knitting on the Gidday Baby….I decided to cast on another Sporty Cardigan in the next size up.

I have enough of the Frabjous Fibers Messenger Kit from the first Sporty Cardigan to work another one….with a little extra yarn added that is. I pulled some Knit Picks Comfy sport from my deep stash to use. It’s not the same fiber content as the Frabjous kit but given this is a baby sweater and that I really don’t care I’m rolling with it.

I worked the collar ribbing in the Frabjous kit yarn and I think I’m gonna use the Comfy Sport in Lady Slipper to work the entire yoke. And for the body and the sleeves I will stripe the Frabjous Fibers and see how far I can get. I may have to finagle this one a bit but it will be an adventure!

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!!