My Not-So-Favourite Cardigan

The body of my Favourite Cardigan was complete so it was time to pick up stitches for the button bands. It didn’t go so well. You can see that the ribbing is way too stretched and is trying to pull the top and bottom if the cardigan closer together, with pretty awful results.

That doesn’t look right…

Now, here’s my mistake – whenever I’m knitting I always add an extra stitch to each end and slip it so that the edges are a bit neater and it’s easier to pick up and knit. This means that every ‘stitch’ on the edge actually represents two rows of knitting. Standard knitting instructions tell you to skip a stitch/row for every two (or three or four, depending on who you’re listening to) you pick up and knit. But when you think about it, I’already only knitting every other so I should probably ignore those rules.

I’m going to set this aside for a while. Once I do get back to it I think I’m going to try picking up and knitting every edge stitch and seeing how that goes.

My Favourite Cardigan

A while ago I was browsing projects on Ravelry and came across a stunning cardigan with the most lovely subtle cables down the front and sleeves. Imagine my surprise when I checked the notes and realized the pattern was from a book I’ve owned for years. Wendy Bernard’s Custom Knits is a great book of sweaters but I had flipped past the Favourite Cardigan every single time because of the way it’s styled in the picture.

Totally not my style

It doesn’t look bad or anything (although I never understood why a cable cardigan that was specifically made to be in a  knitting book would be worked in black yarn – you can hardly see the details!) but it just really isn’t my style. Bare shoulders and a bare midriff? Doesn’t suit this librarian at all. But this is knit top-down in one piece, meaning the adjustments to bring up the shoulders and bring down the waist should be pretty easy.

See You in Autumn

Just a quick post today to show you my completed February Lady Sweater. As I’ve mentioned before, the Knit Picks Chroma that I used is beautiful but it does have it’s challenges.

It’s done!

This adaptation of an Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern was a great introduction to her Knitter’s Almanac – I can definitely see more EZ patterns in my future.

Now to pack it away until it’s cold enough for a wool sweater. Since this is Canada, that probably won’t be too long!

Spring Has Arrived

It’s done and washed and blocked. My Spring Morning cardigan is done, and only a week and a half late. And, this being Canada, it’s still cold enough to wear a thick woollen sweater.

My completed Spring Morning Cardigan

Aaugh!

I had big plans of showing you my finished Spring Morning today; the body and sleeves are done and there was just a bit more to go on the ribbed edging. I decided to take a break from the ribbing to work on the seams and that’s when this happened (cue Charlie Brown wail of frustration).

I hate seaming

No matter how many times I tried redoing the sleeve seams I couldn’t get them to stop puckering, which is what happens when there’s just too much fabric there (that’ll teach me to pay attention to row gauge as well as stitch gauge). I have no choice, I’m going to have to rip back the top of the sleeves and redo them.

But first I think this project is going to the time-out corner for a bit.

24 Days Until Spring

This morning the newscaster mentioned there are 24 days left until spring. I’m making progress on my Spring Morning Cardigan and I think I’ll finish it with plenty of time to spare.

The sleeves are taking shape

Spring is Approaching

Well, I’m making progress on my Spring Morning Cardigan. I decided to leave the colours as they were rather than switching the grey and white like I was considering.

Spring Morning close up