Snow White- FO

Snow White has woken from her slumber! Or whatever.


This sweater was finished in a month, yay! I realize that for some people that is nothing, but for me, 2x2 ribbing on size 7's in a month is an accomplishment. Mostly because I was pretty monogamous with this project as I was test knitting it for Ysolda and she wanted it done by the end of June. Mine finished blocking two days ago and my partner was able to help me photograph it yesterday. So here, on the last day of June, is my Snow White!
For this sweater, I used 9.5 balls of Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk Aran in color 15 Clipper. I knit the Medium size and made a couple of minor modifications. I have a long torso and a bit of a belly, so I usually add an inch or two (or four in the case of the Greek Pullover). I added an inch or so at the bottom and probably didn't need to.

I also did only 12 rows of garter rib at the cuff instead of 24 and only realized it after I'd finished the sleeve, so I just added another 12 rows of ribbing to the top so that the overall length was the same. And then I repeated all of that with the second sleeve.

In the pattern you are given the option of doing a sewn tubular bind-off for the neck or you can do a picot bind-off. I chose the picot.

Overall thoughts about the pattern? I absolutely love it. The shaping is amazing, its so visually intresting as well as functional, yet still simple. If I were to do it again, I would do the tubular cast-on for the hem of the body on a larger needle (I actually did do it on a larger needle than the US 7 I used for the body, but apparantley it wasn't quite large enough). I would do the 24 garter rib rows instead of my mistake (although I think the cuffs look fine, I'm not complaining).
I'm also not 100% sure I'd use the yarn again. In a sweater like this, you really have to use a yarn that is soft against the skin, because lets face it, I can't even wear a bra with this sweater. Which means its best knit with a merino of some sort or something equally as soft. However, a lot of these yarns show wear kind of quickly, including the Sublime yarn I used. The yarn was absolutely delicious to knint with but it has a tiny bit of a halo already and I've never even worn it properly (it is June in Ohio, after all). I guess time will tell how much this yarn stands up to wear.




Now go buy the pattern! (erm, when its published, which I think is going to be soon!)

Best. Thing. Ever!

Another Shetland Triangle- FO

Yes, I liked the pattern that much. This was done with 3 balls of Rowan Cashsoft 4ply and size US 8 needles. Yay for another Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style!

FO- Shetland Triangle

This is the Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style knit on 3.75 skeins of Louisa Harding Grace on US 9 needles.

Rogue- FO

I finished this last month but hadn't gotten around to taking pictures of it. I had read a lot of 5-star reviews of Malabrigo yarn when I decided to take the plunge and buy enough to make a sweater, sight unseen. I am not sorry, myfriends. This yarn has held up really well and is super soft and not outrageously expensive. The pattern is Rogue. I used US 8 needles just barely under 6 hanks of yarn (100gm hanks). I knit the smallest size (36") and added a bit of length to the trunk and arms.

Kim's Hats- FO (and a teaser!)

Today was a red-letter day in knitting for me. I finished TWO sweaters! Granted, I had a lot of time at home today, and its not like these sweaters were started last week. I started Trumpet in the first half of May and Snow White around Memorial Day weekend. I've also had a few days off here and there (yay Memorial Day weekend, Birthday Weekend, and Comfest) that have helped out greatly. They are all on the blocking board as we speak (well, the trunk of Trumpet was blocked about a month ago) and I should have pictures sometime next weekend. But for now, here's another FO from earlier this month.

I knit this hat for my boss, she really wanted a hat with earflaps that wasn't ugly or itchy. Enter Kim's Hats from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, knit on US 8 needles with GGH Bel Air yarn, two strands held together. I made the women's size and it came out a tad too big, but my boss liked it and that's what counts, right?

FO- Cabled Spiral Pullover

Well, I guess my last post shows why it has been so damn long since I've posted on here. The reason is that I've become addicted to Ravelry. Part of why I started this blog was to keep an electronic notebook with details of my finished projects for my own reference. I used to keep a paper notebook and this sort of replaced that. But, as not everyone is on Ravelry, I shall continue to post!



This is my beloved Cabled Spiral Pullover from Knitting Nature
I knit the 36" bust size out of 628g (a little over six skeins) of Sarah's Yarns 4ply DK Mongolian Cashmere in Rich Blueberry. Yes, that's right, I knit a sweater out of cashmere. Its totally scrumptious and I got the yarn at wholesale. It was still an expensive sweater, but not the most expensive I've ever made. I used US 6 needles for this sweater. I also converted this sweater from a flat-knit sweater to an in-the-round sweater, I lengthened the body, and I added waist shaping to it (why the hell people design sweaters without waist shaping is beyond me). This sweater gets 8 million thumbs up, I love it, and I'm so sorry I finished it when it was beyond too hot out to wear it.

Ravelry

For years I've been very anti-Myspace. Most of my friends have Myspace profiles and, either now or at other points in their lives have been... well, addicted to this site. Now, I think that professionally this can be a really wonderful tool. Authors, musical artists, bands, librarians/libraries, movies- these groups of people often have Myspace pages to offer information about their work. It is like an enhanced webpage. Lovely, I'm all for it. However, when Susie spends her time going to her boyfriend's Myspace page, searching for evidence that he is cheating on her by looking at his comments, or comments he has left other people, or when Bob searches his ex's pictures to figure out if she has a new boyfriend yet, this enables disgusting stalker-like behavior. Barf. And frankly, I don't need friends to leave me comments about how drunk I/They/Their cat was last night, even if they DID barf on someone I hate and I'd be really excited about it. I have a cellphone and email for that sort of necessary information.
Now, rewind to before Myspace was popular. I used to have similar feelings about blogs. Most of the blogs I was seeing back in, oh 2003, were of the "look at me! look at me! see what I had for breakfast?" variety. Lovely. I don't give a crap. But then I discovered the magic that is knitting blogs. I started by reading a post on Craftster by Eunny Jang on her Union Square Market Pullover. And I thought, "Wow, this woman knits beautiful things. I want to knit beautiful things. She doesn't knit with Fun Fur. I hate fun fur. I like the patterns she works on. I think I'll read this occasionally!" Then, in a post, she linked to another blogger, and I started reading another blog, until I had 3 or 4 blogs I checked every day. Then my boyfriend showed me the RSS reader in my web browswer (Safari- for Macs) and there was no turning back.
I read blogs not to be voyeuristic and peek into others' lives. I read blogs to peek into others' knitting bags and stashes. I like to see what other people are knitting, to get ideas for what I want to knit next or to find out what yarn I want to knit with. If a post doesn't contain knitting content or pictures, I move on. I am most interested in finished objects, with details following (which is why I set my blog up this way). I am also, at home, very interested in organization. I am a librarian and crave order. I have my yarn stash and needle inventory catalogued in Excel spreadsheets. I am... a dork. So though I never imagined myself joining a social networking site (like Myspace), I am eating my words. I have fallen in love. No, not with Myspace, but with Ravelry. I believe it will change the fiber arts world. It has changed my world. It is my Excel spreadsheets combined with my Flickr collection of knitting photos combined with Craftster combined with blogs. Holy moly.
I am Cabbage on Ravelry. Join in the madness!

Men's Rustic Scarf from LMKG- FO

Pattern: Men's Rustic Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: Maggi's Tweed Fleck Aran
Needles: US 11