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GUYS. I finally finished Featherweight. I started this stupid thing in OCTOBER and I am usually mostly project monogamous.
Pattern: Featherweight Cardigan, by Hannah Fetig
Yarn: Jaggerspun Zephyr Wool/Silk, about a quarter(ish) of a one-pound cone in Bottle Green I got in a Ravelry swap (for two skeins of Misti Alpaca Lace. I KNOW)
Needles: US 6/4 mm circ and dpns
Mods: Added length in the body and the sleeves; did the collar/edgings in garter stitch
Okay, so you can see the ladders in the sleeve where I switched dpns (and THAT stopped when I got smart and used a circular), and yeah, the collar is little funny, and YEAH, the sleeves are at a slightly awkward length, but guys?
THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING SWEATER EVER.
And I’m only partially saying that because it’s an entire cardigan knit in laceweight yarn.
But seriously, it’s soft and light and warm and totally perfect for casually throwing over a tank top when it starts to cool down in the evening. I’m so incredibly pleased that it’s done and I get to wear it.
If I lose it, though, I’ll probably have to off myself.
Anyway, the yarn. It’s wonderful. Soft and light and shiny (probably the silk) and definitely the nicest yarn I’ve ever used. There’s no way I could afford this if I had to actually buy it. It did bleed like a mother in the bath, but it stopped eventually (mostly). I currently have 3/4 of a pound of it left on the cone, and while I’ll probably keep about 600-800 yards for a nice shawl, I’m thinking about destashing the rest. Probably at whatever price WEBS currently has it at or slightly less since I really only paid about $20 for it ($17ish for the two skeins of Misti Alpaca Lace I traded for it and $2-3 to ship said alpaca to the person to whom I traded it).
If anyone on here is interested, let me know. I could be persuaded to sell in 4oz. lots, but not till I get home for the summer where I have a scale I can use to weigh it.
Anyway. GUYS. FEATHERWEIGHT. It’s DONE.
First thing’s first:
That’s right people, FEATHERWEIGHT IS DONE. My longest wip EVER (since October) is finally DONE. I settled for 3/4 length sleeves instead of the full length ones I originally planned for, BUT STILL. IT’S DONE. It’s currently laid out on my bed, drying after a soak and I can’t wait til it’s dry. It fits beautifully (before blocking at least), and I’m so pleased with it. AND, the thing I’m most pleased with is this:
When I started Featherweight, I grabbed the pound cone of the yarn and hand-wound a ball of it that kind of looked like the 100 g of lace weight that the pattern calls for. I totally guessed, having only a 100g ball of worsted weight wool to compare it to. That little ball of yarn up there is all I had left of my original hand-wound ball after knitting THE ENTIRE SWEATER.
I’m so good.
Anyway, I’ll have a proper FO post of this sweater on Thursday probably.
Clearly April is raglan fever time (Featherweight and Seafoam plus…), cause I started a new sweater. It’s just going to be a little shrug, so it shouldn’t take that long and it will be perfect for wearing over tube tops (I always feel awkward in them). It looks like this so far:
I’m using some Regia Silk sock yarn I got in a destash on Ravelry, and ohmigod, it’s SO SOFT. I love this stuff.
While I was soaking Featherweight earlier today, I got around to another craft project I’ve been meaning to do. I went from this:
to this:
A bit of scrapbook paper and some buttons make for a much prettier pencil cup than the plastic cup I’ve been using. It was super easy and took all of five minutes. AND because of where the paper joined, the seam is practically invisible:
I mean, you can see it if you look up close, but if you’re just glancing, you can’t see it at all. : )
So, I finished my Summer Cardi reknit, which I have named Seafoam, for the lace at the bottom:
Pattern: My own, which I have written and am getting test knitted. Will be available… sometime in April, maybe. Maybe not til May. Some time.
Yarn: Cascade Sierra, EXACTLY three skeins (like… less than a yard left over)
Needles: US 6/4 mm Knit Picks Options Circ and Susan Bates dpns.
So I like this sweater a lot. It’s very comfy and perfect for throwing on over a tank or cami if it’s not quiiiite warm enough. I also love my ribbon closure. I originally planned for an open front, but I didn’t really like how that looked, so I added the ribbon (which is actually bias tape, but it works). Also, I’ve raved about the yarn before, but I’ll tell you again: I love Cascade Sierra. I have a serious passion for the yarn, I’m not going to lie. Soft, comfy, sparkly in the right light… LOVE.
Here’s a close up of the lace bit of the sweater:
As I said, I’ve written up the pattern for this, and it’s currently with test knitters (the pictures will be better for the final pattern though, I promise). I mathed out seven different sizes (and I messed it up completely once but then I worked it out and it was HARD but now it WORKS), and I’m so pleased with myself.
I’m also working on various swap things, including an OWS claim and the Yarnie/Sewer swap. I’ve also started working on Featherweight again, so apart from the swap stuff, the next FO might be a while out (you know, unless I get seduced by a new project). I kind of just want to get through Featherweight though. I know it’ll be really useful in the coming months and it’s sooo wonderful and light and soft (wool/silk lace weight… YUM) but it’s sooooo boring and tedious to knit. I want the cardi though, and I’m not currently in the mood to knit anything I can’t use in the spring/summer, so we’ll say. Maybe I’ll actually just get through it.
…about this Ravelympics sweater thing. I steeked it. And it was scary. And I’m still not convinced the whole thing won’t unravel.
Before steek:
(Nice and safe.)
After steek:
(Holy Christ, it’s all gonna come apart.)
Hot hot steek action:
(I shouldn’t even touch it.)
Hot hot colorwork action:
(Awww yeah.)
Ahem. Anyway. So. Let’s snag a peek at the calendar. It’s Thursday, February 25. This sucker is supposed to be DONE on Sunday. Cast off, finished, caput. Wearable. And my thought on Tuesday, when I did the steek, was that it would be. Except for one thing.
I BOUGHT THE WRONG ZIPPER A MONTH AND A HALF AGO.
Cause I thought I could fiddle with it and make it work. I though I could fix one side of a regular zipper and make a separating zipper.
Turns out, you can’t.
So I have a sweater with an OPEN WOUND.
Fortunately, I was able to get to Walmart and get a new zipper. It’s not the color I wanted, but I suppose it’ll do. And it means I’ll still be able to get gold with my sweater. Cause that’s totally happening.
Look for a FO post on Saturday or Sunday cause this sucker is gonna be DONE.
I know all of you guys do. And I am all too willing to oblige:
One sleeve totally done and attached and the other sleeve up to my elbow. Which means I have about 8.5 more inches of sleeve to knit and I will finally be up to the colorwork. O hai thur, gold medal. You’re so gonna be mine.
Okay, not really. But the main crafty portion of the package I sent to spolowitz gave me some hell. I claimed her for a knitting project bag and a learn to spin kit.
First, there was a spindle and some roving, part of the stuff I ordered when I was first starting to spin:
And then there was a lovely little book of spinning instructions, which I drew and wrote by hand. The directions probably aren’t the best as I haven’t been spinning that long myself, but I tried, and I like how it came out, especially my little spindle diagrams:
And then there was this bag.
I tried to make a round-bottom bag with a lining and that turned out… poorly. For the sake of my sanity, we’ll leave it at that, but suffice it to say that it was bad. The finished version is cute though. I especially like the applique:
Yay, swappage.
PS: Here’s the Ravelympics sweater:
(I got bored with the long rounds and started a sleeve. The body is about halfway done (well, halfway to where I join the sleeves, anyway). It’s about 9″ long and I want it to be close to 17″.)
So I’ve decided that I will be participating in this year’s Ravelympics. The idea, as far as I know, started with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (the Yarn Harlot) and involved completing some sort of fibery thing in the 17-odd days of the winter Olympics. The Ravelympics operates in the summer now too, but as the winter Olympics are what’s happening, that’s what I’m talking about.
There are various teams you can join (I’m on a team for sweater knitters) and there are a whole list of events. I’ve already decided what I’m going to attempt to finish, and it involves this pile o’ yarn:
That’s two skeins of Fisherman’s Wool in Oatmeal and various skeins of wool in other colors. And also a zipper. I’ve decided to do the Sweaterboard Cross, the Nordic Colorwork Combined, and the Stash Compulsory Dance (some of those various other skeins I’ve had for a while). I’m making a colorwork yoke sweater using EZ’s Icelandic Yoke Sweater with a zipper. And I’m gonna STEEK IT. And it might be scary. Anyway, it’s worsted weight, so it shouldn’t take me that long and I might finish. If I do, I’m throwing my hat into the Lace Luge and the WIP-dancing and attempt to finish Featherweight. I won’t, of course, but I’m hoping the extra motivation will encourage me to get some of it done.
My cast on time was nine p.m. yesterday (Friday, Feb. 12), and I did cast on. Between last night and my post today, I managed to get all the way through the ribbing of the bottom band and begin the miles of stockinette.
And here’s where my steek is going to happen:
(It’s even marked off by my pretty pretty star stitch markers from the quotes swap I did a while back.)
Yes. Exciting. I’m so getting gold. : )
Oh, and also, I have a couple other things to post (a scarf I was working on, some swap things), so I’ll have non-Ravelympics stuff to post about while I’m knitting away on my sweater, but I’ll be sure to include a shot of the sweater in those posts so you can see how I’m coming along (and if I appear to have any hope of success).
Pattern: Girl Friday, from the most recent Fall Knitty.
Yarn: Valley Yarns Northampton in Amethyst, almost four skeins.
Needles: US 8/5 mm
Mods: Changed the lace pattern to omit the purl bits, did fewer sleeve increases, increased length.
So I’m completely in love with this sweater. Great color, great pattern. Warm. I LOVE the shawl collar. The sleeve caps came out a little short (my fault), but totally wearable. The sleeves are long enough and the body is long enough. LOVE. I will wear it all the time. Especially since the shawl collar will protect my neck when I flip it up.
So: Great sweater. I made the XS which resulted in sweater fronts that aren’t quite wide enough, but fortunately, I love how the sweater looks with an open front. My original plan was to do button loops and buttons, but I decided against it. I wear my cardigans open most of the time anyway.
I’m really glad I changed the lace pattern too. The purl bits made the lace look too arrow-like to me, so I just replaced them with knits. And now I have diamond-type things, and I love it.
The pattern is great though. Clear and easy to follow, and I love the extra-long sleeves. They’re actually perfect for me–I wear all of my sleeves rather long. The yarn is also quite lovely. I used Valley Yarns Northampton, which I got from WEBS. I think I used about 3.5 skeins. I obviously can’t comment on wear and tear or how it holds up over time, but it seems to be a pretty sturdy yarn. It’s definitely a lot… beefier than the Wool of the Andes or Cascade Eco I’d used in sweaters before. It’s a little heavy (though I think thinner than the 220 I’m using for another sweater currently).
Anyway, I will definitely be getting a ton of wear out of this sweater. I’m ridiculously thrilled with how it came out, and it looks pretty great on me, if I do say so myself (and I do).
So if you read the subject, you’ll know what I’ve been up to lately in the craft world. Mostly, I’ve been working on my Girl Friday sweater, which now has half a sleeve:
I also started spinning the superwash merino I got from my boyfriend for my birthday:
(Yes, it’s hella pretty)
My goal for this is about 400 yards of a fingering weight single. I’d like to make a shawl, probably something Ishbel-like (with a stockinette section and a lace edging). I might even just buy the Ishbel pattern and knit that.
So that’s what I’m working on currently. I also just finished a pair of fingerless mitts, but I’m going to wait on showing those to you because I want to at least mail them first. But they’re really pretty. : ) Knit Picks Palette in Fog and Heart and Sole in Spring Stripes (I was seriously worried I wasn’t going to have enough contrast color, but I did).
Okay, who remembers sweater number 12 of the knit-12-sweaters-in-a-year challenge? Anyone? Well, it looks like this:
Yes, Lilith. Well, I spent some time writing things out and getting things test-knitted, and now it’s a free pattern, for all to enjoy!
(Mini copyright notice: Don’t be a jerk. You didn’t write the pattern, so don’t say you did. Link people back to the blog if you want to share it. Don’t sell the pattern anywhere.)
LILITH
(Ravel it here!)
An original design by Breeanna Sveum
http://adulterouswhoresclub.wordpress.com
bsveum@gmail.com
Notes:
1. This is less of a pattern and more of a general guideline. The sweater is basically a top-down raglan with some modifications for the wrap front.
2. Because of this, there are no sizes and there will not be row by row directions. Knit each section (like the arms) until it fits you.
3. All increases occur in right-side (knit) rows.
Materials:
– Yarn. For a small, I used about 200 g of worsted weight (about four skeins of Knit Picks Comfy Worsted). For the short sleeves, the whole thing takes probably the same amount as a cami or tank top. Longer sleeves will require more yarn.
– US 7/4.5 mm 24” circular needle and dpns or size to achieve gauge you like.
– Four stitch markers
– Waste yarn
– Four 1” buttons plus one smaller one
Abbreviations:
CO: Cast on
K: Knit
P: Purl
pm: Place marker
kfb: Knit into the front and back, increasing by one
k2tog: Knit two together
p2tog: Purl two together
BO: Bind off
2×2 Ribbing: Knit 2, purl 2 across.
Instructions:
Body:
CO 61 stitches. (for a wider neckline, you may want to cast on a few more and adjust below)
K7, pm, K11, pm, K25, pm, K11, pm, K7
Purl across.
You will now begin the raglan increases for the sleeves. kfb before and after each marker on each right side row until the second section and the fourth sections (between markers one and two and between three and four) are large enough to fit around your arms.
AT THE SAME TIME: Increase one by lifting the bar between two stitches (m1) after the first stitch and right before the last stitch of the first right side row and every tenth row. For a wider front (for a larger bust), increase every eight or six rows.
When arm sections are long enough*, knit to first marker, remove marker, and place the next section of stitches (before the next marker) on scrap yarn. Remove the next marker. Knit across back to next marker. Remove it, then place next set of stitches on scrap yarn. Remove the last marker and knit to end of row, including any increases for the front that are necessary.
*Instead of trying to get the sleeve around your arm, you can measure it will GAUGE! Take your stitch gauge over four inches (we’ll say 12) and your arm measurement around your upper arm, including desired ease, (we’ll say 12” for simplicity) and multiply them (144), then divide by four (36). This will give you the number of stitches for your sleeve. When you have, say, 36 stitches in your sleeve sections, put them on scrap yarn and continue below.
Continue in stockinette, increasing at the beginning and end of each row every four rows (more often if you’re busty) until the fronts meet (it should be just under your bust).
Increase at the beginning and end of every other row until fronts overlap at least one inch. Continue in stockinette until desired length is reached.
Knit 1.5 inches of 2×2 ribbing. BO loosely.
Sleeves:
Transfer stitches on scrap yarn to dpns, distributing as comfortable. Pick up and knit 3 to 5 stitches in the gap underneath the sleeve. Join in the round and knit one row in stockinette. Decrease one stitch (k2tog) per round until you have a multiple of four stitches (if you already have a multiple of four, decrease four stitches). Continue knitting in stockinette (knit every row) until sleeve reaches an inch above elbow.. Knit 1.5 inches of 2×2 ribbing and BO loosely. Repeat for other sleeve.
Neckline/Button band:
Starting at lower right corner of cardigan, pick up and knit stitches all the way up the front, around the back of the neck and down the other side of the left front. Pick up about four stitches for every five rows/stitches you see.
Knit two rows of 2×2 ribbing.
Knit in ribbing to last 28 stitches (where fronts overlap). K2, yo, p2tog, *K2, P2, K2, yo, p2tog, Repeat from * twice more (or more for more button holes). K2.
Knit two more rows of 2×2 ribbing.
BO loosely.
Block/wash if desired and sew on four larger buttons to match buttonholes. Sew on smaller button on inside of right front where fronts cross. The button should fit in the stitches to straighten out the overlap so the front left that’s underneath doesn’t fall/get wrinkled up.
Lilith pattern is protected by a Creative Commons copyright: You may print the pattern for personal use, but please do not sell the pattern or items made from the pattern without express, written permission from the author, Breeanna Sveum, who can be reached at bsveum@gmail.com. Please do not pass off the pattern as your own. Print as many copies as you like, but the copywrite information, as well as contact information MUST appear on all copies. In other words, don’t be a jerk..
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 