1. Cabled Capelet, 2. Green Eco Wool Cowl, 3. Doubleknitski hat – gray side out, 4. Eco Cowl, 5. Gaia, 6. Kyra, 7. Wurm, 8. Myrtle Leaf Shawl, 9. Whipped, 10. Palindrome, 11. Looped Loop, 12. Beau, 13. Blue Ingenue, 14. Black Ingenue, 15. Voltaire Scarf, 16. Nell, 17. Sky Blue Pink Shawl, 18. cosima1, 19. Basic Black Cardigan, 20. Aleita Shell, 21. Drops 69-18 tank, 22. Summer Swing Jacket, 23. Retro Wild, 24. Golden Vintage Cardigan, 25. Thermal, 26. Hey Teach!, 27. Baby Cables and Big Ones Too, 28. Seed Stitch Shell, 29. Drops 103-1, 30. Mock Turtleneck

A quick and possibly inaccurate counting of my projects for last year comes up with:

5 tank tops
11 sweaters
3 coats
3 neckwarmers
8 scarves
3 capelets/shoulder warmers
2 shawls
3 adult hats
4 baby hats
And a few miscellaneous items – blanket squares, etc.

That was a total of 19 “tops” for the NaKniSweMoDo challenge. I didn’t quite make it to 20, but hopefully that one will be off the needles soon.

Not counting projects still in progress, I knitted about 12.5 miles of yarn last year. Whew!

For having pretty much no clue how the sizing was going to come out, it’s amazing how good the fit turned out to be.

She’s deserving of a better photo shoot, but I’m lucky I can get DH to take even a couple of minutes to play photographer, so a few hurried shots is usually the best I can expect.

Pattern: Nell, from Amber -A Winter Gathering, by Kim Hargreaves
Size: Smallest
Yarn: Cascade 128 Chunky, color 9475 (Sage), 11 skeins
Needles: US 10 (6mm) and US 9 (5.5 mm)
Ravelry: Project page, Pattern page

Modifications: Adjusted the waist shaping to suit my figure and different row gauge, and instead of doing the large cable pattern on the sleeves, did the two smaller cables with an inset of 5 stitches in the same pattern used in the center of the large cables. I thought that doing the full cable pattern would be too overwhelming. I also knitted the coat about 2″ shorter than the pattern called for (but did more pattern repeats, because I had a tighter row gauge). That was actually unintentional, as I meant to knit it to the correct length but messed up my measurements. It worked out well, though, because I like the length. My subconscious evidently knew what it was doing. I didn’t make the belt, because I’m pretty sure I would never wear it.

I knit the sleeves to the same number of rows as specified in the pattern, even though my row gauge was tighter. I figured the sleeves would stretch out quite a bit (which they did), and I didn’t want them hanging down over my hands. I’d prefer about another 1/2 to 1″ of length, but I can probably get that with my final blocking.

I knit the size that was “to fit” a 32″ bust, even though my bust is 36″. It appears that the intended finished size gives about 9″ of positive ease, which was more than I wanted. The coat ended up being about 40″ at rest, which is is pretty good. It’s stretchy enough that it would be fine at 1 to 2″ smaller, but it doesn’t feel oversized.

NaKniSweMoDo #15!

She is done, and a successful knit. Without much thanks to the pattern, though. At least it was quick, only about a week to do (and that included knitting two left fronts).

Aside from knitting each front 2″ narrower, I also knitted the sleeves in stockinette with a lace panel down the center, rather than knitting them in plain reverse stockinette.

Pattern: Cosima, from Berroco Booklet #281
Yarn: Berroco Cuzco, color 9630 “Oliva”, 6 skeins
Needles: US 10 for the body, 9 for the ribbing on sleeves and hem, 8 for the neckline ribbing

Modifications: Where to begin… After analyzing the schematic and the pattern photo, I realized that there was absolutely no way the cardigan was going to look like the photo when knitted in the smaller sizes, though it does seem to look pretty much like the photo when knitted in the larger sizes. A closer look at the pattern photo makes me sure that the body of the cardigan has been pulled back and pinned. I’m pretty sure that if knitted as indicated in the pattern, the cardigan would not drape open at the front for sizes S and XS unless modified, and some of the finished projects on Ravelry show exactly that. Not that it’s bad that way – it’s just not the look I wanted.

One person made the size small for the back, and XS for the fronts, which helped with the oversized front pieces. That looked like it turned out well, but it requires reworking the raglan decreases to make it work. Knitting the next smaller size might also have helped, but then the armscyes would have been smaller too, and it would have made the cardigan tighter across the back.

The biggest problem with this pattern is that the neckline is exactly the same for all sizes (from 32″ to 52″). The only change to the body between sizes are the number of stitches at the side seams, and the shaping of the armscyes. For the smaller sizes, the neckline is just too big, and most of the people had to pick up far fewer stitches than the pattern called for in order to make it work.

I knitted the back piece exactly as indicated in the pattern. Then I knit the left front (again, just as indicated in the pattern), and knitted one sleeve. After pinning all of the pieces together, it confirmed my thoughts about the front. I decided that I didn’t really want to change the back piece or the sleeve, since they seemed fine – I just needed fronts that weren’t as big, and smaller neckline.

To resolve the problem, I eliminated one pattern repeat of the lace. I removed the repeat that was closest to the center, leaving the side seam stitches and armscye shaping as in the pattern. I shaped the neckline just as it would have been shaped from that point. (Basically, it was as if I just cut off 2″ of the original front piece at the center front.) Eliminating one pattern repeat was actually a little more than 2″, so I added one extra purl stitch on each side of the remaining two lace repeats. I knit the right front with my new “pattern”, and it looked fine, so then I reknit the left front. I did make an unintentional modification to the lace pattern – when I charted up my new plan for the right front, I charted the lace pattern as if it were the left front and didn’t notice until I was done knitting it. It looked fine, though, so I just followed the lace pattern for the right front when I knitted the left front.

Although I modified the sleeves to add the lace panel, I didn’t make any modifications to them for size, and they turned out just right.

The pattern called for using US size 10 needles for the body, and US 8 for the ribbing. I used US 9 for the ribbing on the hem and sleeve cuffs by mistake – I thought they were my 8′s, but they worked out fine anyway. For the neckline, I did use the US 8′s, and I picked up the stitches for the neckline at the rate of approximately 4 for 5 stitches, adjusting to make a multiple of 4 stitches + 2. I only made one buttonhole instead of two.

In the end, I was pleased with how it turned out, and it did come out pretty much how I envisioned it.

The Cuzco yarn seems quite nice, but as should be expected, is very warm since it’s a bulky alpaca/wool blend. This will probably be mostly an outdoor sweater for cool weather.

AKA: NaKniSweMoDo #13

I think I jinxed this one by optimistically (arrogantly?) calling it “Lucky Thirteen”. But after much trauma with the sleeves, and knitting four of them, I finally finished and am very happy with the outcome. So I guess it ended up being lucky after all.

Pattern: Basic Black, by Glenna C.
Yarn: Garnstudio Drops Merino Extra Fine, black,
Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) and US 4 (3.5 mm)
Size: 35″, but at a slightly larger gauge. Finished sweater measures 36″ at the bust.
Ravelry: Pattern page; Project page

Modifications:

• Knit the ribbing at the hem and cuffs on the same size needle – only used the smaller needle for the buttonbands.
• Recalculated the sleeves to adjust for my gauge, and also because I wanted slightly slimmer sleeves than as specified by the pattern.
• Also to adjust for my gauge difference, I did an extra set of decreases immediately above the ribbing.

This pattern really lives up to its name – it’s a perfect basic cardigan, and a well-written pattern to boot.

I can certainly see more of these in my future, in other colors.

And I’ve no one to blame but myself.

I knew from the schematics that the sleeve width was larger than I’d usually knit for a fitted sweater. And I knew that although my gauge was correct as knitted, that the yarn would grow when washed. I did knit the sleeve with one less decrease, though two stitches didn’t exactly make much difference. (Yes, I knew that too.)

But I didn’t want to bother to recalculate the sleeve cap. I did consider picking up stitches around the armscye and knitting the sleeve downward, but again, I’d have to take the time to figure out how many stitches to pick up.

I rationalized my madness by deciding that a little more ease would be fine. I didn’t need to have them be skin-tight. Plus, I didn’t think the sleeve looked baggy in most of the finished projects on Ravelry, as long as the sweater itself was not knitted with a lot of positive ease. So what if the sleeves were a bit loose – how bad could it be?

Heh. I found out.

It’s not a great look to have 3″ of positive ease in the sleeves, when the rest of the sweater is fitted. If it were just the width around the biceps, it wouldn’t be too bad. But the entire sleeve cap is too wide, and it really looks like I’ve stuffed a large sleeve into a small armscye.

Well, of course, now I not only have to spend the time to recalculate the sleeve cap, but I have to reknit the entire sleeve. Not to mention that I had nearly a third of the second sleeve knitted already – all the way through all of the increases.

So I guess I’ll be joining Margene and Claudia in the “how many times does a knitter need to learn the same lesson” corner of the room.

If I hadn’t already gotten so much of the second sleeve done, I’d probably be tempted to knit the sleeves top-down. But even with ripping out a few inches to eliminate the unnecessary increases, there’s still quite a bit done already. I guess I’ll just finish that one up following my new calculations and see how it fits.

The bright spot is that I had more than enough yarn, so I can probably (hopefully) just finish up the sweater without frogging the Black Blob of Denial ^(TM). I’d rather not have to reuse superwash wool that’s already been washed – I’m afraid the gauge would be unpredictably different from the rest of the sweater. If I do need to reuse it, I’d rather use it for the buttonbands.

Others think it’s to shop.

Or to see one of the “oldies” bands at The Cannery. (Really – this is one of the greatest entertainment bargains. And it doesn’t hurt that we get to see some of the shows free, courtesy of either my husband or BIL getting tickets “comped” by the casino.)

And all of those things are great, of course.

But maybe it’s really because of all of the great knitting time I get on the drive there and back.

This is the Basic Black cardigan, which I’m hopefully dubbing “Lucky Thirteen” – my 13th NaKniSweMoDo sweater of the year. It’s made from a superwash merino, which I knew would grow when washed. I knitted it with that in mind, going by the results of my gauge swatch. If I’d been home, I would have washed and dried the back piece before starting on the fronts – but since I didn’t have that opportunity (I knitted all of the back except the ribbing, the entire left front, and the ribbing of the right front on the trip), I’ll just be crossing my fingers that it works out. I tossed it into the washing machine, and now it’s laying out to dry.

Think good thoughts.

NaKniSweMoDo #12:

Pattern: Aleita Shell by Bonne Marie Burns, from Interweave Knits Spring 2008.
Size: Small, but at a slightly looser gauge.  Finished top is about 34″.
Yarn: Katia Linen, colorway 8, five skeins (I only used a little of the 5th skein).
Needles: US 6 / 4 mm
Ravelry: Project page

Modifications:

• I did an I-cord bind-off for the back neck stitches, starting with the three held stitches from the right front neck edge, and grafted the end to the three held stitches at the left front neck edge. The pattern has you bind off the back neck stitches, knit neckband pieces from the held stitches at both front neck edges, sew them to the back neck, and graft the ends.
• I only went down two needle sizes (to US 4) for the hem ribbing instead of three (to US 3).
• Added 1″ to length before starting the waist shaping.
• Added an extra column of knit stitches at the side seam, since I didn’t like the large area of purl stitches that would otherwise be at the sides.

There is a small error in the pattern in that it tells you to slip the edge stitches with the yarn in back. That’s fine when you’re working on the RS, but you have to slip the stitches with the yarn in front when working on the WS.

I’m happy with how it turned out. I’ll be able to wear it as a tank top or as a vest over another top.

The pattern has some very nice details, and I’d definitely recommend it, but it’s probably not a good project for a beginner or for anyone who hasn’t made several sweaters before. The techniques include picking up stitches behind existing stitches for the front overlap, and knitting a separate neckband and seaming it (plus grafting stitches). Also, there are a lot of things going on at once at the bodice – splitting the work for the front overlap, decreasing for the neck edge, increasing for the chest, binding off for the armholes and separating the work, decreasing for the armholes, and maintaining the neck and armhole edges in the edging pattern. After doing most of it with counters and marks on paper, I finally gave in and charted it out. Then it was a breeze to just follow the chart. Should have done that in the first place, of course.

NaKniSweMoDo #12 !

Yahoo!

Yes, there appears to be a color change between balls. Dye lots were the same. However, I didn’t notice it when the yarn was dry – only after I soaked it, so I don’t think it will be a problem.

I’ll have more details when I can do a modeled shot.

And in the meantime, of course, I cast on for #13. Basic Black by Glenna C.

Somehow, a black cardigan seems appropriate for the 13th sweater.

This is my Aleita Shell. I’ve got to say, this is a mentally challenging pattern. There are lots of things going on at the same time when you get to the bodice – increases at the side seams, decreases at the neck edge, decreases on both wrong sides and right sides, armhole bindoff and shaping… it’s hard to keep track of it all.

I should have been smarter and charted it all out to begin with, but I was too smug. But then I got to a place where things just didn’t seem to line up right, so I had to chart it out anyway to figure out where the problem was (a decrease where there shouldn’t be one on the left front armhole shaping).  I could just take out the last decrease and call it good, but it’s not really that many rows, so I’ll rip it back.

But otherwise, it’s going pretty well. The pattern has you do the bottom ribbing with a needle 3 sizes smaller than used for the body. Noticing that a lot of people had problems with the hem rolling, I only went down two, and maybe I should only have gone done one. We’ll see after it’s blocked. I’m counting on the linen content of the yarn to make it work.

Although there’s no errata for this pattern that I could find, the instructions tell you to do the slipped stitch edging by slipping purlwise with the yarn in back. As I discovered (and later saw in a bunch of Ravelry projects), you have to slip with the yarn in front when working on the WS. Either this is an error, or I’m wrong about what “with yarn in back” means. If it means “behind the work”, it’s an error. If it means “on the back (wrong side) of the fabric”, then I’ve always misunderstood it.

I’m planning to totally ignore the instructions for the neckband. It has you bind off the neck stitches, then knit a neckband (working upwards on the 3 stitches at each edge of the front), and sew it on, grafting the ends together. The heck with that – I’m going leave the stitches live and do an I-cord edging.

Pattern: Garnstudio DROPS 69-18 Ribbed Top in Safran
Yarn: Garnstudio Safran, color 20 (Maroon), 3.3 skeins
Needles: 3 mm (US 2.5)
Size: S
Ravelry: Project Page

Modifications: Knitted the body about 2.5″ longer, and did one less set of decreases before the straps so that they’d be two stitches wider for better coverage of bra straps.

Verdict: Va-va-voom!  I was afraid the top might end up being a bit too risque for wearing in public, but it came out better than I expected, and there’s plenty of coverage to wear it with a bra. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I love this yarn. All three sizes of the pattern specified 4 skeins of yarn, so I knew there’d be plenty to lengthen the top, but even then, I have more than half a skein left over. I’d probably have made it an inch longer still if I’d known how much I’d have left over. If I hadn’t lengthened it, I -might- have been able to squeak by with 3 skeins, but it would have been close.