I DID IT!!!!

HOLY COW!

I FINISHED! It is 10:46pm Atlantic time. How is that for close??

There was much (MUCH!!) frustration and frogging. And then there was more frogging. You'd think I never knit before.

Here are some pictures.

The first time I ripped back the sleeve caps.

Then the second time I was working with live stitches of the sleeve caps.

For the third time, see that wine glass? Yes, fortitude was required.

Past 6pm by then. (Thanks for asking!)

And just to show off, the inside out shot:And a moment of glee:

YAHOO!

My favourite thing? That's easy. I totally love how the neck turned out. I didn't make it a proper V, instead knit the V to about half-way and then knit straight. Once the sweater is blocked I will post more photos, and close-ups of the neck.

(Boy, am I ever glad this March Sweater Madness is done!)

Thanks so much, Michelle, for organizing it!

The End is In Sight

Kind of, that is! I finished the back last night (again!). I wish I had made my sleeves before even attempting the upper body of this sweater. Would have saved me loads of time and grief. I knew my one sleeve fit perfect. But when I was shaping my arm holes I kept thinking that it looked terribly small. In a moment of pure brilliance I put the sleeve to the arm hole and measured off the sleeve. Way easier than following that pattern. After all, every body is different. The perfect sweater will not end up perfect if one is going to blindly follow a pattern without making some adjustments.

Any hoo, now I have the front to knit which will go relatively fast because of the V-neck. After that, the cap on the second sleeve, the neck, and put it all together. By the end of this evening I should be done. No time left for procrastinating now!

31 Nice

Ah that extra day is great! I thought March only had 30 days!
I have a few more inches on the sleeves left to do then it is seeming up for me...I am totally going to make it!

Count Down

It is already the 30th on this side of the ocean.

How is everyone doing? Done by midnight on Saturday (blocking doesn't count).

I am still trying to located the pattern for my UFO for the April project. argh!

-Holly

With New Determination

Gretchen, Barbara...lets do it! You are right there is still time...forget cleaning..I am going to plop in front of the TV and work this baby out...I will not fail!

April UFO sightings

Has everyone picked out a UFO for April?
I am really hoping that my sweater does not end up as my April UFO.

Back Posting

Perhaps you were relieved when I was not invading your screen?

Blogger, for whatever reason in its pointy little programing that substitutes for a mind had locked me out. Not just of this blog, but of the other two KAL in which I am participating. I was caught in some infinite do-loop where it wanted me to upgrade this blog [and me?] to blogger2.

This blog, from the looks of the URL is already there. Whatever.

Knitting

I have finished up the mate for each of two orphan socks and started a sock-of-the-month from one of those I joined. I am not terribly thrilled with either the yarn or the pattern. Pix are here under 27 March.

I am much happier with the baby sweater. At least it is nice yarn, the stripes show progress and it has a nice hand.

Needles and Things

I have one set of put together needles, I almost never use it for two reasons. The first is that it does not have tiny needles and most of what I do requires 4,0 mm or smallter. The second is that I just don't find the cables all that flexible.

I mostly like hardwood needles (rosewood and ebony). With the fortune of living in Germany for a lot of years, I am paying a lot less than all of you (about half) so that I have been able to build up my collection over the years.

How about something as a group project for May - only something smaller......

-Holly

Mostly Love for KP options

I like the needles too, but I am working with them on my MSM sweater and have one side that unscrews...so that's not cool!

Things Are SO Not Good!

Hi Ladies. I was indeed out of touch with the knitting for a while. Full days going by without yours truly ever touching the knitting needles. Granted some of those days were really busy, but honestly: too busy to knit?? Hasn't happened for a very long time. There was quality family time and quality farm work that needed doing... And quality distressing that wouldn't have been accomplished by what I had to do to the sweater (see photo at left).

I finally ripped with great abandon on Sunday night, very late at night. There may have been a glass of wine present.

Today, no knitting-objects-in-progress where injured, maimed, or otherwise mutilated.
The bottom photo shows progress as of yesterday. One sleeve done, another waiting to be capped. And the rest of the sweater. Well. Time will be the witness.

Since you asked....

I love the KP Options. I have the Boye too (a gift) and after they unscrewed themselves while I was knitting in a movie theater I've been afraid of them. The options are lighter than the boye (I think - but they're not bamboo by any means) and the joins and details are nice. I find myself using them exclusively. And I think if you have problems they replace stuff pretty quickly.

update

Hi all! I was on that crazy island too! I was also on the island of everyone in my house was sick with the flu so I'm back and trying hard to finish. Back and sleeves done and I'm up to the sleeves on the front and need to start decreasing for the v-neck.

I did make a nice pair of doctors office socks though!!

still knitting in Connecticut...
Denise

Confession

I must confess, I did put this sweater aside for a week or so. Sleeve Island has not been good to me, but I looked at the date today and immediatly picked up the sweater for a few rows..yikes the 26th??
So off I go again. I am kind of thinking there is an end in sight as the sweater has sloppy shoulders so maybe I don't have to make the sleeves too long???
Barbara, had dissapeared...I think she is on the island too...any progress on the sleeves?
When you type sleeves so many times it just looks wrong...am I sleeping??

Still knitting

OK - so I am now about 7" into the body (in the round), and I think it's going pretty well. I finally passed the ribbing this weekend and now the subway knitting is quick and easy.

Here's my problem. I decided (as you may or may not remember) to knit the 43.5 inch version after several aborted cast ons. My gauge in stockinette has been 18/4". I figured this would give me close enough to the right size (I have a 46/48 bust - depending on the wind).

I am concerned that my gauge is going to tighten up in the round, however. I was thinking I would knit an inch or two, then check it. If it's too tight I was thinking I'd move up a needle size (thank you KP options....). I only really need it bigger at the bust, and it's a deep V-neck, and I'm really worried about it being too big not too small......There's also blocking.....

Any opinions? I am using the Shelridge Farms, but I haven't blocked the sleeve I finished (though I keep telling myself to do it...) to see just how much it grows.

I might be able to post a photo later tonight.

I've measured this a lot

Of course I finally take some pictures an Ohbz, aka the biggest cat ever, decides to flop down to act as scale....but it's hard to punish a Jedi cat-especially a rather dim-witted one. (Ohbz's official name is orange Blossom the First shortened to OB1 then for some reason just pronounced as Ohbz)

I'm about 11 inches up so I have about 3 more pattern repeats to go until the arm holes. Knitting feels really slow going on this. I havr to remind myself there is 111 stitches in each row but it still seems to be dragging.

Luckily I have a distraction: Gummi Bunny Socks. (Well if he's going to lie there he's may as well model) I'll finish turning the heel tonight and motor through the foot on my weekend lunch hours. The sock looks kinda shrimpy but again this cat is really huge, think medium sized dog and you'ed be on the right track. Also my ball winding skills are mediocre at best.

I know what your thinking , only 2 projects? Well I am trying to pursuade mom to knit the strap to my messanger bag. It took me about 5 tries at 4 inches length before I realized it wasn't going to work. There are a lot of impatience vibes rewound into that Noro. But again only 2 projects on the go isn't my style. Remember way back I had wanted to knit Vivika from some recycled yarn? This yarn to be exact.
Well it's decided to be a sweater coat. To be exact the City Coat from Domiknitrix. I am really hoping to have it done by the middle of next month. Repeat after me: It's Garter stitch with polar weight yarn on really big needles...It's garter stitch with polar weight yarn on really big needles...it's gar

Still Knitting

Hi everybody! I haven't been posting because showing progress on sleeves just seems plain boring. See? Told you.

The good news is that both my sleeves are now 20" long and ready for the cap shaping. Semi-good news is that I tried the body on yesterday and it fits reasonably well, except for the back, which, just as I suspected, is too long. I will tink back a few inches and once again re-knit the shoulder shaping. It's a little bit loose under the arms as well. I am contemplating tinking it back even further to get a better fit or hoping that attaching the sleeves and weaving in all the ends will work a bit of magic. My mistake was attempting the shaping (as per pattern) after the colour work. I should have just gone straight up. Knit and learn.

Still Knitting?

This is a call out to the girls who are still working away.
Is there still progress being made?
Barbara? Gretchen? Denise?
I have about 10 inches of the sleeves done. Photos soon...my photo time has been busy with store updates but I will make sure to take one soon!

Who has stared on new projects?? Let's see them!

For the ladies still knitting...Holly who came in second place...has kindly decided to decline her second place prize and would like to distribute it among the remaining knitters who finish their sweater within this month.
So anyone who finishes this month gets a prize!

Sleeves...

I can't get over how long it's taking me to knit these sleeves! One is almost 18" long and I still have another 2" to go before I start the shaping. The other sleeve is just past my elbow. One thing I can say for certain is that they are going to fit well. I hate big floppy sleeves and after the original mishap of trying to stay in my size, I started over with only a 42 stitch cast on. Because my arms are so long, I increased every 8 rows versus what the pattern called for and every 5 rows for the upper arms.

Look out weekend here I come..

Ok I TOTALLY missed this weekend...it is now sunday night and I got nothing except for two inches (one on each sleeve)
My whole weekend was taken up typing out a 24 page project for Chris. He is an Arborist Apprentice and this project was insane...he is not computer literate and typing this out would have been his death for certain.
So...knitting will commence tomorrow...I have a little store update to do *Deb...no looking* of the merino tencil semi solids I did last weekend and then it is on to knitting...oh..after I finish the day of work in the office...I have tuesday to work on the store...hopefully I can get the self striping stuff up!
Oh yeah..and knit my sleeves...gotta finish this off this month!

This is why I am measuring $1.50 Cardi every single row.

It's a nice sweater, know anyone it may fit....? That pink line is from the front of the sweater, it's not the sleeve.

I wasn't going to show these but it's been too quiet!

So close to the finish

OK I've finished both sleeves and the back and I am determined to finish the front this weekend (Thank you NCAA men's basketball!!)

Without you ladies, this sweater would have been put aside about a week ago, so I am definitely in for another project.

Quick question...should I block the individual pieces or the sweater after I put it together?

I will post pics when I've finished the front!!

Denise

Don't get Tired of Me!

I haven't knit a single stitch yet today, but we'll be watching a movie in a little while so there is a perfect opportunity.

Now, I would like you all to check out this site: http://garnstudio.com/lang/en/kategori_oversikt.php

Maybe we could pick a joint project from there? A nice summer top perhaps?

Again???

Ladies...I have had sooo much fun doing this...would anyone be interested in doing another project together.
That way we can still have fun and support the ladies (like me) who are still plugging away.
Let me know your thoughts...it does not have to be a sweater

I'm making some progress on the sleeves. Haven't tried the body on yet. Procrastination rears it's ugly head. I'm just putting it off in case I do have fixing to do.

I would like to get this sweater done and soon, but I've stalled. I knit yesterday on the way to the city and I did get a fair amount done, but I don't feel as excited about it as I did at the beginning. Thank goodness for this group, or else this project would have already turned into a UFO.

I had a scare

OK. So I decided to do the body in the round, cast on 264 (132 +132) and eventually discovered I twisted the stitches so I had to frog.

When I pulled the thing off the needles (32" circs), it was about 68 inches around. I know my gauge is off, but yikes. It shouldn't be that off. I'm tempted to go for the next size smaller.

I'm frightened....should I be worried?

it's a tank top!

Whoo! I am finished the front...so technically I have a very warm tank top!
I will be casting on the sleeves hopefully today...I am going to do 2 at a time.
This will be my first time and I am pretty sure it will be no problem...but I am excited to work both sleeves.
Gretchen and I have been talking about yardage for the sleeves, I am hoping it will only take 1 ball per sleeve...any ideas Holly?

She had better like it!

Well, I went with a simple ribbing on smaller needles. It looks fairly decent. I have even sewn in all the ends.

Now I suppose that I should go back to the flipping baby sweaters, interspersed with socks... Otherwise I suppose that I could also consider finishing up some WIPs or even tackle a UFO!

-Holly

Notice anything different?

Yeah. Me neither.

Is there a prize for last place?

Well, It's done...

..maybe not done very well, but really it's my first sweater. I tend to not do big projects due to gnat like attention span.

I learned that I need to leave a lot more yarn for a tail when I cast on (like the knot in the sleeve) and have desided to take a Finishing Course at this years Knitters Frolic. Tho rule one seems to be if you seam during a new episode of Bones you'll be seaming it twice. Mainly because one piece will be reversed.

It's comfy warm and wearable, tho not really so much in public. Apparently 14" of ease looks way better on paper and that model on the page. I have to say I really like the sleeves, they fit great I tapered them in at the elbow and flared it back out at the wrist. And the colour work came out pretty good too.

My grandma made sweaters for 3 daughters, 3 sons-in-law and 6 grandkids. She told me that she had to lie and say she made her first sweater for her yougest sister because she couldn't get

it on. She didn't double the measurements in the book, she thought the measurement on the diagram was for the whole way around. Of course this didn't affect the length. So it turned into a sort of pinafore dress. Apparently great-auntie wasn't overly impressed, especially as great-gramma made her wear it. At least I can wear mine myself.

Attaching Sleeves

On Sunday, I finished up the first sleeve and attached it to the sweater body by hooking the stiches through to the inside, knit around one row, then binding off.









This gave me a nice, clean inside bind-off.




And I think a decent appearance on the inside.







Miriam was willing to try it on. Of course, it has taken me a couple of days to manage to do the 10 cm that had to be added to the second sleeve and get it bound in.



But now we have the issue. the Miriam did not like the look of a crocheted neck line. So I have to come up with something else. She has also veto'd the idea of a rolled trim. If I can't think of anything else, she is going to get simple ribbing.

If any of you have any good ideas, please help me out.

-Holly

Progress at a Turtle's Run

Ah I am still here and working on Vivika. Here is the progress on the front.

Is it bad that I don't edit out my jogging pants? Also can we see a running theme with Simon...He can't stay away when I am doing photography...this is so normal...he is very attached right now.
Back to the sweater...I am at the point of splitting the left and right sides. All seems to be going well. I went up a size on the front half as I am larger chested and didn't want it to be tight...I am making this sweater to be baggy!
I have a car trip coming up tonight where I am not driving...let's see what I can get done.
Back half blocking to occur this week!

At the Midnight Hour...

...I stopped knitting and this represents my progress. I was tired and didn't try it on. Now in the light of a beautiful morning, I will have to let truth reveal itself.

WILL IT FIT?

The arm holes look large and that's the reason why I didn't knit the fronts to meet the back. I had to rip the back once, and although I suspect I may have to again, I didn't want to worry about the front as well. At least not yet.

I can't remember which of you is knitting option 2 with me, but beware that there is an error in the pattern at the short row shoulder section. I don't know if it affects all sizes. I did discover that to place the shaping in the proper places on both sides, keep track of stitches left over on the needle after the W & T. For example, I was working with 70 sts for the back. Row 1, said to k60, w&t, but in the following row, it placed the w&t in a different area. It was off by three stitches but I'm kind of anal about proper shaping so, since I had 10 stitches left over in row 1, I just purled until I had 10 stitches left over on that side and w&t. I found there were two rows that didn't match. Not too severe.

Today, I hope to start the sleeves. No fancy colour work on them.

Weekend Update

I finished the second sleeve and I am halfway through the back!!! I will update with photos as soon as I get batteries for the camera.

Have a great day!

Denise

In a rare moment of brilliance, I decided not to bind in that first arm until Miriam got home to try it on.

She liked the length of the sweater just fine, and really loves the color. But the sleeve was not as long as she wanted.

I know that we have discussed the problems with wide-bottomed sleeves and their tendency to get into things. She is not to be discouraged. She wants the sleeve to come at least half-way down her hand. And since she is going to wear it, I suppose that is reasonable.

She also informed me that the sweater will still fit when she grows a few more inches. Hope is eternal in this teenager who does not want to be the shortest person in the family.

In case you were wondering, the extra hand holding the sleeve up is her older sister Nina (trying to avoid completely being in the photo) and her room is no where near the disaster it could be.

Everyone else has been quiet. Is this good?

-Holly

Goofing off!

I had just sat down to knit this evening when the DH requested a ride to the train station. This was after I had looked up the connections and had been told that he wanted to take the 1805.

Ok, I live to serve. Right.

Then he asks me if I am headed off to Nußloch to my spinning group tonight. Oh, not terribly cognizant of the day anymore because my week was more than fouled up. But give me a choice of getting an evening out with nice people, or staying home when it is obvious that I need to clean and you can guess my choice.

We meet at Anette's shop, Anette's Wollwerkstatt . And the title of spinning group has become a misnomer. The variety of wool related activities ran from spinning, some weaving, four knitters, and a needle felter.

And this does not count the poor mom who is string ersatz pearls on ribbons for a confirmation party.

Me? I took along my March madness sweater. Opening the bag, I found I did not have the trim yarn with which to start the sleeve. So I decided to go top down.

Want to guess how much fun it is to do a provisional cast on when you don't have either waste yarn or a crochet hook? End result is I managed, but only did about 10cm in the entire evening.


Progress picture from the patio, I am not binding in that sleeve till Miriam gets home and trys it on to make sure that the length is right.

-Holly

HELP!

I need some advice.

The colour work is going to need a really good blocking, which I was prepared for, but I didn't account for how much lighter my plain knitting would be and how much looser. Maybe after blocking it will all even itself out. Since I already have 34cm done, it seems a bit too late for any more shaping. My sweater may not be as fitted as Mason-Dixon designed it to be.

Do you think I should stop working the body and make the sleeves so my arm hole shaping turns out right? Or do like Holly suggested and knit sleeves right onto the body? I have my doubts about it because of the set-in sleeves. I don't mind trying new techniques but I hate having to do things over and over and over before I figure out how to get it right.

Better Late than never..

Hi everyone.

I got started a little late and I'm just finishing up sleeve number one. I wish I had thought of casting on both at the same time BUT I was trying to shortcut knitting a swatch to check the guage and decided I would use the sleeve as a test.

The wool that I had orginally planned to use did not work out. It was splitty and very Fuzzy. I chose to knit the Mason Dixon Perfect Sweater and fuzzy was not a good look. So I ordered more wool and it was delayed in shipping.

So here I am better late than never and I'm so excited to finish a sweater this month!! I've really enjoyed watching all of the sweaters come together. I'll keep you posted.

Denise

Sleeve Width

thought I would just mention adjusting the sleeves here.

If, like Barb and I, you are knitting in the round, you measure the size of your arm opening after you have bound off your shoulders.

then take your inches or cm x your gauge per - and that will tell you how many stitches you need around for your sleeve. Since the pattern calls for no shaping at all for the arm, what you start with is the final number.

you might have to adjust the K,P pattern depending on if your stitch number matches any of the sleeves

When you get to the top, turn the sweater inside out, take either your needle or little crochet hook and pop your live stitches through [I stick them on an extra circular needle so I don't lose them], then either knit a row around and bind off, or just bind-off.

If you are knitting flat - you can put your shoulders together measure, calculate your stitches then pick up and knit down if you want. This eliminates one seam. It also means you have bulk while you knit, but your sleeve will fit. If your two arm holes are not exactly the same size, you have also solved your problem [how does this happen? we know how this happens!

-Holly
who has sunshine, no snow, and an early drive in the morning.

Hi!

As of lunch today, I am finally through with the colour work. I'm so very happy about that! The rest should go quicker barring natural disasters and mistakes. LOL! The body is going to need a good blocking, but I can do that while I work on the sleeves. I do the total immersion so the body will have a chance to dry while the sleeves are being knitted.

My pattern is from Sandes til fjells IV brosjyre nr. 32, pattern 7009. I love their designs!

I'm really excited to see everyone else's progress! Show what you got , ladies!

Sleeve-ing along

I don't have a new photo, but I am about halfway done with my sleeve (I am soooo not going to win). I am closer on gauge (18 st to 4"), but I'm not going to worry about it after the comments about the armhole being tight. I am knitting the 2XL, but if my gauge stays, I can move down to the XL and probably still get a good fit. The sleeves are knit exactly the same for both sizes, anyway.....

Prize Update

I am so excited to say that we will have a second prize!
Debbie has so generously donated some books...(I will post a photo in a bit)
and we have agreed that her donation will be counted as second place prize.
I want to say a big thank you to Deb...it was so kind and thoughtful of her and greatly appreciated.
I am really glad that this KAL is much more for the fun than the prizes...it is such a great blog and I thank you all for being such a wonderful group...I would love to do this again with another project!
Thanks ladies!

Fallen Behind

It's coming along. Most of the progress was made today, but I am still only half way in my colour work.

Bound together!

I wrote a post last night, but it was late and I have not a clue as to where it went.

I spent today involved in teaching a course. This means I actually was away from my office (and therefore the phone and the computer) for most of the day. I was able to do some knitting at lunch and between one session in the afternoon.

I managed to finish up the last 6 cm of the back and both of the fronts (I had been 1/2 way up from the start of the V).

I left all the shoulder stitches live, then bound them off together (rather than binding off as I went). I still have live stitches at the back of the neck. I am not sure that I am going to do a crochet around the neck or do a finish similar to the bottom of the sleeves.

I am probably going to have to do a bit of blocking first, since both the neck and the arm holes want to curl.

But I love both the color and the feel of the yarn as I knit it. This much took less than three balls. This is good as I enlarged the armholes which makes the sleeves somewhat wider, at least at the top!

Now off to cast on a sleeve. Doing those in the round as well!

-Holly
in Germany where we had cool and blowing, but no rain or snow!

1.5 Front

Ok so not a lot of progress to report. As Holly mentioned my job/life is really interfearing with my knitting. I figured today I had better also work on running this little store i have...
So I have about 1.5 inches of the front done.
Tomorrow is hopefully my dye day so I might have some extra knitting time. I luckily got the sock club out today and am just working on getting the project spectrum and mystery dyer skeins out this week...then I am all house cleaning...um knitting.

Back Off!

No really...I finished the back!
That was my goal for the weekend so I am happy, I will be immediatly casting on for the front before I forget those little modifications I made.
I am not sure that I am happy with it until I see if it fits...i am not sure of the measurements yet.
the back was too long so I put in a little patch instead of frogging...not sure I made the right choice..but I really didn't want to frog..I hope it stays hidden in my pits!

Better Late than Never

The Madness begins. I didn't even dig out the wool from my stash until late yesterday afternoon. By then someone already had a back finished. Holy cow! Here I am, though. Barbara from Nova Scotia, hi, pleased to meet you, everyone!

I picked option 2. I noticed a majority is going with option 1, but having knit a sweater with wide sleeves at the cuffs before, I chose to pass it this time. Those sleeves tend to get into everything. Forget about washing dishes with it on. Just a heads up.

My hat's off to Michelle for this aptly named event. Madness, indeed. The photo shows how far I got before I, one: realized that I had a twist in the join (incidentally, I am knitting in the round because it's less fussy doing colour work on circs than back and forth! Joke's on me, eh? When will I learn not to mess with a pattern??), and two: let gauge bite me on the arse. I measured myself, I checked the pattern. Fool that doesn't actually check gauge gets to swim with the frogs. Ribbit. Don't collect $200, please start at the beginning. Turns out size L is size HUGE when you don't respect gauge. Ball bands lie. Let us all learn from my mistake. Never laugh in the face of gauge. Lesson learned. Lets move on!

At last, this is where I am. Exactly 6 cm from the beginning. To most this may not sound like a lot, but there were lessons learned (not just about gauge!).

The crochet cast on. It's actually a good thing that my first attempt was twisted, since the only way that first crochet cast on was coming off was with a pair of scissors and much cussing.

The picot fold line. Yup, a first for me. Quite easy actually, but a first nevertheless.

Knit the joining row of facing. Another first. I admit to cussing but it was short lived. Working with live stitches on two circulars tried my patience; the stitches from one or the other kept slipping off, but eventually I saw the light and this seems like a really useful technique to add to my repertoire.

Within a row or two I will make nice with my colour work choice.

Knit on.

Job interferring with my knitting

Had another off-spring birthday party on Sunday.

Then headed off the 120km to work this morning. Books-on-CD works. Now if I could figure out auto-pilot or find a carpool buddy again my life would be great.

Meanwhile, I managed to get about 8 rows knit today, noticing that if you do the P2tog on the V neck [which happens because you are binding off every 5th row] your decreases are not going to line up on the one side [right as you wear it]. Since I hate purling through the backloops, I just went ahead, P2tog and P the last stitch, after turning it around and knitting, I undid the P2Tog and twisted the two in the correct direction and did it as a SSK.

-Holly

´Viveka - armhole warning!

Anyone else who is doing any size under the XL size (and probably those as well) please take heed!

I took a look at the measurements for the sleeves and armholes.

Now, my Miriam is a size tiny to small, but even she needs more than 11" in circumference to comfortably get her arm through an arm hole. There is form fitting, and then there is so small that you can not easily get your arm in without stretching out the rest of the sweater.

Accordingly, I have made the armhole opening a bit bigger and am going to have to increase the diameter (or width for those who think flat) accordingly. I am not sure how this is going to play into the amount of yarn I have. OTOH, I have more than enough handspun to drop in an extra stripe or three.

please see if any of this applies to you. The frog pond is not my favorite place and I hate to make sweaters that do not fit. But who ever did the grading I don't think did it based on real figures.

-Holly

Day one - progress

After negotiating, the teen insisted on the purple handspun to go with her Misty Blue Shelridge. I suppose I should be complimented that she picked a mom yarn over a hank of commercial that has been in the bin for a few years.

We then negotiated about how big a sweater she really wants and length.

I happily cast on 168 stitches on a 4mm needle and did about a couple of centimeteres of the contrast before bothering to read the directions. Those weird instructions that talk about three rows.

You see, I had been going off the lovely examples posted so far on the blog. I thought it looked fine, and had no interest in the frog pond, so just switched to the main color, upped the needle to 4.5mm and knit off the first ball. So that means I am over 20 cm up the body.



and at midnight, it is more than time to crash.
-Holly

Ribbit

Soooooo, I guess the reason that my sleeve looked so huge was that I was NOWHERE NEAR GAUGE. Close to a stitch per inch off. I knit loosely, but I didn't think it would be that bad.

I've dropped down to size 5's (from 7's) for the sleeve, figuring that if I've overcompensated I can move up a needle size when I get to the ribbing.

I'll post another photo later tonight when I've re-knit the whole thing........

Drat.

well I seem to have shot myself in the foot.

As you can see I decided to modify the pattern. This is only my second bit of colourwork ever. And it takes for-eva! I was just to where the colour work begins yesterday when I fell asleep. Dispite having all day off to knit I only managed to just finish the back before bedtime, 8 inches in about 8 hours...what was I thinking? (Shown from reverse side because I am a masochist and I am positive I did it wrong)

In case that doesn't sabotage my chances consider this, my swatch was accurate but now I am half a stitch UP. Since my bust is 40 and the sweater is designed obviously with major ease I decided to do the large. The back measures about 27" before blocking-so you know 14 inches of ease is better than 3.5" (eyeroll @self). Good thing I grew up in the 80's...

Yes! I have yarn

After much nagging, I convinced my 18 year old daughter to stop at the mailroom on her way home from voice lessons. Grumbling, she informed me that there were six packages and she could not carry them all on the Straßenbahn.

I am not so easily deceived, her father was driving her. I negotiated picking up the youngest two offspring at the train station in exchange for the boxes being brought home.

These boxes, except for two, were more on the line of mailing envelopes. But the one real box was from Michelle and contained yarn.

The Blue is Shelridge Farms in misty blue. The multicolor is Mohair Myst from Joslyn's Fiber Farm in color Party Time. The purple is hand spun merino 2-ply.

Now to see what the 14 year old wants as contrast.

-Holly
Heidelberg, Germany

Day 2 Progress.

Not Bad

I am certainly stuck in the black hole of the back...I keep knitting like a mad man and wishing I was shorter!
I am about 13 inches in total.

Please Watch where you are sitting.

I want to show you a photo.

You may wonder why I am showing you my spare bed...well see that bump. It took me a few minutes to figure out what it was considering I stole the sheets off the top last night...and it wasn't there.
As I was standing there anazlying it (I am sick...kinda slow) it moved!!
Yes..it's Simon!
Simon has taken to sleeping under the covers when he gets cold...he really likes it.
I try my best not to talk about my cat all the time...but this is hilarious!
He is not always doing this so when I catch him it always entertains me.

Moving on....Here is the prize pack as it exists right now.
We have some prize donations from some wonderfully kind participants that I will show when they come in.
From L-R- Cherry tree hill super sock in pink, knit picks lace, soak, kreative kitties, black possum yarn, Socks that rock Whoot! and a skein of self striping yarn

Hope you are all enjoying your knitting!
I am working on the stockinette right now, hope to finish my first ball soon.

Michelle's Progress

I am working on the back...about 3 inches. I worked the contrast in the brown chocolate...have I mentioned I love this yarn. I am so excited to be finally working with it and now I can't wait to wear it.
I did have to pull it out once...

Well Since You showed me yours...

I guess I should show you mine. I couldn't use the recycled scarf yarn, it was much to thick it was about 3 stiches per inch and was so thick it could have been marketed as fashionable body armour. So I picked up some Classic Paton's Merino in dark grey. I had a ball of pink lying around and used that for the trim. I wish I had used turquois tho. I may put a stripe across the chest and back as a plain grey sweater is rather...well, plain and grey.



This is my progress so far. It's snowing so the "still life with sweater segment" was a little uninspiring.

Approximately 3 inches

Is what happened on the subway today. I love the yarn and the colors, and the sleeve is still frightening me a little. I will trust the designer and go with the pattern.

















Yes, I photographed my yarn against a paper towel in the kitchen. I live in the worst lighting anywhere. (the colors are pretty accurate, though).

Going with Viveka

Hi All!

I cast on this morning after deciding on Viveka, with the Shelridge Farms Pumpkin Pie. I wasn't prepared for a contrasting color, but luckily my ever thinking stash coughed up a lovely ball of Cashmerino Aran in Ducks Egg Blue that looks lovely with the pumpkin pie color (I didn't have to do any work, it was just there waiting for me).

I started the sleeve before I left for work, and will post a photo of exactly how much sleeve gets done on the subway later tonight! I am a little afraid that the sleeves will be TOO wide (I am knitting the 2x size, I'm busty, but I do not have arms like tree trunks). We'll see. I love this sweater and am excited to be knitting it. I expect it'll be great with jeans no matter the wild sleevey-ness.

casting on

Am I the first to cast on?
I have it on good authority that the knitty pattern looks good on busty gals...Amy Singer at knitty has made herself one and says it looks great on the full girls!

The Big Reveal!

Ok ladies...here we are:

pattern one

pattern two...hmmm...ok in a total rude awakening, the second pattern is no longer where it was....it was supposed to be the perfect sweater from Mason dixon website...but it seems to not be there?
Is anyone getting the mason dixon website coming up...or is it just me that it is not working for?
I will keep searching for the link or find a replacement...so sorry guys...this is just weird...not a great start to my day...is it monday?? Or am I just lucky?

Whew!
Thanks to Stephanie of Spritely Goods for sending me the link ages ago....life saver she is...
Here is the pattern number two
Alright...let's go...and don't forget to post which sweater you are making..posting your progress is a requirement for winning!
Happy March Sweater Madness!