Rocky Coast Cardigan

It's done! I've finished the Rocky Coast Cardigan from Coastal Knits. It really is beautiful.

It was fun to knit and I love the color. The yarn is Malabrigo Worsted in Bobby Blue.

A bunch of people have had trouble getting the fit right. I did have to do some adjustments. Fortunately, the designer has added some notes on how to get the sweater to fit better. Unfortunately for me, this happened after I finished it. I've worn it around, and like several other people, it does slide off my shoulders. I plan on getting a shawl pin to pin the center. I think that will help out a bunch. If I were to make this again, I might cast on fewer stitches for the back. I have reasonable wide shoulders, but the back is a bit too wide, which contributes to the slipping.

If it stayed on my shoulders, I might be wearing it every day. But for now it has not displaced my favorite sweater. I still would recommend making this cardigan. But it is worth reading the designer's notes and following them for the smaller sizes.

Oh Dear, It's Colorwork Sock Sizing Time

I realized that I haven't really talked about my knitting in awhile. Probably because I hadn't much to show. But as usual, I have a bunch of things that all were finished around the same time. I also have some knitting disappointments to share too. We'll start with the bad news. The mitten is having some issues. I know this picture makes it look all dandy.

But in reality, my big worries about it being too big (which is was) has taken a complete 180. It is now too small! Usually I would just block something bigger, but in this case, the pattern is straining. It just isn't what I want. So this project is in time out until I decide whether I'm going to add 4, 6, or 8 more stitches back into the hand portion of the pattern. Of course the cuff threw me. The cuff fits just fine. Any feedback or encouragement would be very welcome at this point.

Now on to the good news. I finished my Rocky Coast cardi. As usual the shoulders are suspect, but the fit is really nice everywhere else. I wore it for a day deciding whether or not I'd block it, but in the end I thought the pattern might open up a bit. Of course SOMEBODY thought it would be a good place to sun himself. When I was taking pictures I told Scooter to sit. Usually he sits where he has been standing....

And last, but not least, some book news. I've finished design number five, which turned out pretty good. Actually, it's fantastic, but I'm a super picky person when it comes to my own designs, so I'm sure I'm just being overly critical. I've started work on design number six, which has been a tough one to work on. It is going to be a pair of socks with large amounts of colorwork and I'm having a little trouble deciding what gauge people might like to knit it in. Colorwork has less give, but I knit so loosely, it usually isn't an issue for me.

I'd like to ask all of you guys, what is the typical number of stitches you like in your socks. I typically cast on 60 stitches for mine. As a reference for these socks, I'm getting 8 stitches to the inch unstretched, but it stretches easily to 6 stitches to the inch. I know not everyone gets that kind of stretch with colorwork, so any advice or feedback on what you'd like to see in a colorwork sock would be super helpful. (or good websites to check out) I already know sizing is going to have to be done with gauge due to the nature of the design.

Yarnesia

My birthday is coming up and I was informed by my knitting group that I am not suppose to buy any knitting related items until then. I agreed without hesitation. I have a few projects going on and have no need for anything, especially yarn. Then we got a new shipment of malabrigo at the shop. And I forgot I ever made that promise. All I could think about was getting some yarn. I'm not sure if I should be proud or ashamed that I managed to forget my promise in under 24 hours. I think I'll attribute it to "yarn amnesia" or yarnesia. I will renew my pledge to not buy anymore yarn until my birthday... unless the shipment of madelinetosh shows up.

In other news, I'm having difficulty with getting the right fit with my Rocky Coast Cardi. The shoulders are really wide, but I haven't put in the collar yet. After last nights knit and rip session with the arms, I've decided to put in the collar before the arms. I figure that if the collar doesn't make the cardigan stay up, I won't even need to bother with the arms. Of course when I brought out everything this afternoon, Scooter promptly decided that he knew the perfect place to lay down. Scooter's secret power is to get comfy in the most inconvenient place faster than you can blink. He's even using the freshly wound ball of yarn as a pillow.

I removed him from my sweater and he decided that laying on my pajamas would be an acceptable substitute.

Genius, Right?

Does anyone else do many, many things and then feel like they have done absolutely nothing. I seem to be in a constant time warp where I may have done an impossible number of things, but feel like I did them all last week. Things I've done since Saturday: A two day illustration project, massive coordination for the music video, picked up yarn for a prototype, drawn some comics, fixed the armpits of a sweater. 

Speaking of sweater armpits, I have decided to do my Rocky Coast Cardi's arms at the same time. The cables change around a bit as the arm decreases, so it is a little easier to remember what I've done if they are done at the same time. I've also come up with a great system to figure out where I am in the arm. The cables are an 8 row repeat, so I'm using the right number on the counter to mark where in the cable repeats I am. I'm using the left number to let me know how many total repeats there are. So I haven't done 32 rows. I'm on the 2nd row of the cable repeat and I've done 3 total repeats of the cable. Genius, right?

I've also continued working on the Druid mittens. I did come to the conclusion that my original plan of shrinking down the mitten wasn't going to work. At least not to the degree of shrinking that would be needed. I mean, look at that. I could nearly get both my hands into one cuff.

I've gone ahead and taken 18 stitches out of the pattern, which results in the cuff on the right. Much, much better. It may need to be felted a little bit, but not very much. Of course all this extra work to make the pattern fit me has sucked some of the fun out of the knitting. I'm going to look on the bright side though, and note that I have learned to make bobbles while making these mittens, and I think I like it. The bobbles do seem to like to flip to the wrong side of my work, and I'm not sure why, but I've decided not to worry about it too much just yet.

Zimmermitts

Thanks for all the support guys. I feel so uplifted! I've been writing patterns of things I would like to wear, so I imagine that will come through.

On to more knitting news. I'll be gone for a week starting tomorrow (with questionable internet connectivity), so of course I had to start some new projects to work on while I'm away. The first is the Rocky Coast Cardigan. I preordered the book, Coastal Knits. (Which is into its second printing after being out two weeks! Congrats Alana and Hannah!) The Rocky Coast cardi was downloadable before the book was released. I meant to get going on it sooner, but at least I managed to buy yarn before the book arrived. I had bought Malabrigo Worsted in Azul Profundo, decided that it had too much green in it, and exchanged it for Bobby Blue. Much better.

I actually blocked my swatches. I don't know if I would have except I had extra yarn from the recent hat design. What do people do with their swatches once they are done? I'm kind of thinking it would eventually make a neat blanket.

I also got going on my next gift knit. I had promised Marci a pair of mittens for letting me go through some of her button collection. It took me awhile to decide how I was going to make the mittens with the yarn I had, Manos del Uruguay Maxima in the color way Arctic. I've decided on a pair Elizabeth Zimmermann mitered mittens. I am making some modifications so that I can incorporate buttons into the design. They shall be called "Zimmermitts."

Just in case I don't make it back online until next week, have a lovely week! (And if I do find an internet connection, have a lovely week anyways!)