Continue reading "Cardamom is Finished"

I love the idea of the Harlot's Knitting Olympics. How can you not? As it stands the number of participants is somewhere around 4000. I'll be cheering from the sidelines instead of casting on for my own project today. I've got too much on the go already and while knitting something challenging in 16 days is right up my alley, I'm already overextended.

While everyone is watching the opening ceremonies, I'll be watching Arrested Development's closing ceremonies. The last four episodes are airing tonight and I'm fanatically excited to see them. I'm also depressed as hell because the thought of no new episodes of the greatest, most brilliant sit-com ever produced makes me want to cry.

And while everyone is casting on for a project, I'll be finishing one. Cardamom is ready to seam! I won't be able to knit the button bands today because I want to use washed yarn for that and I forgot to wash it yesterday, duh. Anyway, all seams will be sewn and I have very few ends to weave in because I spit-spliced everything.

While my fronts were blocking last night I made some progress on the first part of my secret project. I should have it done in a few more days.

Right now Footloose is on tv and the sinning school dance is about to begin. I love this movie.

Jeremy will be home from work early tonight, which is nice because he usually doesn't get home until 11pm. Tonight he should get here by 7:30, so we're celebrating by getting some Chinese take-out even though we really can't afford it. But it's not often we all get to eat together on a weeknight, so we're splurging. I'm happy because I really, really don't feel like cooking today. And I really, really do feel like eating deep-fried things covered in various sauces.

I still haven't finished knitting the last bit of Cardamom. I haven't got much left so I should be done in a couple of hours, provided I can read my own notes about the neck shaping. I'm definitely blocking the fronts tonight...I know, I've promised myself that before, but this time I actually have the time to do it (thanks to the take-out). If all goes well, seaming will be done tomorrow and I'll have my first completed sweater of 2006. Then it's back to Durrow, I promise! Ha ha.

A long while back when I was actively working on my Lucky cardigan, I mentioned that I'd made a worksheet that helps you calculate even spacing between increases or decreases on a diagonal. I needed it to help me adjust the pattern for size and gauge, and the plan was to make it available on the site. Of course, I totally forgot but I got an email the other day (Hi Kristal!) asking me if I still had it. I do. So here you go (PDF). It's helpful for spacing the increases or decreases for sleeve or raglan shaping, and also for v-necks and the like. I hope it's useful. I'll be putting a link to it in my sidebar, too. If you use it and it helps you out, I'd love to know.

Jeremy has been lucky lately with his requests for certain days off. It's his birthday on the 25th, and it's free and clear. He confirmed he also has March 5th off, so we'll be at Rabsy's Oscar party for sure. Maybe I should watch at least one of the nominated movies, lest they make me sit outside. Nah, they wouldn't do that...I'm bringing cheese fondue!

The back and sleeves are blocking right now and they've grown a whole inch in length. The crazy thing is that they've grown only from the underarm down; the raglan area is exactly as it should be. Now, I knit a swatch, blocked it and took my gauge from it, so I'm kind of pissed off. I can deal with an extra inch of length in the body, but I'm worried my waist shaping is going to be in the wrong place. The sleeves are a different story. They're going to be way too long and I'm probably going to have to pick out the cuffs and reknit them downward to get them to fit.

I think that what I should have done was wash the yarn first, then swatch, then knit. The Rowanspun Chunky is similar to Peace Fleece (although it's much softer), and bloomed a lot after washing. When I knit my Everyday Cardigan I washed the yarn first because it was filthy, and there was no change in size when I blocked my pieces. The Rowanspun was really clean and not at all oily or sheepy, so I didn't bother. I wish I had.

I decided on a crewneck for the cardigan. I'm going to go for a basic 1x1 rib for the buttonband and once that's on I'm going to edge the neckline with applied I-cord. I've never done that before, so I'll get a new skill out of this sweater. But holy hell, what a pain in the ass trying to get the neckline properly rounded and still match it up with the raglan decreases. Rip, knit, rip, knit, rip, knit. Let's hope I can read my own notes for the other side. Let's hope once the I-cord is attached the neckline isn't too tight.

I've been trying to take my photos lately without the flash, usually near the window when the sun's out. This time I had to resort to the overhead light with the camera balanced on a shoebox, so the colour is a little off. Who wants to buy me a tripod? Anyone? Bueller?

Alex had no school today and when I woke up he made breakfast for me. Well, he tried. He had set the dial on the toaster a little too high.

Jeremy doesn't start his shift tonight until late, so he and Alex are playing Xbox while I'm trying to decide what to do to Cardamom. I finished the back last night, and now all I have left to knit are the fronts. I still haven't decided what I want to do. I'm torn between a crewneck and a high v-neck. I don't have to decide between the two until I reach the shaping at underarm, but I do have to work out my buttonband before I cast on. Nothing is coming to me.

My second bag of yarn finally arrived yesterday. As it stands, I completed the back piece with just over two hanks so I will have enough to finish the whole sweater without touching the new bag. Which means I'll have enough for an afghan as well. Or a second sweater.

My sister is working on her first sweater, Berkshire Pullover from Weekend Knitting. The sweater is knit in the round to the underarm, then worked back and forth to the shoulder. She has joined the shoulders together and now is at the stage where she needs to pick up to knit the sleeves and neck. After work today she and my mom are coming up so I can teach her how to do that. Natalie is knitting hers out of Paton's Shetland Chunky.

Right now I'm working on the raglan part of the second sleeve of my Cardamom cardigan. My second bag of yarn still hasn't arrived, but I'm continuing on. I just might have enough with one bag. I've got 10 hanks total; both sleeves together will use up 3 hanks and if I can finish the back piece in under 3.5, I'll have enough for the whole sweater. If worse comes to worst and I just can't get that second bag, I've decided that I'll just rip it all out and make an afghan for our living room instead.

I decided to be optimistic on the delivery of my second bag of Rowanspun. Saturday night I couldn't stand it anymore so I designed a simple raglan cardigan with some waist shaping based on my gauge swatch. The label on the Rowanspun suggests a gauge of 12 or 13 stitches to 4 inches with 6.5mm needles, which I decided was insanity. I used 5mm and after washing and blocking, my gauge turned out to be 14.5 stitches to 4 inches. That's 3.625 stitches to the inch. I calculated my pattern using 3.6.

The cardigan is going to be very plain. I haven't decided on a button band or a neck treatment yet. V-neck, crewneck, I don't know, but the ribbing I stole from Laughing Rat. I thought the simple, one-twist cable ribbing looked like little bows so I appropriated it at once.

I'm about a quarter of the way up the second sleeve. It's coming along very quickly; the larger gauge being fewer stitches around than Alex's Durrow. I have not forgotten Durrow, by the way. As soon as I finish the second sleeve on Cardamom (named for the colour of the yarn) I'm casting on for Durrow's second sleeve.