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knit project: interweave winter 01/02 - cobalt blue cardi (aka tweedy aran cardi)
difficulty (1-5): 3
size: 33 in
yarn: rowan's rowanspun aran in midnight blue (discontinued)
knitting specs: US 6 & 8 cir.
i'm finally here. my cobalt blue cardi is seeing the sun and i'm doing the photo shoot myself. because who can capture this blue like i can?
as you can see, my new craft room has very little resemblance to the old one; however, this is still the same cobalt blue cardi. all pieces knitted and blocked (on my new blocking board!), waiting to be seamed.
can you tell i made some cabling mistakes here? it is probably obvious once i point it out to you, but, i'm not going to. this pattern has the traditional aran stitches, i love how everything had turned out, except it was difficult to adjust stitch tensions. perhaps it is just the yarn i used, who knows and who cares!
i'm seaming this cardigan up this week and i am hoping to wear it at least once until the fall.
thank you so very much for liking my new home. i am so aspired to keep bringing you my knitting adventures in this new space.
so the romantic thoughts of moving to a new city are gone, now we are left with the practical aspects of relocation. it can be anxious and exciting all at the same time, no? but fear not, i am still knitting.
it may be a while before i have more exciting pictures to show. we have left our camera at a friend's house over the weekend. friends live in another city. so i may have to document my knitting with words until the camera is back. hey, but you will still visit, right? i know that you come here for my writing and pictures are just bonus. (please say yes!!)
cobalt blue without the front
cobalt blue cardi is almost done. i have two front pieces to knit, then, assemble, sew buttons, done. i have enjoyed working on this project a lot. rowanspun is a great tweed yarn to work with, just like many bloggers had already mentioned. i do have one complaint about this pattern/yarn: very difficult to adjust tensions from one stitch pattern to the next. i am hoping a trip to the bath would resolve this issue.
for my neice, i settled for this classic style in the end. i think she will get more wear out of it than a teeny coat.
another baby cardi in the color of lavender
this project is really simple, though i have massively adjusted the gauge (which i hope it would work out!). the initial progress is slow as it calls for so many stitches for lower part of the cardi, even after the gauge adjustment. it is a lovely pretty thing, nonetheless.
i imagine rowan yarn classic's cashsoft is very similar to debbie bliss's cashmerino collection. the yarn is very soft, very easy to work with and gives a lovely stitch definition. if you ever consider trying, here is my input for you.
soon, i will abandon this blog and move my journal to movable type. if you notice anything weird or had already secretly discovered my new domain name, please browse it in silence. the new site is up but it is still a mess. which i dare not to put my readers through it just yet.
soon, i hope. you shall love my new home in the blogland.
my nephew is in the phase of animal imitation, as my sister had informed me. he pictured himself as a dog at the moment. he barks, licks and pants. had i known that earlier, i would have knit him a dog suit. a blues clues t shirt. or maybe his fascination with dogs will end soon. perhaps rabbits next.
and yes, monkeysuit is next. in fact, i had started that last night. surprisingly i did not care for the pattern so much now. double seed stitches are looking a bit too granny like. i am considering another pattern. i'm thinking the yoked cardi i had made earlier but with casharan and a bigger gauge. large amounts of pattern modification will have to happen. i can do it, i think so.
now are you ready for some cute buttons? they are the long awaited tagua buttons. how precious! they look like little donuts.
tagua buttons in rusty red matching my alpakka sweater
can you see the beautiful grain?
also, mari is kind enough to scout out some horn buttons for my blue cobalt cardi, which is about half way done. the best part, it comes with a box of chocolate. now just how many times in the blog land you actually see chocolate made it into the pictures? and no, i still have plenty to savor. hmm...
buttons and chocolate with my blue cardi
i am very pleased with my elfine sock's progress. leaves of maple colors just kept forming that i can not stop! initially i was afraid the sock may be too big. well, now that i have knitted past the ankle, i can say that the fit is wonderful. unfortunately i do not have photos to show just yet.
monkeysuit's instant oatmeal in foxbgloves (cashsoft aran)so, i plan to start this project soon, perhaps after my christmas feast.
while everyone is having the greatest decoration and holiday plans for next week, we are not really riding this wave just yet. my husband and i have yet to establish the exchange of secret christmas present thing because why? we have no secrets. we shop for what we like together and that is both satisfying and practical. and i think that will also be the case for 2005.
smooth shoulder shaping using the short row techniquehighgate was also progressing until i realized that my stitches were off while i was doing the sleeve shaping. why, why, why? i was so frustrated that i had to throw this project back in the basket. maybe those stitches will fix themselves.
nothing else is going on for my alpakka sweater, though i will try to finish it before the spring.
and my blog needs a holiday break. then again, maybe not! i may not be able to resist to urge to show my complete elfine socks, the beginning of butterfly (new and improved) among other random things.
three sweaters, each with their own styles and characters, are my current focus in knitting. aran sweater with the most intriguing tweed yarn, heathery pink cable highgate and an explosion of colors for the alpakka sweater.
cobalt blue cardi (IK winter 01/02)i was not too thrilled with how it looks at first, stitches tend to get uneven when you twist them too much, back and forth, front and back. twisted stitches also made fixing tensions impossible. i am not sure what i'd do about them just yet, maybe some serious blocking after it's all done.
i have also knitted all the edge stitches in garter stitch. not sure how that would faciliate seaming.
but they are pretty, no? diamonds and these wiggly looking fancy ribs all stand out from the knits. totally screams "i am a traiditional shetland aran knit!". fancy, i tell you.
highgate in china pink, she is nothing but a preppy english lady!
i started off by knitting the sleeves, the most uncomplicated part of the whole sweater. this mindless ribbing is such a welcoming change from the cobalt cardi. i have not gone very far with this project just yet. still savoring the moment of working with this luxurious yarn.
the front of my alpakka sweater
thank you, my dear readers, for loving my klaralund and socks. i so enjoy interacting with each of you and please know that you are a major part of my knitting and this journal. knitting is a somewhat solitary activity but knowing the existence of many passionate knitters alike is comforting to me.
i do try to incorporate other interests of mine into knitting and i am sure many of you do the same. the stitch and bitch groups, the knit nights, movies, books (this one is a bit difficult to me) and music. etc, etc. i am not a public knitter, not because of lack of interests but opportunities. i do not have a group of knitter friends here and i adore the comfort of my house and the company of my cats/husband. i like to knit at home. and because of that, my favorite knitting companion is movies.
perhaps that is yours, too; watching a good movie while you knit mindlessly. this entry, i would share some of my favorite movies and i would be happy to hear what yours are. it is very possible that we do share similar interests in movies.
number one favorite motion picture is not a movie but a bbc mini-series: pride and prejudice. i only had the chance to watch that recently, after hearing about this series for so long. can you love colin firth more? period drama is one of my favorites. the eloquent speech, vintage outfit and the limb-binding etiquettes... all are so fascinating to me. bonus part: it is a five hour mini-series, a lot of knitting can be accomplished.
i always love well made chinese films. if you also dig these sort of things, i think you may find films by yimou zhang ("hero", "house of flying dagger") and karwar wong ("in the mood for love", "2046") irresistible. it may seem like i am promoting my own culture, perhaps, but they are indeed great movies and i suggest you watch them with english subtitles and listening to chinese to get the full flavor.
there are more, but i may need to share them gradually with you. once a month, i am thinking.
i have casted on for both highgate and cobalt blue cardi. pictures as proof. i decided to cast on the cardi with the fancy tubular but they do not photograph well. tubular cast on gives the whole garment a little more depth and such quality sits really well with this over-cabled design. highgate has a variegated pink in the most subtle way. it is pretty and i am starting off with the sleeves as i need time to warm up to the cables.
the beginning of my two sweater projects this winter: cobalt blue cardi and highgate
what color? what patterns? thank you everyone for particpated in my quest for designing the ultimate whispering pine style sweater. i am still thinking and have yet to make up my mind. previous experiences have proven that too much thinking is sometimes useless so i may just pick up the needles this weekend and see how all the colors play out.
the gauge thing
so who will be knitting for christmas this year? not me! i did that last year and it was quite excurciating... i felt like a repressed elf in santa's factory. urgh! i will knit a sweater for my husband, though. he has been waiting for a tailor fit sweater since last year.
before i show you more knits in progress which would possibly be in the next post, it recently came to my attention that what i had planned to knit this winter was quite different from what actually was being made. roxie, for example, is something i really love to make; i have the pattern but i do not have the yarn. rowan's chunky print is what the pattern calls for. that polar bear-ish yarn is like $12.95 each and i would need, like, eight of those mini polar bears to complete one roxie. this is a bit pricey for my taste at this moment. so, this project got shoved aside, along with nan as it requires some super expensive rowan yarns as well.
however, i am sticking with highgate though. it is my next sweater project. ok, maybe not quite the next... because i'm about to show you what i bought on ebay last week:
yes, it is that blue!
tweedy aran cardigan (IK winter 01/02)
the toss between highgate and my cobalt blue cardi (yes, that's how i'm calling it) is a tough one, but knowing that i will eventually knit them is somewhat comforting to me (and possibly you, my readers). but you know, it is really never that easy in my world.
my better pal thinks i'm not spoiled enough so she sent me a skein of zephyr wool-silk in my favorite palette last week. of course, along with some other goodies that i am secretly in love with. zephyr wool is, as the name suggested, an equal blend of silk and wool. but, what makes this special is the silk is not your everyday silk from the silk worm farm. it is the tussah silk from china! wow. you think those silk worms were transported along the silk road from persian to china? hmmm....
one skein of jagger zephyr in mushroom, a bag from sheperd bush and a lovely bar of soap!
and yes, you have counted them right: three potential projects fighting the spot for the next in line. knit them all, i say. all at the same time (are you crazy, woman?).
