Monday, August 30, 2010

Ivy Cardigan

It was a lot of work, but Ivy is finally finished.  Unfortunately, I am not altogether pleased with the result

It just doesn't fit me right.  After Goddess, I think I erred on the side of "too big" when picking a size and now you see the result is a bunchy, baggy cardigan.  I'm hoping that raising the height of the ties will help with the bagginess in the waist, moving some of the extra fabric to the hip/skirt section--something you can really see in this back picture:


But I have no hope for the sleeves.  I even followed the "slimmer sleeve" instructions, but there is still way too much space, even for my guns.  That's the downside (or one of) to knitting sweaters in pieces like this.  You don't know how it fits until the thing is finished.

I might have been able to get over the extra space in this sweater if the yarn was soft, but unfortunately, that is not the case.  Elann Quechua is itchy, splitty, and very unforgiving when I made a mistake.  The stockinette in the back looks very wonky and sloppy.  I am definitely never ordering this yarn again, and I will consider carefully before ordering from Elann again. I think the only thing I like about this cardigan is the color.  Blerg.

I am also considering giving this away to someone who wears a size or two larger than I do and doesn't mind itchy yarn or wonky stitching on the back.  So if you wear M-L and really want a cardigan/jacket, let me know.  A Finer Peace Socks are also up for grabs. 

In other (better) knitting news, I finished the Que Sera cardigan and totally regained my faith in knitting.  It fits well and the yarn is so so soft.  Knit Picks saves the day again.  I also received my shipment of yarn for a few fall products in the Etsy shop.  I finished a new baby hat yesterday and have the materials for 3 more cute little sets.  Pictures of Que Sera and a few other goodies are coming soon.

The reason I don't have any pictures of the above is because we found out just this weekend that Walker's grandmother passed away.  We have to make a last-minute trip to GA tonight to be with his family for the funeral tomorrow.  We come back on Wednesday and then the family comes up to visit us for Walker's birthday on Friday.  Since we didn't have a lot of time to prepare, we had to spend much of this weekend cleaning and packing for this long week of togetherness with the in-laws, yay.  I am honestly looking forward to their visit up here, but less so about attending a funeral in South Georgia in August heat...   Arty will be making his first trip to his grandparents' house, which I imagine will be fairly interesting, as he's never really interacted with a dog.  We might have some interesting stories when we get back...

Next time: Que Sera, Mary Jane Slippers.  Also after a lot of deliberating, Walker and I have finally made a decision regarding our move.  Announcement next time.  Stay tuned!

Cheers,


-Allie

2 comments:

선미 (Sunmi) said...

Sorry I haven't visited in a while! I had my first final exam this morning, so I've been pretty much buried in the library. The red is very subtle (or maybe it's the lighting, hard to tell)... did you end up getting another foil done?

Is the Ivy from Knitty? I think I've got it bookmarked somewhere for a one-day-maybe-when-I-retire project... -___- The color is lovely, but it's too big on your slender frame.

Allie said...

No, I haven't done anything else to my hair. I decided it was just too $$$ for not enough change. Maybe one day when I win the lottery...

Yes, that is Ivy from Knitty. If you do ever end up knitting it, substitute a different dk yarn and don't size up like I did. It is a lovely design, but I think she made a couple of bad choices.

Being holed up in the library sounds so sad! You should definitely come out more and see the sunshine!