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

A Finer Peace Socks

As you may have imagined, with the addition of birthday yarn and now with more Etsy yarn on the way, my stash has gotten a bit out of control.  So here's yet another (rather meager) edition of my stash-busting efforts:

A Finer Peace Socks:

The pattern is by Wendy Johnson and can be found for free on Ravelry (link above).
Enter at your own peril, however, for these socks are knit on (DUN DUN DUN) size 0/2mm needles.  I've never knit anything with needles so tiny, but I really really love the way these socks came out.  I would say that it took a really long time to finish them, but then if you were to visit my project page and see that it only took 10 days, you would probably roll your eyeballs out of your head.  I put in a lot of hours, okay...

Now how did I finish a whole pair of socks on teeny tiny needles without completely losing my mind, you might ask.  Well, the secret to that is frequent breaks (so your hands don't cramp up) and a very light touch with the needles.  That, and modifying the pattern so that k3tbl (scary on larger needles!) became S1, K2tog, PSSO instead.   I did break one early on the first sock, but I maintain that particular needle was faulty.  Knit Picks came to the rescue and sent me a new one immediately and without question.  I didn't have any other breakage problems...

The detailing is absolutely gorgeous:

I'm sorry it's so hard to see in that photo--both the yarn and our apartment are really dark. 

You might recognize the yarn from my Myrtle Cardigan earlier this year.  I had ~300 yards leftover and it was just the perfect amount to finish these little socklets.  In action they come up to about the top of the ankle on size 8-9 women's feet. 

I'm not sure if I'll be keeping them or not.  They are up for grabs if anyone would like to claim them as a "Christmas gift" (or "miscellaneous" if your name is Jodi).  They are very warm, the lace inserts are quite lovely, and they would be perfect in a pair of short boots/other fall/winter footwear.  Let me know!

In other knitting news, Ivy is now finished.  I'm not entirely in love with it, though.  I'll give you a full assessment in next week's post.   I am also trucking along with my Que Sera--almost done with the torso section and right on schedule to complete it when the in-laws come to visit next week for Walker's birthday.  And then after that, I actually plan to give Venezia another try.  Wish me luck that this second attempt proves better than the first!

And now a cute kitty picture to close out this post:

I just love him, don't you?

Cheers,

-Allie

Goddess or Not so Much

Okay, first things first.  I finally got around to asking Walker to take a picture of my hair.  The lighting's really crappy and all of the colors look really dark (hair, skin, teeth, all of it), so keep that in mind:

Ta da!  We didn't color the whole thing, just did a foil on some of it, so it's rather subtle.  In a few weeks, I have the option of getting another foil done, which would reinforce the red that's already in there, and make the whole thing a little redder.  I haven't decided what I want to do yet.  I like it this way and have considered going redder...thoughts? 

You can also see in that picture that I am sporting the completed Goddess Top.  Here's a full shot of it:

The pattern is by Stitch Diva and to be honest, it was kind of a pain in the butt.  The pattern stitch was awful!  It was k2tbl, keep both stitches on the left needle and ktlbl of the first stitch.  Slow and painful.  It looks nice, but man, not worth the effort.  The band at the bottom was supposed to be 2.5" longer, but I couldn't stand it anymore. 

The stockinette was lovely to knit and the shaping was pretty straightforward, but I think I did a little too much fudging with the sizing--XS on top and S on the bottom and the bottom section came out a little too small.  The finished product is quite hawt in the bust area (even Walker noted this), but tight and bunchy in the hips.  I really don't think I'll wear it as is--why wear something that makes you feel fat?--so I plan to (at some point in the future) take the bottom portion apart, add some hip increases, and do some lace edging, rather than the horrible mesh Stitch Diva likes.  Bah.

And now something happy.  For my birthday, Walker's mother made a VERY generous contribution to my yarn fund in the form of a Knit Picks gift certificate and this is what I ordered:

Oooh....aahhhhh...almost like yarn porn, isn't it?

That plans to be (from top left to bottom) Starsky, Que Sera, Matilda Jane, and Pas de Valse.  Que Sera is going to jump the line ahead of Venezia because 1) I want to show Walker's mother something I made from her gift when they come up on a few weeks and 2) I want to knit something quick and easy once I finish Ivy, which looks easy, but is taking me a surprisingly long time--probably because there's just so much surface area in a wrap sweater.

Last piece of news: Sale in the Etsy shop!!
To celebrate the end of summer, I've marked down all spring and summer items by 30% and all orders over $25 have free shipping!  So if there was something you had your eye on, but were waffling about buying, now is the time!

Next time: A Finer Peace Socks

Cheers,

-Allie