stash, knit, repeat

(It’s my favorite Dylan song ever. How could I resist such a title?)

Pattern: Eunny Jang’s Tangled Yoke Cardigan from the Fall 2007 Interweave Knits

Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed, color “Carbon” (which is so blue, hush you), a smidge over 7 balls for the 38″ size

Time elapsed: I thought about 2 months, but I just looked at the archives and it was barely a month and a half.

Modifications/Notes: I did my usual body-lengthening modification–I’m quite long-waisted and cropped sweaters do nothing good for me. I also added one set of waist decreases, to bring the waist measurement somewhat closer to my actual waist. For reference, the 38″ size with this modification gave me about 1″ of negative ease in the bust and about 1.5″ of positive ease in the waist, freshly-washed. (Warning to others: The felted tweed grows when it gets wet the first time, and also grows with wear. It will shrink back to its freshly-blocked size with subsequent washings.)

Unintentionally, I omitted a button and wound up with 8 instead of 9. No way was I ripping this out when I figured it out post-blocking. Finally, I lined both the button band and the buttonhole band with grosgrain ribbon, for stability.

I purchased the buttons from a fantastic vendor named “Moving Mud” at Rhinebeck, and I love them with the heat of a thousand suns. They’re my second-favorite purchase from that weekend, after the Mermaid kit. Anyway, back to the pattern. I love all of the little details about it, though they add up to make it a reasonably complicated sweater. The neckline is hemmed, the button bands are in that same garter rib from the body, the cable rows are really, really long. The cable mirrors itself gracefully halfway through the back, to make the fronts look nicer.

Seriously, admire the genius that designed those cables for a few more moments.

Like others, I found the yardage requirements to be somewhat generous. Even with my lengthening, I used juuuuust over 7 of the 8 balls called for, and I swatched extensively for this project. I’m sure I could have knit it as written with just 7.

All in all, this is a sweater that I’m going to be happy to wear for a very, very long time. Four thumbs up!

(The usual FO photo-shoot madness can be found here.)

Amidst a very sad weekend*, I finished all of the knitting on the tangled yoke cardigan.

It just needs some ribbon and jewelry to finish it off.

Up next is holiday knitting, and I’d really better get zooming on that. My list, as usual, is gigantic. Also as usual, I’ve forgotten all about the holidays until November. Wish me luck!

*(My aunt Terri, Lois’ eldest daughter and my dad’s older sister, passed away today at the age of 60. We found out she had cancer a couple of weeks ago. If you’re willing to send some warm thoughts, prayers, positive energy, etc. to my family and especially my grandfather, I’d greatly appreciate it.)

I wonder if you realize you fascinate me so…

Excuse the bright purple–it really was laying there alseep in a sunbeam. But! The Eleanora sock is finished, and packed away in a box with some goodies to send to a super-nice friend. Jacob may have helped with some of the goodies, but he’s not telling what they are.

Speaking of super-nice friends, Stacey is the very best one. Seriously, people.

Have you ever seen something so beautiful?

It warms my heart and my feet. Thanks so much, Stacey.

And folks, I totally needed the warming. Tangled Yoke is driving me crazy. There’s (sadly) zero chance that I will be done with this thing by November 1, although I might get it done for the weekend. The cable rows are taking for-freaking-EVER, and I had to do some cable repair surgery twice today. I feel completely stupid, because the cables are honestly pretty easy and nobody else seems to be having trouble, but those long rows and all of the counting is killing me.

Woof. Guess I just had to get that off my chest. At least I’ll be done with the cable section tonight. Off I go, to knit rows 17 and 18!

Thanks so much for your opinions on the yarn, everyone. It was really interesting to see what the word “deep” meant to all of you. My instinct was that a deep color would be both dark in tone and very saturated. But if I take the majority opinion, it seems like I’m wrong and that saturation is the really important part of it. The outcome? Well, I ordered some Louet and tomorrow or Saturday when it arrives (holy fast shipping batman!) I’ll line them all up and choose.

Meanwhile, before my blogging hiatus, I’ve finished the knitting on the tank.

Weaving in ends, here I come! And because I’m lacking in pictures of the Tangled Yoke recently, here’s a snap of the really pathetic progress I’ve made on the first sleeve.

On the plus side, I’ve got a week’s worth of Daily Shows and an entire dvd of Lost episodes (season one, I’m behind the times) to get through. You know, when I’m not moving. :)

See you next week!

Sorry about the radio silence. It’s been quite the… well, let’s just say it’s been a surprising week.

Knitting has happened, of course. Spurred on by Sil’s fab Tangled Yoke, I finished the main part of the body. It’s been pretty sloggy so far, but this feels like a big milestone. Now, just the bottom part of the sleeves before I can join the whole thing and get to the fun part!

I think this is going to be a cardigan I wear a lot, and I hope to have it finished in time to wear it to Rhinebeck. I’m flying back East and going to the festival for the first time this year, with my favorite partner in yarny crime. I’m so excited I can barely even stand it!

Despite spending less than half the time on the Waterlily top than I have on Tangled Yoke, I’m nearly as far.

This is an interesting project, if nothing else. It’s weird knitting on such enormous needles, and the “yarn” doesn’t always act like such. But I do like the fabric it’s producing, and you know what? It’s really good to stretch my boundaries a little. If nothing else, I’m enjoying the process.

My other fun knitting news is that the sign-ups are open for the next Stitches West, and I’m treating myself to a weekend of classes, this year. I’m taking a bunch on pattern modification and design, and I’m really looking forward to it. If anyone else decides to go, definitely let me know. Between this and Rhinebeck, I have two whole weekends of relaxing knitting to look forward to. How did I get so lucky?!

Well, let’s be fair. The Tangled Yoke Cardigan is very, very unlikely to be disastrous.

It is kind of dull, though, at least for the moment. I’m finally (finally!) done with the garter rib on the body, but those rows are still damn long. And my monkeys are done, and I’m not feeling the sock love for another pattern just at the moment.

So let’s mix things up a bit, shall we? I noted this project when it came out in the magazine, and I’ve been thinking about it since. There isn’t a project in existence less to my usual taste, so it’s taken me some time to commit. But commit I have, I suppose–it’s in my Ravelry projects list, it’s in the sidebar, it’s on the needles. The yarn I showed a few posts ago was Colinette Giotto, as many guessed, and this is the pattern.

I know, I know. There has never been a less flattering picture of a sweater. The color is awful, and it looks just wretched on the model. But stick with me, for a few minutes, and then tell me whether or not I’m completely crazy.

• Thing #1: The model is, undeniably, pear-shaped. I am not pear-shaped. My chest will be much more in balance with my hips.
• Thing #2: The model is also short-waisted. I am very long-waisted.
• Modification #1: I am not using a hideous color.
• Modification #2: I will be shortening the top by two inches. This, combined with Thing #2, will turn this tunic into a tank.
• Modification #3: More waist decreases

So, basically, I guess, I think there’s a swan in this ugly duckling. And by shortening the top, making it more fitted, using a good color, and generally being a person with the sort of figure that looks good in this silhouette, I’m pretty hopeful things will turn out well.

So that’s it. I’ve cast on. And, this being knit on (oh my god) 11s and 13s, it’s going pretty quickly.

Am I totally insane? Set up for the UGH of the century? Or will I just get a nice, unusual, dressy tank? Who knows! But at least it won’t be boring around here, that’s for sure.