Friday, September 28, 2007

Update

Just wanted to add a few photos on the progress of my Tangled Yoke. I'm using Knit Picks Swish DK in Moss and absolutely LOVE the color. I haven't gotten too far...its not that I'm not a fast knitter, but being this is my first cardigan I'm constantly referring back to the pattern and correcting mistakes :-/ plus I've been traveling a lot for work and have had a lot of personal engagements to attend to! Anyway, here they are:




Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Newbie

Hi everyone

I've just joined the KAL & wanted to say hello.I've finally got my copy of IK & am just waiting for my yarn to arrive. Hopefully I can get gauge with this yarn & get started.

Christine (Australia)

http://yarnaboutyarn.blogspot.com/

Monday, September 24, 2007

My Yoke

Here’s my progress on the Tangled Yoke Cardigan. Instead of starting from the bottom up, I started at the yoke area with a provisional cast on. Later, I’ll pick up there and knit down so I can adjust it to fit. More info on my blog here if you are curious as to why I'm doing it this way. The blue line is just a lifeline, because I'm altering the neck a bit, and will come out later.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

help, please

The yoke directions are a bit scary for me. Here's what it says,
"Return held sts for right sleeve to needle with RS facing" - which needle? the right one or the left? Which held sts? the 19 sts or the 60? Do you knit these held sts onto the needle or just place them on?
"Knit next st of right front tog with first right-sleeve st as k2tog" I guess this depends on the answer to my first question(s). Actually, I hope the whole thing will clear up with these answers.

TIA!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Flying through with a Whining Wrist

I've decided to jump, head-first, into this one. It's such a beautiful pattern, I couldn't resist!

As is my usual MO, I plan on modding this sweetie. First off, I decided to use a stash-yarn, which unfortunate is going to prove a gamble: I have 10 skeins of Jamieson's DK in Port Wine (a lovely colour!) which only amounts to 1075 metres of yarny goodness. Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket
With this in mind, I've decided to shorten the sleeves, probably to just above the elbow.

Also, as I was working along, I noticed my row count is abnormally high! I hope this means I won't use up as much yarn.

I've also nipped in the waist a bit, (once again, in a desperate attempt to save some for what I imagine will be a yarn-gobbling yoke and tedious ribbed edging).

Now, off to knit. I do have one nagging problem - what colour buttons to buy? Any suggestions? I think it may be tricky to match the purple. Would a pearly white be too stark a contrast? How about slate grey?
Thanks!

Tangled Yoke Pullover Update

I've now reached the point in the body where it's time to join the sleeves -- after I knit them, of course. I've just started the first one. As I said earlier, I'm making this into a pullover, not a cardigan.

Here's a progress shot.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Finished!



Finished and blocked my cardi and am delighted with it. Found the perfect buttons, but they only had six so had to special order.

Dicksie

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Buttons and Progress


I started my Tangled Yoke yesterday! It's the 42" size knit with Jo Sharp Silkroad Tweed in the color 'Cocoa'. I'm only two inches into the pattern, but I already love it.

I took a day trip to Anacortes today and went to Ana-Cross Stitch. It sounds like a cross stitch shop, but it has a new owner and it's now mainly a yarn shop. I bought nine buttons for my cardigan there. What do you think? I love them. They're oyster shell - grooved on one side and smooth and shiny on the other.
I really can't decided which side I like better.



Tangled Yoke in Blue

I started my Tangled Yoke Not-a-Cardigan a couple of days ago and have just gotten past the garter rib section of the body. I'm knitting it in Rowan's Felted Tweed in Shade Number 152: Watery.

I don't have my camera handy, but here is a photograph from the day I started, which shows the color.



I am NOT knitting this sweater as a cardigan; I'm turning it into a pullover. To do that, I cast on the same number of stitches for the front as for the back. I'll put four of the front stitches on a holder at the point when I want to split the neck (which I plan to do just before the cable pattern starts).

I am using U.S. 4 needles because I found my gauge was a little bit loose on the size 5s recommended by the pattern. Also, there is a small error in the instructions for the decreases that occur during the garter rib. She has five decreases within the ribbing (at least for the second size) as detailed by the instructions and the number of stitches remaining, but the row count assumes more. It's because the instructions are written in a confusing way and I think that caused a miscount. It's easily fixable, but just something to be aware of.

I will also be updating my progress on my blog.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Swatching Mr. Joe



My yarn for Tangled Yoke came yesterday. It's Mr. Joe Blanket in the color Stone from Elann. I swatched it with needles sizes 4 & 5. 5 is a tad bigger than gauge and 4 is a tad smaller in stockinette. 5 is right on the ribbing part though, so I think I'll go with that. The fabric is a quite a bit looser feeling on the 5s but that will probably be a plus in the warm climate here. 4 looks a bit smoother but I honestly don't know if I'd have enough yarn if I used the 4s and it would take so much longer. This yarn is a tiny bit thick and thin anyway, so it's probably not going to have a totally smooth look anyway. So far, I really like it. Now I just have to figure out what size I need!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Almost!

I truly meant to photograph progress, but somehow didn't get it done. Last night I did the 3-needle bind-off for the neckband, grafted the underarms and picked up the stitches for the button band, so am all but finished! Now to find the perfect buttons and block.
Dicksie

Friday, September 7, 2007

Knitting both sleeves at once

As a fairly new knitter I read all sorts of brilliant ideas out there in blog-land and think "that's a good idea!" Trouble is, it's an idea - not a darn tutorial. Someone out there said, "I knit both sleeves at once on a Magic Loop so my mistakes will be symmetrical." Brilliant! A method for planning for mistakes!

I'm thinking my LYS goddesses will teach me. Not only had they never heard of such a thing, they thought I was nuts. They are no longer goddesses. The 'net also failed. One lone spot discussed cuff down 2 socks on a single circ, but there were assumptions that I knew way more than I did.

I duked it out with my two balls of yarn and one circular needle and voila - here is my tutorial for novices!

http://knittingobssessions.blogspot.com/2007/09/2-sleeves-or-socks-at-once-on-magic.html

Hope this helps someone. I am just a few rounds from finishing the sleeves. Pictures when they come off the needles!

Tweed in Rage



My yarn is here and I will cast on this weekend, many many other WIPs, some of which can be seen on my blog but I will devote at least an hour a day to this cardi.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Row 6

Just a quick heads-up. On Row 6 (where you do a series of 1 - 5 increases) on the wrong side, these occur all across the row - guess how I know! I'm in the process of frogging the entire row. Can't imagine why that didn't occur to me as I was working it. Any way, as soon as you start knitting Row 7 you will realize something is missing.
Dicksie

Monday, September 3, 2007

Coming up on the cable!

I'm just starting the decreases before getting to the cable - wish it were earlier so I'd have a couple of hours knitting left tonight. Had an interesting question on KR today from a poster who wondered about knitting this as a pullover - I'd never thought of it, but it could be quite nice. I love some of the brilliant colors others are using - my soft blue suddenly looks pretty bland!
Dicksie

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Faux Seam


Before starting the pattern, I definitely had misgivings about a few of the elements, including the garter rib and the faux seam.


I considered nixing both of them in favor of regular 2x2 ribbing and no seam, but then I decided to try something new. By the time I had finished the ribbing, I was pretty happy with it.


Now, I'm maybe halfway through the body stockinette, and I'm sold on the faux seam too. I don't have any problem sewing actual seams, but if I get to the end and want to tighten it up a bit I could still do that.


Saturday, September 1, 2007

Reynolds Whiskey Substitute for Felted Tweed

Has anyone tried out Reynolds Whiskey yet for this pattern? It has the potential for being a good substitute for the Felted Tweed? And it's a bit less expensive too.