lolcat

see more crazy cat pics

Why people use patterns

Yeah, well this make-it-up-as-you-go method is a little troubling. I got to the bottom of where I want the V-neck, and I started doing decreases. What to do with this cable? Well, I more or less stayed in pattern and decreased it gradually away. And finished one side up to the shoulder. Now I'm trying to do the same thing on the other side of the V-neck. But looking at it, it looks kind of crazy. And it's hard to figure out how to do the second half of the cable and how to eliminate one stitch each time and still keep the pattern. And I am not at all sure that this is working.



But I will press on and do the second side of the front and then decide. I keep thinking that if I pick up and knit a band of ribbing around the neck edge, that it will look right. If not, I will have to frog back to the dividing point and figure out some other way to do it. It's only knitting. This has gone really fast, so I can do that if I have to, right? One week, and the front is almost done. The back will be plain and simple. I like plain and simple. It suits me!

Zooming Saxon Braid

I am obsessed with knitting this cable pattern! I can't believe how fast it is progressing and how cool it looks! And--knock wood!--so far, no screw-ups. I even added two columns of purl stitches on the sides of the pattern by dropping down a stitch and picking it back up, to allow more room on either side of the cable so that it would show up more clearly, and that went smoothly too. I only have a couple more inches to go before I start the shaping for the V-neck and the armholes.

Before I started on this project, I did a little fooling around with my first go at lace knitting, and I wanted to try out a single skein of wool/alpaca I traded form, in a colorway called Pesto. Now that I see that lace, at least in worsted weight yarn, is within my capabilities, I want to frog this and try something with a leaf design. I doubt if one skein is enough to make anything usable, but if it's narrow and has a lot of holes, maybe it can be a kind of ascot?

Saxon Braid Vest

I have been admiring the stitch pattern called Saxon Braid, and picturing it on the front of a pine green vest. I couldn't find a pattern I liked, so I decided to try my hand at improvising a pattern myself, using Ann Budd's book A Knitter's Book of Patterns, and comparing the measurements with a vest of Sam's and my own measurements.

I went to Let's Knit for yarn, and they didn't have any wool in anything close to pine green and I ended up buying a kind of slate color yarn--basically grey, but with blueish overtones. I think it's attractive, and perhaps more wearable than dark green would be (though I may yet make a second one in dark green, maybe with another Celtic-looking pattern or something.



So on Thursday I cast on for the front, and I am amazed at how quickly this is going! I already have 8 inches done! (The picture shows it at about 4") I started with 124 stitches, size 9 needles, about 6 stitches per inch. Two inches of 2 x 2 ribbing and 2 repeats of the center cable are done already. I put in some waist shaping too.

Finally, a finished object!

My very first actual adult-sized sweater is finally finished, and I am quite happy with the results. It took longer that expected, but I did stop in the middle to knit a pair of socks for Kristen. And miracle of miracles, it fits! And the rolling of the front edge was cured by blocking. So although it is a rather simple thing, I am quite pleased with myself and with the project. So...what next?

I heart NY