Adventure 2008 - #1

The Sweater

Yup, I said sweater.


Pattern: Tangled Yoke Cardigan, by Eunny Jang, size: 50"
Isn't it lovely?

After a couple months of hemming and hawing and a couple of failures to acquire the desired yarn followed by a far and wide search of all the places I knew sold yarn to find a cache of enough skeins for the project, I finally located and purchased what I had decided was the perfect yarn. I wanted a lovely tweed not unlike that called for in the pattern, because I could just see a sea of stockinette dotted with cute little flecks.


Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, 192 yd's/50g, color 08 Herb

I had intended to have some pictures of my progress over the last two weeks, but between rainy days that failed to provide good light for photography, followed by the sick lappy, I neglected to take any pictures prior to today - exactly the two week mark. So, I'll make up for it with lots of detail pictures.


Now would be a good time to note that I felt that in order to make this a sweater that I would wear, I needed to make some modifications. I love the sweater as written, don't get me wrong, but it breaks a couple of rules for how to flatter my plus sized, pear shaped figure. First off, I don't much wear cardigans, as those pesky buttons tend to leave gaps that make it look like my sweater is too small. So, step one, make it a pullover. I added five stitches, and knit in the round.


My intention is to split for a button placket after joining the sleeves and just before beginning that lovely cabled yoke - making it more of a henley, with 4 buttons or so. The other problem I had was the ribbing, which, while very attractive, looked destined to cut me off at an awkward point and serve to be less than flattering. So, it had to go (and the part of my brain that hates knitting ribbing because it's slow, rejoiced . . . until it realized that I'd be knitting stockinette for.ev.er.). I decided on a hemmed edge.


I also decided to use that hemmed edge to add an extra inch of length to the body, as I am long in the torso, and don't like it when I sit down and my sweater and jeans gap. When I wear a sweater, it's because I need the added warmth: gaps mean drafts kids, and drafts are cold! I intend to do the same to the sleeves, as I also have long arms. Now to the things I love and wouldn't change for the world!


See that? That's a fake seam. I am purling one stitch at each side to give the appearance of seam. That is why I chose this sweater - no seams to sew.


And see that? That's waist shaping. My sweater is going to have a waist! I figure if I have one, why shouldn't it?

Ok, so far that's all I have. I have two more increase rounds to knit on the body and then it will be time to start the sleeves. Thanks for playing along!

I don't often get a good shot of the kitten, as she tends to walk off when I get the camera out, but since this one turned out so well . . . here you go, gratuitous kitty pictureage.

To all those wise folks . . .

who ever told me to set goals, write them down, and try to meet them:

I am sorry. I'm sorry for every bad thought I had about you, every time I thought you were nuts. As usual, I was wrong. Here's the proof.

Goals for 2008:

Knit myself two sweaters (more would be good, but we'll see)
Knit the boy one
Spin for three hours a week
Knit up all the pairs of socks I have yarn for, or not buy any more sock yarn
Dye more, and take notes
Make soap
Find a pasta roller, and make more pasta
Eat more "good" cheese

Ok, those last two may be product of the munchies, but I think they'll improve my life.

I want to have more adventures this year. To that end I've already begun some adventures. Meanwhile, I got to have an adventure in sick lappy. Thankfully the lovely fruit store folks fixed my lappy right up. Now that the lappy is happy, I will get on to showing you my first adventures for the year. Life is too short to let it get boring - onward!

It was a banner year . . .

There you have pictures of nearly every project I completed this year. And I can safely say that in terms of knitting, I accomplished nearly all of my goals. The only thing I neglected was my sock club membership - I still have 4.5 pairs of socks to knit.

And while the Christmas knitting got a little hectic towards the end, I really enjoyed working on it. So here you have the "secret" knitting for 2007:

I finished 4 grandma shawls (some of which you've seen before):






Then for the MIL and FIL : a pair of socks and a hat.




For one SIL, a pair of mittens, for the other a wrap, and for the BIL, a manly scarf:





And to top off this show, I have a huge hat.



Ok, you'll have to trust me on this one, but when I tried it on in this state, it hung down nearly to my shoulders. Now this lovely blue hat, has a lovely cranberry colored twin. And I can say now that they've both been felted down to fit a more normal sized human head. However, I was not present for the felting. I have been promised pictures of the finished product, which I will share if I have permission.

We had a great time with our homemade Christmas, a tradition I fully intend to continue for a good portion of my Christmas presents (I hope they don't mind). The other part of our themed festivities was Christmas dinner. The decision was made to wait until after dinner to decide on next year's theme. Suggestions for next year would make a good gauge for the success of this year - the more out there and wild we got, the more we thought of this years theme. And let me tell you, we weren't shy about suggestions for themes and ingredients - and I'm excited!