I am feeling quite uninspired at this moment. What is it about the daunting task of sleeve knitting that just completely deflates me? I know I shouldn’t cast anything new on … but I don’t have anything to knit … other than sleeves. Arg.
Does anyone else suffer from this disease known as Sleeve Syndrome? … or is it just me?
Coming to Tofino, BC, during the storm watching season has become a little bit of a winter tradition for M & I. He loves the photography opportunities and I love the long walks on the beach. The dogs just plain love it – they are so tired by Day 2 that we end up with 2 very sedate, happy dogs. There are very few people around at this time of year, which means we can walk them for hours off-leash and not worry about them jumping on people to say, “Hello!” (which I must admit is a bit of a problem – they love people more than other dogs!).
Last week, prior to setting out for the ferry, I cast on a sweater with very high hopes I would have it finished for this week. I used favourite stash yarn and knit like the wind. My gauge was way off for this project so I cast on for the XS, which would give me a 37” bust when finished instead of the 32” per the pattern. I have to say this sweater might be my new favourite thing ever.
Pattern: Tinder by Jared Flood
Yarn: Cascade Ecological in colour 8016 (cream, natural/undyed)
Needles: 5.00mm for body; 4.5mm for all ribbing
The only modification (other than gauge) was that I lengthened the sweater to 19” – although I suspect when I re-wash it and block it properly when we get home it will be closer to 20” or 21” long. The 8 buttons are $1.99 wooden ones from Gina Brown’s in downtown Vancouver. They were absolutely perfect for this simple sweater.
A note about my gauge for this if you are thinking about using Cascade Eco as well. When I washed my swatch and laid it out to dry, it was huge. The waffle pattern stretches out a lot since it is a modified rib.
I decided to re-wash the swatch and throw it in the washer on the SPIN cycle and see what would happen since I generally do this with all of my sweaters anyways (and no, I don`t wrap the sweater in a towel – I just throw them in for 12 minutes). It was also large, but not so large. I knit based on this second gauge (15sts per 4 inches; 5 rows per inch). If I were to just wet block this, it would be about a 40” bust when dry.
I finished this the day after we got here (I failed in my attempt to finish prior!), so in these photos, I haven’t washed and spun it yet but as you can see – I wouldn’t want it to be much larger as it is already a perfect fit. I have to wash it though as it’s FULL of sand! Happy knitting :)
It’s dry. It’s finished. I don’t love it but I like it. Now that I see the photos, I’m liking it a little more – it’s quite cute.
I wanted this to be a good pregnancy sweater for Spring and I think that is exactly what I got – so in that regard, I am relieved! You can see my bump (which is actually starting to grow finally) and I think as I get bigger, I will be happy for a sweater that buttons at the top but has flattering lines down the sides.
I have quite a few scarves I love with this blue – which is good since I wear a scarf everyday. I knit a size M (38”) but it is actually a 35” (so I ended up with an inch of negative ease). I was hoping for a slightly bigger, comfy cardigan but I think I knit this quite tight without meaning to. Lessons for next time! I lengthened it by 3” as well – I would even lengthen it a bit more. Say, 4.5” next time?
As I mentioned prior, I made my own fabric-covered buttons, which turned out really well. I love them with this cardigan. I backed them with little 1/4” clear buttons to give them more structure to hang - they were causing the sweater to pull down in the front.
The one thing I love about this cardigan and I would do again is the doubled collar. Very comfy and gives it the needed structure around the neck.
Modifications:
I hope this sees a lot of wear – I will let you know :)
My mom is a fabulous sewer but she’s been cleaning out her excess supply of sewing notions over the past few years. Occasionally, I get a ‘gift’ from her that was my grandmother’s (whom I never really knew) and I am always saving theses items for a ‘special’ project.
I will tell you more later, but I have not been overly ecstatic about a certain just-finished project. It is currently drying and blocking - I love certain elements of the sweater but overall ... eh.
I do love the yarn. It is Blue Moon Fiber Arts BFL Sport in Spinel. Love. And it was wonderful to work with.
There isn’t much else I love about this project. So, I decided it was time to dig into my button & notion stash and see what I could come up with.
These have been sitting in my button stash forever. I decided maybe I could find some neat fabric to cover them with (I absolutely love fabric-covered buttons but have yet to make a sweater with them – weird, huh?).
Enter my most favourite fabric ever. It’s just a scrape left from some unfinished hot-mats I’ve been working on. This would help bring this sweater into love territory, yes?
This is the back with the instructions – I couldn’t bring myself to cut up the packaging as I would like to save it but nifty, huh? Guess how much this package of 5 stainless steel buttons cost?
$1.02 at The Bay in Winnipeg in who-knows-when :)
For those who’ve never made fabric-covered buttons, they are super simple:
Et viola:
Sweater photos next time.
ps. I realized after my post last time that I accidentally may have lead you to believe that Donegal is in Northern Ireland, the country, when I meant it was just in the north of Ireland compared to where the shop was that I bought the yarn from. Sorry for the mix up!
Something exciting arrived in the post this week.
It cam in a big red plastic vacuum-sealed envelope:
To be honest, I was very surprised how quickly it arrived since the estimated shipping dates were 4 – 6 weeks. I ordered about 2 weeks ago …
The customs label doesn’t fully express the contents of said red envelope with it’s simple statement, “Wool.” What is actually inside is luxurious, grey-green, Donegal tweed from Kilcar, Ireland. The yarn is Donegal Yarns’ Aran Tweed. Donegal, and the tweed yarns we associate with the name that come from that area, is in northern Ireland but the company (or rather, store) that ships their yarn all over the world is Commodum Art and Design, which is located in Dingle, Co. Kerry, which is located in southern Ireland. They re-skein the yarn into 200gm hanks, I suspect for ease of shipping, which is the equivalent of 4 x 50gm balls. The 200gm hanks are about 350 yards. I bought 4 for a jacket with the intention of having a little leftover to add a belt if I want.
Gorgeous, ain’t it?
I had hoped to buy some Donegal Tweed from my LYS but unfortunately, it seems to be no longer available … and I was starting to think I should choose another tweed for this jacket project (to be revealed later) like Berroco’s Blackstone Tweed or Aran Tweed from Rowan. But I was torn.
What I really wanted, though, was an authentic Donegal like the one’s I had seen a few years ago when we backpacked all of the British Isles and Ireland. But how to get them? They generally aren’t available in Canada – or at least not in my area of the country out West. I have heard of people back East being able to get these yarns more easily… what to do?
I stumbled across a Canadian Raveler who had Donegal Yarn’s Aran Tweed in her stash and listed Commodum as the supplier she had been able to buy it from – I followed the link and purchased! It arrived without a hitch :)
It’s funny. Yarns that aren’t 100% wool don’t interest the dogs but as soon as I lay real-deal 100% wool, rich with the smell of lanolin on front of them, they can’t seem to get enough of it [Charlotte, above, proceeded to steal a hank and carry it around].
The more I knit and work with a variety of yarns, the more I am realizing I am much like my dogs – 100% wool makes me really happy and satisfied. It’s my favourite to work with and wear (I’m lucky that I grew up in a northern BC town because wool against my skin doesn’t bother me – thank goodness!). What are your favourite yarns to work with? I am quite interested to know :)
ps. Thank you for all the wishes of congratulations from last post!
After the much needed period of radio silence, I have been able to catch up on things. This included focusing for the final months of 2011 on finishing my master’s degree and fighting off feeling sick for three months. I’m sure you can guess why – yes, I am almost 4 months pregnant. We are very excited and I am due in the middle of July.
Now that I am feeling caught up and definitely better, I am able to start thinking about knitting and crafting again. Looking forward to knitting for a growing family, as well as starting to design a little bit, I am hopeful that this space will once again be busy.
I have finished quite a few things during my radio silence. One of my favourite projects is Gamine, a cardigan-vest from designer Tori Gurbisz. Another one of her patterns I am looking forward to knitting is Zephyr, a simple contiguous yoke cardigan. I am, however, on a yarn diet, and will not be purchasing the yarn for this sweater for a while!
One of my ‘projects’ this January has been to empty out my 'office’ as it will morph into the nursery. In rearranging and preparing to store much of my yarn and notions, I have been able to cull my stash of a large bag of yarn for donation. It is strangely liberating. If the remaining has not been touched by December 2012, the rest is being donated as well.
So, Gamine. I used stash yarn – which will be an ongoing trend here at Chez Welfordpurls for the rest of the year!
Berroco Flicker is a relatively new yarn that is very pretty. Odette, the colourway I chose, is a soft cream with flecks of green-gold in it. The flicker is not overpowering and because it’s gold, it’s very subtle against the cream. Gold buttons set it off nicely. As I mentioned on my rav page, though, the yarn is quite splitty.
In terms of modifications, I added about 2.5 inches of length to the body. Flicker’s gauge is strange. It’s listed as a worsted weight but when knit up on 5.00mm needles, it’s quite stiff. Even with washing, I wasn’t too happy with the look or feel of it after. On 6.00mm needles, it’s light and airy – I think it shows off the yarn nicely. And that gave me gauge too.
I hope this finds you happily knitting, enjoying the new year and looking forward to the projects you have planned.
r.
In an effort to simplify my commitments, I am going to take a break from blogging. I have thought long and hard about this, and while I really enjoy it, I know there are other things I enjoy as much – like actually knitting. I will continue to share my projects on Ravelry under my username welfordpurls. Thank you for all of your comments and support – it has not gone unnoticed. I look forward to hearing from you over on ravelry & this is just a ‘see you soon,’ not a permanent goodbye :)
