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!
