twylem.

It is overdue but it is finished! I started this test knit back in early February. It was moving along very quickly but we had some weekends of rough teething (we are officially up to 3 teeth!) and my knitting was laid to the side. Do you experience a lull in momentum on a project when you constantly have to put it aside? I know I do.

I have wanted a new black cardigan for a long time – unfortunately this is going to be way to warm for a summer-over-the-shoulders-cardigan but it will be perfect for the rest of this winter and then the fall. It is almost more like a jacket due to the collar.

Pattern: Twylem by Vanessa Smith

Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Worsted in colour black

Needles: 5.5mm for the yoke, collar and body; 5.00mm for the sleeves; 4.00mm for the belt

I really wanted to test this because of the super cool collar. The construction was interesting – I loved working the top-down collar with the yoke, then picking up and working the ribbing. It makes the collar bulky. I think that was very smart that it isn’t double layered all the way to the bottom of the cardigan – it would have been a lot of heavy fabric and warmth.

The seaming on this is minimal – the collar join at the back of the neck is a 3-needle bind-off. But the one seam is the double collar edge to the lower single ribbing. It was challenging to figure out how to seam it to get a clear line all the way across. Vanessa’s tutorials are fantastic and the finished edge looks perfect.

While I was knitting this I lost 10lbs. So by the time I got to the sleeves, it was too big. I did decide to size down the sleeves, though, and knit the 34 1/4” size sleeves instead of the 36” sleeves. I’m glad I did as it actually helped with the rest of the sweater even though it is too big. I should have knit the 34 1/4” instead of the 36”. It’s only 2” but in this case, for me, it made a big difference. And here I was concerned about whether I should knit the 38”! It would have been huge!

That’s the difficult thing about knitting while you are pregnant or just postpartum – everything for me felt too tight and now that I am getting back to my pre-pregnancy size, everything is too big! It is a small problem to have but when knitting sweaters, it is a little frustrating :)

How have you been doing with fit ‘issues’ lately?

almost finished & a book.

I really enjoy reading the Yarn Along(s) that others post on a regular basis. Since finishing my masters degree, actually having time to read and finding my love of reading slowly re-surfacing, I thought it was time to start joining in! Unfortunately, I am so far behind in my reading that I am playing catch up from the past 3 years. Oh well. I just finished The Help by Kathryn Stockette – Loved it. Can’t say enough good things. I did cry a couple of times towards the end (particularly the chapter in the church near to the end).

Currently, I am listening to The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood. I am on chapter …. 7ish?

I don’t have much to say about it just yet other than that I am really enjoying listening to it and I am very much enjoying the narrator.

While listening away, I am steadily working away on my epic cardigan/jacket that was bogging me down last week. I figured out why this was such a mental block for me to get finished: The sleeves are longer than normal (22”) and it’s seed stitch the whole way down. Ugh.

BUT, here I am at the cuff – of the second sleeve!

This is a little peak of the first sleeve – I added wrist warmers to the inside of the cuff. This is something I have wanted to add to a jacket-like cardigan for a while after seeing lilau’s sedum. I was inspired by the warm, cozy feel that wrist warmers add to a cardigan that is meant to be worn as a jacket. More on my addition when I have photos of the FO to show you.

ps. Did I mention it’s snowing here in Vancouver at this moment? Weird, huh …

a new disease.

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?