There comes a time when you realize that you’ve been duped. We have all been victims of pretty pictures that we see in pattern magazines, and envisioned how magnificent our FO’s will turn out. Such is the trickery of beautiful models and professional photography. I, on the other hand, have an iPhone camera on the day the FO shooting took place. No awesome cameras, grumpy knitter, and this is what you get…. just a “Meh….”

(Do not be fooled by this picture. That’s the most flattering angle of the sweater)

(Notice how I am not smiling in the pictures. There is a reason. The truth will be revealed soon)

(Way too oversized batwings.)

(Trust me, I can gain an additional 50 lbs and this sweater will still fit)

(The side that the French model never bothered to show you)

Pattern: Phildar Gilet No 416-T4-159, Sz 34/36

Materials: Jaeger Baby Merino DK (13 balls in Teal), Sz 4 circs, 2 el-cheapo Walmart buttons

Notes: The pattern, though French, was pretty straight forward because it didn’t contain complicated shapings. The finishing instructions though, were a hoot. Basically, this is what it said : “Attach fronts to the back piece. Don’t bother trying to match up the stitches because it is impossible. Look at the diagram and use it as a guide.” Hmph! Great. The yarn that I used is a superwash yarn, and when I wetblocked the pieces, it grew to monstrous proportions. What is it with superwash yarn and gigantic expansions? I think that’s what contributed to such a floppy looking sweater.

I had grand hopes for this sweater, and spent 8 hours seaming this beast. I was going to find a kick-ass furniture store and look for a similarly shaped couch that the model was standing in front of and do the exact same pose for kicks and giggles. And then, BAM!, I tried it on. “Meh…” was about the best emotion the resulting FO elicited. Just “meh”.

At first I wondered if I should just rip the sleeves apart, but it wouldn’t be a cardigan now, would it? I have decided in the end to just make peace with it and move on. Oh sure I’ll still wear it, we all need a tent sweater some time right?

And with that.. let’s move on to better pictures of the Pimlico shrug in the outdoors. This is a drastic improvement from my bathroom shots. We must end this point on a high note. Yes we must.

(ahh..much better)

(collar up)

(and again, what the pattern doesn’t show you in the book)

When did you first learn to knit? And why?

Back in 2005, I wanted a wrap sweater. I have long arms and a long-ish torso, and could not for the life of me find a wrap sweater that fits. On one fateful Saturday in WalMart, I picked up their “Teach yourself to knit” kit and that marked the beginning of a new obsession. After a weekend of casting on and binding off, I picked up the Stitch’n'Bitch Nation book and knit my first sweater - the Lucky Clover Wrap. Ever since then, I’ve knit several sweaters — cabled ones, simple raglans, boleros, and jackets.

Yet despite all that knitting, I have come to realize that the ones that I wear again and again, are the simple sweaters. Take for example, my Thermal. I wear it with a tank top underneath, or a 3/4 length shirt, and when the weather started getting a little colder, a long sleeved shirt. And my Raspy, a simple stockinette raglan that has seen numerous wears. And so when that Phildar Tendences 2007 issue arrived at my doorstep, this immediately caught my eye. But I really wanted to knit with Rowanspun 4ply - despite its slubby texture, and so I forged ahead.

Pattern: Phildar Tendences Printemps’07 Cardigan #18, Sz 34/36
Materials: 8 skeins (with lots leftover for seaming), 0 mm and 2.5mm needles, 3 3/4″ pearl buttons 

Notes: The pattern asks you to knit 8 pieces separately but I cheated. I knit the two front pieces and the back piece in one piece to the armhole, and continued separately. I added an extra stitch in the seam line to visually separate the front from the back, and also kept the beginning and edge of the rows with a selvedge stitch for easier seaming later on. Short-row shoulders, with a 3-needle bind off. The two front ribbed edges were attached to the front pieces using a crochet slip stitch (Note the slight puckering on one of the front edges), and the sleeves were knit the round.

The cardigan has 3 columns of stockinette detail in the fronts on a reverse stockinette background, so basically I would knit in the round in stockinette and just flip it inside out when I needed to seam. The collar was attached using simple backstitching.

(shown here: The knit column on the waist, and the decorative knit columns on the front)

(shown here: the right sleeve seam and the collar to body seam)

Now if you followed the pattern like I did for the buttonholes, that button size mentioned in the pattern will NEVER fit through the holes. Like, NEVER. So I settled for 3 el-cheapo 3/4″ buttons from Joann’s instead. Does the job if you ask me.

In the end, I like my yarn substitution. Wet-blocking Rowanspun really smoothed out the slubbiness and evened out my stitches, and I can predict many many wears in the future already.

And because I just totally raved about simple designs, I will now bite my own tongue and show you this.

(shown here: Fair isle swatch for my first Fair Isle Pullover)

It’s a hefty swatch. I’m having a hard time deciding which shade of grey to go with the yellow. The yarn is Harrisville New England Shetland: Cornsilk for the yellow, and Charcoal –> Dove Grey –> Suede (darkest to lightest). I am planning a simple shapeless potato sack pullover, something to lounge in for the cold weather, but in a bold brocade-ish pattern. Feel free to chime in and give me your two cents. All suggestions welcome.

And oh, in case you were wondering, I did get that pair of crochet slippers from my friend. He done good, y’all. The darn thing fits!

(pink feet make me happy)

First of all, stripe knitting SUCKS ASS. *inhale… exhale*… May I present to you, TWO giant dish cloths. Yea, this is how far along I am on the Phildar sweater. And it has no shaping whatsoever. Do not be fooled by the slender edges of the pieces, it’s just the yarn curling. And short rows on top with stripe sequence? Har har har… bazillion loose end hell. What have I gotten myself into? That’s right, winnie, how very smart of you to do short rows AND switch yarns at the same time? *snicker snicker* I wanted to begin the sleeve knitting with tubular cast on, but at this point, screw it. Knitting 160 sts per row on sz 1 is just too, um, lovely, for words.

So, I’ve picked out my yarn for the Stitch Ya Neck Out scarf swap. And don’t worry, yet-to-be-determined-SYNO-pal, it ain’t black yarn. It’s a most lovely maroon-brown 100% superfine merino yarn. Wanna know what they’re destined to be? Click Here. Yup. I’ve wanted it since the first time I laid eyes on it, but the endless ribbing has kept me far far away. Oh don’t get me wrong, I have no qualms about ribbing, but 100% ribbing? *ponders* hm, I’d take lace knitting any day over ribbing. I am looking forward to knitting some Backyard Leaves, or Ruffles, or even Branching Out from Knitty. I understand that the first two are very popular picks.. so fear not, cuz here’s one happy volunteer who’s dying to knit them for ya.

Thanks to my fellow knit-bloggers who check me out from time to time, they’ve helped me figure out Phildar’s French-glish instructions. Special shout-out to Mari, who, out of the kindess of her heart, sent me an email with row-by-row instructions of the brain-fart-inducing shoulder/neck shaping described previously. The more I looked at the length of the sweater, the more it looks like pajama to me. I’ve decided to crop it down a little bit (only 2″), so we’ll see how this little stripey devil will turn out. Inspired by Tara’s short-row shoulder shaping for her short-sleeved Vogue top , I’ve insanely decided to be a short-row follower. With help from Nona’s “ask Nona” archives describing short-row shaping in detail, this Phildar stripey back currently has all its live stitches intact. Frankly, I have no idea what I am doing, but we’ll soon find out when the grafting happens. If it comes out well, I’m keeping the top. But if my spontaneous idea of cropping the top by 2″ turns out to be a disaster, I need to find me a shorter-torso buddy in a sz 4 to wear this baby.

This is OSW#2. And as luck would have it, I ran out of freakin’ yarn again. I only had the 1″ edging to knit, so I used some velour type yarn (cheapo) and it looks nasty — as in no stitch definition. Will frog that and use a proper cotton yarn. The purplish main body is knitted up with Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, and it deserves better than the cheapo acrylic blah yarn.

Next up is my progress shot of the Phildar Stripey Top. Phildar calls it “Pull Manches Courtes”..um yea, whatever that is. It is being knit up on Sz 1 and 4 needles, and since my mom is here, knitting progress is s~l~o~w~~… this sweater will be growing very very minimally over the next few weeks. But I have one more picture to show you all, and…..

TADA!!!…. The no-sew knitted hem. Hee hee…that’s my biggest accomplishment with this sweater yet. So, I have a question for y’all. Is it just me or does Summer knitting progress slower than winter knitting? Maybe it’s just me.