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)

Well, March is almost over and I figured I might as well squeeze in an FO before the month ends. It’s the deep argyle vest designed by Eunny, only this time in Rowanspun DK Eau de Nil and Snowball. Since you’ve seen the progress shots of the previous test piece that I knit, this time I’ll just jump straight to the finished product.



Pattern: Deep V Argyle Vest (34″ size) by Eunny
Materials: Sz 4 needles, Rowanspun DK 2 hanks plus a smidge of Eau de Nil, and 1.5 of Snowball
Notes: Truth be told, my row gauge was a bit off and I didn’t come to realize that until I started knitting the V neck. Thankfully I had enough time to recalculate the armhole decreases or else I’d be wearing a floppy/terribly long vest now. Although my st gauge was tighter than Eunny’s, I figured the yarn should expand a little when I block it and then I’d be ok. And I was right. It fits me nicely and I think this will be my outfit tomorrow. Yarnwise, Rowanspun DK definitely was thick’n'thin in some places but the resulting fabric bloomed after the rinse and it has a semi-felted feel to it. It does snap easily if you tug a little harder than usual, but I didn’t experience any yarn breakage while knitting. I don’t see spring-time coming to LA anytime soon and so I may get a few wears out of this yet.
Oh yea, some of the pictures came out a bit fuzzy. Uh, yea. Maybe I should lay off the caffeine. Other than the vest I really haven’t been knitting that much recently. Busy with dissertation, and also a bit uninspired. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been keeping up with you all fabulous knitters’ works. Maybe it’s the blasted weather in L.A., but I need my 70 degree weather NOW ALREADY. Hmph.