Tweed raglan

There's lots on the needles these days. After ripping out the pretty red v-neck sweater I'd been working on since New Years or so, I was somewhat reluctant or sheepish or something about starting another sweater. To date, I've only finished a single wearable sweater, but I've come quite close (2...) on all but one of my failed attempts (...out of 3).

I really love Stefanie Japel's sweater-making style, so she's pretty much my inspiration. I'm not using a pattern for this piece, but it's extremely simple. There will be no fancy shaping apart from the raglan increases at the shoulders. I thought about working in some darts in the bust area, but that's a little too advanced for me right now to just wing it.

You'll notice a rich raspberry hank of Cascade 'Pastaza' lying there -- that will be for contrasting neck/arm/waist ribbing. The main yarn being a tweed has lots of little colored flecks, but more subtle are the fine, bright threads of almost fuchsia throughout. It's very pretty even though I'm not generally a pink/magenta-wearing sort of girl.

Vertical eyelet lace

Rust orange is also a bit of a departure for me color wise, but nevertheless I picked up a sweater's worth of Knit Picks' 'Gloss' in Pumpkin back in the spring to make Knitty's "Thermal".

I ended up losing interest in that pattern, so having seen a nice lace cardigan pattern named for the inimitable (try as some might) Katherine Hepburn I decided that was how I'd like to use this yarn.

Here you see the start of my lace swatch. It's called Vertical Eyelet Rows, and it's very easy. I am certainly capable of lace work, but I want to keep it basic for such a large project as this will be my first pattern that will require lots of seaming.

I will have to break down and figure out kitchener stitch it seems. I reeeeaaaallllly hate seaming, but for the look I want it is imperative that I learn. And how can I really call my self a knitter without properly knowing how to sew up seams? Of course, there will be a great many firsts for me on this project: shoulders and tubular cast-on to name a couple--both self-inflicted.

Crunchy baby hat

And to wrap up, I've begun a hat for my friend's 2-year-old son. The design is one she saw on Etsy, and since the seller had no plans to make more of the sold-out hat, my friend asked if I could make it for her.

It just so happened that I had in my stash the very yarn and colorway she wanted--seems fated, no? I love a yarn challenge, so I swatched to find the right stitch pattern (not all that visible in this pic) and the gauge for size 9 needles, sketched the basic arc of the journey, mapped out the decreases and have left the final bits to pure chance and experimentation.

It's such a pretty yarn the Noro 'Kureyon' with its various shades of peacock feathers. And with that I'll say bye-bye!

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Cardigan in Progress

I am at a crossroads. I have never intentionally felted a self-knitted object before. OK I've never even accidentally done it, so I'm a bit wary. I just finished a top-down raglan cardigan with poofy half sleeves made of Noro Kureyon. I didn't follow a pattern apart from conforming to the basic one-piece top-down raglan approach. I spent about a month knitting the sweater, the last few days being intense knitting benders. It was heaven. So I got the buttons on this past weekend after washing and blocking, and when I tried it on the cardigan was a bit large. Like I'm about a size 10 and this sweater is a 12 or 14, which is to say it's roomy in the bust area.

Kureyon Kardigan

Knitters are familiar with Kureyon and it's sometimes subdued, but usually not subtle, striping action. The colorway I bought featured deep red, dark brown, camel, purple, lavender, deep olive and tan. I'm not a striped sweater kind of girl, but I tell you I am in love. So to discover my circus sweater doesn't fit perfectly has me perplexed. I was pretty much resolved to selling the cardigan on Etsy when I went to bed last night. It's super cute, but it takes a special kind of person to appreciate its cuteness I think. Unavoidably I find myself wondering how I might "fix" it. I hate to disturb the seamlessness by cutting up the sides to remove a couple inches; too much brute force for my taste. So I've been mulling over the possibility of felting. Will I lose too much length? Will the fabric be too dense? Do I even want a felted jacket?

My next steps are to present this question to knitting forums I frequent and to knit up a swatch for test felting. And while I haven't got a sense of the community here at VOX yet, if you, dear reader, have any insight into my dilemma, by all means leave a comment. In the meantime, my cardigan continues to be a WIP.

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