A plain ol' maroon sweater

You may have gathered this, but I really love to read. I read when I'm knitting plain-ish things, I always read when I'm eating lunch, and I like to read before bed... so I end up reading a lot of books. One of my all-time favorites is The Help. Great book. I re-read it a month or two ago, then randomly happened on the movie on tv. Normally I don't watch movies made from books I love (coughHarryPottercough) but my husband was out of town, and I like Emma Stone, so I gave it a go. Um, it's fantastic. It stayed true (enough) to the book, the acting was great, and the outfits- oh my gosh, the outfits. I got weirdly obsessed with this one particular sweater- deep scoop neck, maroon, fitted, shorted sleeves- then bing! Lightbulb went off. I CAN MAKE THAT RIGHT NOW. I had a sweater's worth of DK weight maroon yarn in my stash, I know how to make a top-down sweater, drop everything and start now. Normally I don't do things like that. For one, I have about a bajillion knitting commitments at any given time, and can't really spend my knitting time on not-paid work. For two, I don't really need more sweaters. And for three, there was no three because I started that sweater within 20 minutes of finishing the movie.

Because it was purely for fun knitting, and very simple stockinette, I admit that I didn't pay a ton of attention while I was making it, which sucks, because it doesn't fit the way I had in mind. The bust is ok, but there's a lot of extra fabric in the body (which I sort of gathered into the back and secured with the belt, ahem), and the bottom tends to ride up because there's too much ease. I can't decide if I want to re-knit from the waist down, or if I want to do something quite drastic like use my sewing machine to take it in at the sides, which is total sacrilege, or if I should just leave it as-is and vow to pay more attention in the future.

I knitted the body on my new Knitter's Pride Nova Cubics. The needles are square instead of round, which is supposed to be easier on your hands than traditional needles. I can't put my finger on what exactly, but there definitely was something awesome about knitting with them. I knitted for hours on that sweater and never got sore hands. Want to know the best thing about these needles? The cord didn't need to be soaked in hot water when I took them out of the package. That is literally the best thing I can think of when it comes to circulars. I think I gasped out loud then did a little jig when I realized. That's the way to create a life-long customer, people. No cable soaking.

They seriously came out of the package looking exactly like this! So great.

Full disclosure: I got the needles for free in exchange for a review. No lies though, I freaking love these needles.

Oddly constructed sweaters.

Awhile ago, I posted a picture of a sample that I had totally finished, but wasn't going to publish because a) the yarn I used was just awful and I'd have to make a new sample, and b) there was a negative percent chance that I could write a cohesive pattern that would make the stripes across the shoulders line up for more than one size. So I scrapped the whole project and added the sample to my box of Things That Didn't Work Out. It's kind of a big box. But then... it came to me. How to make it work. Thanks to Emma Welford for a little kick in the pants that ignited my creativity spark. A box of yarn arrived on my stoop, and off we went.

This sweater. Perhaps you remember. 

Earlier this spring/winter, when I had a terrible case of the Finish Every WIP in This Dang House, I found this sweater, worked bottom-up to about the armholes, still on the needles. I think the original plan (like 3 years ago, when I started it) was to be a tank top? Or maybe a t-shirt? I seriously don't remember. Whatever it was, it wasn't going to work out. I know way more about knitting than I did then, thank goodness. So a 3/4 sleeve sweater it is. 

For reasons best known to no one, I was using acrylic from Joann's. Yes, it's soft, but ugh, a good sweater it does not make. I finagled myself a box of Cascade 220 Superwash, a yarn I loves for it's softness, pretty colors, and durability. So- better sample with totally different construction method, here we come!

Construction for this sweater is slightly odd, but I think that might just be what I do. Slightly odd. It uses the Contiguous Method, which is sheer genius and makes a shoulder "seam" and what looks like a set-in sleeve. Pretty nifty. So for this sweater, you're actually going to start with just one shoulder, then you separately make the other shoulder, then you join that business together across the fronts to form the neckline. This way the stripes line up on the body and sleeves for every size, with no crazy maths. "Why, oh why, are you making this in two pieces, you weirdo?" you may be asking. I'm making two shoulders because the back has a super fun keyhole. 

Ta da! This is clearly the old acrylic version. But for this iteration, I'm not joining the knitting at the top of the keyhole- gonna do a button/loop instead, mostly so that I can use a gold anchor button, because if there is an excuse to use a gold anchor button one should always jump on that. 

If this looks oddly like two shoulders that are not joined to anything, then well, that's what it is. But I'm just about to join the two pieces together, then it's only about an inch or two to the body/sleeve divide, then smooth sailing from there. 

Sweater Quantites

Something terrible has happened. My favorite hand knit sweater was attacked by vicious, sadistic moths. They ate an irreparable hole in the MIDDLE of the FRONT of my lovely wool/silk/alpaca sweater. It was (properly stored!) in an air-tight bin with three lavender sachets with a bunch of other wool sweaters, hats, and cowls. Did the moths eat anything else? No. Didn't even look twice at another sweater. They found my favorite one and chowed down.

Sigh. Trying to move on.

So I'm making a new sweater. It's the Agnes Pullover from the Fall 2012 issue of Knitscene. Normally I'm not a cable person, especially not an all-over cable person, but I loved this sweater instantly. I actually didn't ever plan to make it, but one evening a couple of weeks ago I was looking through past knitting magazines, and saw this pullover again, and thought... "Hmm. Isn't there a sweater's worth of Berroco Vintage upstairs in the craft room? In a color that would be perfect for this fall? What did I buy that yarn for, again?" Ten minutes later... we have started a sweater. This is why I don't normally keep sweater quantities around. I am rash when it comes to knitting choices. I think this is a better use for this yarn than the original intent, which was an all-over lace pullover that I somehow thought I would start AND finish on the drive out here from California. I am clearly a crazypants, because I didn't even wind any of the yarn into balls, much less knit an entire sweater.

Love these squishy cables. The yarn is perfect for it- so soft, and a real joy to knit. However... it looks a little bit fuzzy already (especially in the places I had to rip and re-knit... don't drink and knit, kids), but I think that it will be fine. 

And yes... that's a Harry Potter book in the background. It was time for the yearly re-reading.

A Long-Put-Off Sweater.

I've wanted to make this sweater since I got this copy of Vogue Knitting way back in spring of 2011.

Yesterday I was examining my Ravelry queue, because I'm pretty sure I haven't updated it in months, when I came across this cardigan. (An aside: is "cardigan" really the right word? "Vest", maybe? "Another partial sweater", in the words of my bestie?) It occurred to me that I had the perfect yarn already in my stash. Cue obsession. I think I was home from work all of 5 minutes before I had the yarn and pattern out. I'm using some Bamboo Ewe that I got on clearance at Michael's a long time ago. Not sure I love the yarn- I think it's making me extra sneezy. But it's soft, and the color is pretty. It's almost exactly the same as the sweater in the picture, which I don't love because I like to be different, but I do love because it's a lovely sweater.

I was having an embarrassingly hard time with this lace pattern. It doesn't look hard. But I had to un-knit a ton, on every row. I came to the frustrated conclusion that the pattern was poorly written, but it's possible that the, ahem, half a bottle a wine I drank before starting was the real problem. But probably not. I'm an excellent pattern reader. So, poorly written pattern- that's what I'm telling myself. Then finally, I realized that the leaf pattern is really similar to the leafy pattern on the pink sweater I finished knitting this week, and my brain went, Oh! I got it. And now I don't even need the chart. Much better.

I think it will be another quick knit, which is good, because it's a wool blend, and it's getting delightfully warm here. But I could always wear it over a dress, like the model in the top picture, and be fine.