Wish I was still a sweater knitting fiend

I haven't given up on the the goal or anything, but man, the Featherweight is such a bummer to knit! Its making me crazy. I was doing just fine until I got to the sleeves; my yarn is so light, and my needles so heavy that everything flops! I've tried wooden DPNs (epic ladders), magic looping with addi lace (too much cord, and too grippy) and have finally settled on a 16" circ. I just want it to be done!

It looks amazing though, and I think I'm going to love the sweater when its done, I just don't want to touch any lace weight yarn for a long long time, or perhaps ever again...no that's too extreme. At the moment I have the body finished, I put a little moss stitch edging on it that is quite cute. The first sleeve is almost finished, so its just one more sleeve and a buttonband to go! My motivation is the aran weight sweater that is next on my list. I think I'll knit Forecast by Stephanie Japel. I've wanted to knit this sweater for a really long time, and I'm thinking that my new Dream in Colour Classy will do the job quite well. I have 5 skeins of the Black Parade colourway that I absolutely love!


I haven't allowed myself to cast on for Forecast just yet, but I have noticed that I'm working on other non-sweater WIPs in an attempt to avoid knitting on my Featherweight...

...My Squirrel Sampler mittens, for example...





...I'm knitting them in Rowan Scottish Tweed 4 ply. And am in love with the pattern and yarn.

and have been spinning quite a bit lately. I finally managed to finish the huge heap of Alpaca with a Twist fiber (which is a little funny, considering that it had no twist when I bought it..tee hee). I haven't set the twist yet, or measured yardage, but I think I'll knit a lacy triangle once I get around to knitting this. It turned out great; super soft and fluffy.




Hopefully when I return I'll have happier sweater news. Until then, wish me luck!

I am a sweater knitting fiend

The Ravelympics are finished, and I managed to knit an entire sweater! This year was my first time competing in the Ravelympics (such fun). I had intended to post about my sweater plans, and keep everyone in the loop, but I was just too excited about knitting....sorry!

Anyway, the sweater I chose to knit is Coraline by Ysolda Teague. SUCH an amazing pattern, and the prettiest sweater I have ever knit for sure! The yarn I used is Elsabeth Lavold Silky Wool, which we carry at the shop (all of us are a bit in love with it really!) This yarn lightweight, tweedy and silky; I'm doing really well with the adjectives, but hopefully you get the idea. Even though I had to knit the sweater body twice due to carelessness re: gauge, the entire thing was finished by Saturday evening! I've worn it ever since of course, it fits perfectly! I knit everything according to the pattern, excepting that I shortened the sleeves.





This taste of sweater success has spurred me on to loftier sweater goals...get ready to laugh in about 2 months...I'm going to attempt Intswemodo...or whatever its called...

I realize that I'm already behind, but I think I can knit 2 sweaters in 1 month to catch myself up...at the very least I'm really enjoying making lists of all the sweaters I want to knit and pairing them with yarn in my stash. Its all good fun, and I'm already more successful that I was last year when I attempted the same thing (disaster!)

For my next sweater I'm knitting Featherweight by Hannah Fettig. So far so good. I'm hoping to be to the armholes by the end of knit night tonight. In my rush to cast on I didn't check her tutorial, so my increases are pretty much the opposite of what she did

I decided to do this.... before the marker, scoop the bar between stitches from front to back and knit it through the back loop. After the marker, pick up the bar between stitches from back to front and knit it through the front loop. I'll take a picture of how its knitting up, but I'm pretty happy with it. I know that these are just standard M1R and M1L increases, but I will NEVER remember...I have a huge mental block there!







I've also decided to make the sweater a v-neck. I think I'm going to knit a little stocking stitch buttonband...but we'll see. I'm knitting this rather mixed up sweater in Viola Fancy Lace in my Blot colourway. So far it is verrrry pretty!