Foxglove Cassie - Finished!

And it is finished!  This worked up quickly - one week from cast on to bind off, and it was a lot of fun to knit.  And the fit is perfect - it actually looks better on me than it does on my dressmaker dummy.  The yarn is super soft, so it feels great against the skin, and it looks great as a top without anything underneath it.  I think I will pair it with a nice shawl (I have oodles to choose from).  For the bottom I just continued the ribbing as established by the cable pattern, working the called for 4.5 cm before binding off in pattern.  I did not go down a needle size for the bottom ribbing.

When I’m knitting cables I’m always a little bit paranoid about screwing up a cable - crossing it the wrong way, but I didn’t have any problems with that until I got to the very end.  I had paused and was admiring the colors when I spotted the mistake.

I was already pretty far past it, so I marked it and figured I could fix it when I came around to that spot again.  It was an easy fix.

I just dropped the stitches down, crossed the cable the correct way and picked the stitches back up using a couple of small crochet hooks that are made for fixing mistakes.

Now that I know it fits I can cast on another using this gorgeous set of the same yarn base.  The colorway is The Garnet Amaryllis.

Pattern:  Cassie Slipover by Sarah Kaub 

Yarn:  Sundara Yarn Extra Fine Aran Merino

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm) and US 6 (4.0 mm)

Foxglove Cassie - Neck and Armhole Edging Done!

Once I had gotten to the end of my second skein, I caked up skeins three and four and worked the armhole edging and the neck edging with skein four.  The pattern calls for an I-cord edging on the armholes, and specifies the stitch pick-up ratio, so that was very easy and straight forward.  I did go down a needle size for the edgings to a US 6 (4.0 mm).  For the neck edging, the pattern called for a 1x1 rib, which I really don’t like, so I decided to maintain the established rib pattern from the body and picked up my stitches accordingly.  I worked about an inch and then bound off in pattern.  I now get to concentrate on the semi-mindless knitting of the body until I get to the body ribbing.  Once again the pattern calls for a 1x1 rib, and once again I will simply continue the established ribbing pattern of the body, and I will probably go down a needle size (US 6) there as well.

Pattern:  Cassie Slipover by Sarah Kaub 

Yarn:  Sundara Yarn Extra Fine Aran Merino

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm) and US 6 (4.0 mm)

Foxglove Cassie - Bodice Done!

After pondering the way the yoke is finished and joined, I decided to modify the pattern.  As I mentioned in the last blog post, the left front chart (P1 in the pattern) has an extra row and an extra stitch as compared to the right front chart (P5 in the pattern) and I just couldn’t go forward with that.  So, when I was working that final row (row 32) I worked an extra row on the right front, and did an increase, following the established pattern.  I then cut the yarn, slipped the right front stitches from the right needle to the left needle, reattached my yarn, and started working the front chart (V1 in the pattern), but I only cast on 6 stitches instead of 7 stitches as I had already done an increase on the right front to match the left front.  I worked the first 2 rows of the front chart, and then started working the back chart (R1 in the pattern) using the other end of the yarn cake.

I continued working through the two charts, working from both ends of the cake until I got to the first increase row.  At this point I looked at the length of the armhole and decided that it was too short and that I needed to extend the straight section between the decreases and increases that shape the armhole.  For the front (chart V1) I repeated rows 19-26 and for the back (chart R1) I repeated rows 18-25.  I worked those rows 2 times total and then continued on to the increase section and finished out the charts.  At this point I have joined the front and the back and now I get to work in the round until the body is long enough, or I run out of yarn, whichever comes first.  Once I finish using up the second skein, I’ll use the fourth skein to work the collar and the armhole edging, so I know exactly how much yarn I can use on the body.  I tried it on, and the fit is perfect.

Pattern:  Cassie Slipover by Sarah Kaub

Yarn:  Sundara Yarn Extra Fine Aran Merino

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Purple Haze Tredegar Scarflette - Four Repeats Done

I have also been making progress on my Tredegar Scarflette, although it isn’t very interesting, just more repeats of the cable pattern, which is a very nice cable pattern, and which the yarn does show off very nicely, despite being a 2-ply.  I mean, what’s not to like?   I love Celtic knots, and I love purple, and the fact that the yarn is my handspun just makes it that much sweeter.  The pattern calls for this to be just long enough to wrap once around the neck, calling for a finished length of 30 inches.  I am already one-third of the way there, and still have lots of yarn left, so I’m going to be making mine longer.  We’ll see how long it ends up being.  The pattern also has you make button holes in the far end before you bind off, and then sew buttons along the long side at the cast on end, so the ends meet at a right angle under you chin.  I’m thinking of putting buttons on the short side of the cast on end so I can turn it into a cowl, or wear it as a scarf.  I may also add buttons along the long side at the cast on end, as the pattern calls for, just to give me more wearing options.  We shall see.

Pattern:  Tredegar Scarflette by Jo-Anne Klim

Yarn:  Rosie’s Multi-colored Merino top, handspun by me

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm) and US 6 (4.0 mm)

Foxglove Cassie - Yoke Done!

I am ready to cast off the stitches for the saddles and start working the front and back separately, but first I have to do a little deciphering of the pattern.  At this point the pattern has me start to work across on the right side, binding off the saddle shoulder stitches as I get to them, but when I get to the other front piece (right front, which is on the left in this picture) I have to start working from the front chart instead of the yoke chart, but that means that I have an extra row, and an extra stitch on the left front (which is on the right in this picture) and I’m still coming to terms with that in my head.  I do want to draw attention to the beautiful and elegant construction.  There are lots of increases (almost every row) and the pattern uses the ones where you pull up the strand between the stitches and knit or purl in the front or back of the resulting loop.  If you do it correctly, using the proper increases in the proper places, you end up with a beautiful line of stitches.

Just look at how the stitches come off of the saddle in a neat line.  You can really see it on the wrong side.

Instead of translating the key from the pattern, which is in German, I created my own key using PatternGenius.  I just created a blank chart and put in the stitches that I wanted and spit out the PDF of the “pattern” and then just grabbed the key page with the symbols and the description of how to work the stitches.  I was not doing them correctly on my first attempt and so I frogged back and started over.  I get hung up on the usage of “front” and “back” because it can be relative or it can be absolute.  In this case it is relative.  Once I figured that out things went great, and if I did slip up (typically because I was tired) I was able to spot it right away and fix it.

Pattern:  Cassie Slipover by Sarah Kaub

Yarn:  Sundara Yarn Extra Fine Aran Merino

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Ashen - Finished!

This dried a lot faster than I thought it would.  I had it pinned out on blocking mats for the first 24 hours, but once things had settled into place I pulled it off the mats and laid it on my mesh sweater rack, which allows air to circulate around it, greatly speeding up the drying process.

I didn’t do much pinning, just a little bit around the armholes, and the neck edge, where things did not want to lay flat.  Mostly I just laid it out and smoothed things into place.  I knit at a fairly close gauge, choosing my needle size based upon the diameter of the yarn that I’m working with - I pick a needle that is about twice the diameter of the yarn for garment knitting.  I really get annoyed with folks that say that to get more drape just use a larger needle and knit at a looser gauge.  No, if you want a finished project that drapes, choose a yarn that gives you a fabric that drapes.  If you knit a garment at a looser gauge than the yarn really wants all you end up with is a swatch that lies to you and a garment that does not fit properly.  Obviously, if you’re knitting lace, other rules apply.  That does require stretching out when blocking, but if you’re having to stretch out stockinette to meet the measurements called for in the pattern, you’re going to have a problem.

I tried it on over my t-shirt this morning and the fit is perfect.

Pattern:  Libraire by Tricot Design MCL

Yarn:  The Ross Farm Ashen Wensleydale 

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm) for the body, and US 5 (3.75 mm) for the ribbing.

Foxglove Cassie - Cast On!

I finished up my Ashen vest this past Wednesday and blocked it Thursday morning - it is still drying, but it looks great.  So yesterday I cast on the Cassie Slipover by Sarah Kaub.  I have been searching for the perfect pattern for this yarn set, and came across several strong contenders, but when I saw the Cassie Slipover I knew that I had a winner.  Here is the yarn set that I’m using:

It is Sundara Yarn’s extra fine Aran merino, and it is luscious.  I wanted a top down pattern, as that allows me to make the best use of my yarn.  The very cool thing about the Cassie Slipover is the construction.  It has saddle shoulders and when I saw the photo I thought they would be cool to knit in the darkest color, while the rest of the bodice was knit in the lightest color, but once I bought the pattern and understood the construction I realized that the only way to do that would be Intarsia, and I don’t do that.  The pattern is only available in German, but it has excellent charts, in fact it has multiple charts for the different sizes, and the instructions are pretty easy to decipher thanks to Google Translate.  The first set of charts enables you to work the front, the shoulders, and the back, all at the same time.  Once I finish that set of charts I’ll work the rest of the front and the back down through the armholes.  There are charts for that, with the armhole shaping already included.  I can work those at the same time from both ends of a cake of yarn so that I use my colors up evenly.  Once I join in the round it gets even easier.  The neck band, and armhole edging will be worked in the darkest color, my standard for working with these gradient sets.  The construction of this top makes it super easy to use a gradient set because you don’t need to weigh anything or worry about matching the color changes for the front and back.

Pattern:  Cassie Slipover by Sarah Kaub

Yarn:  Sundara Yarn’s extra fine Aran merino

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)