Dreamy Adalia - Both Sleeves Finished!

Actually, the cardigan is blocking right now.  I finished up the first sleeve yesterday and the second sleeve this afternoon, and the collar this evening.  I added extra stitches into the underarm as I was worried about it being too tight there based on the pictures and the instructions.  I also picked up extra stitches when I worked the sleeves, ending up with 10 stitches picked up in the underarm instead of the 3 called for in the pattern.  The KC setup has only 7 decreases for the sleeve, instead of the 8 called for in the pattern.  I noticed this when I was working the first sleeve but didn't worry about it as I wasn't trying to match the pattern stitch count anyway.  Once it's done blocking I'll attach the buttons and sew the button band flap down.

Pattern:  Adalia by Jennifer Wood
Yarn:  Spirit Trail Fiberworks Verdande in Daydream
Needles:  US 6 (4 mm)

Dreamy Adalia - Body Done!

I finished up the body this afternoon.  I started getting a bit too complacent at the end and crossed a couple of cables the wrong way a couple of times.  Usually I spotted it on the next right side row, but one of them I didn't spot until six rows later.  Yikes.  I had to do some cable surgery to fix it.  There was one thing I discovered with the KC version of the pattern.  They created a diamond chart for the last part of the body by combining several charts so you have one chart with five diamonds on it, but they used charts that had increases in them for two of the diamonds (the first and last diamonds) but the instructions clearly state that there are no further increases at this point.  I checked photos of the cardigan from the pattern and also from project pages and decided to ignore those increases.

On to the sleeves now.  I'm going to switch to the next generation of knitCompanion at this point.

Pattern:  Adalia by Jennifer Wood
Yarn:  Spirit Trail Fiberworks Verdande in Daydream
Needles:  US 6 (4 mm)

Winter Braided Yoke - Finished!

I finished this up last Sunday but finally got a beauty shot this morning.  I used up all of my yarn.  Well, all but a tiny ball of 5 grams.  Now that this is done I'll get back to my Adalia.  I am close to finishing that as well.  Almost done with the body, and then just the sleeves and collar.

This pullover fits perfectly.  Comfortably loose without being too big.

Pattern:  Winter Braided Yoke by Hélène Rush
Yarn:  Knit One, Crochet Too Meadow Silk
Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Winter Braided Yoke - One Sleeve Done!

I finished up the first sleeve this morning.  Once I had gotten through all of the decreases I weighed the yarn, then weighed it again 10 rows later.  From that I was able to determine how many more rows I could work.  I ended up starting the ribbing on row 101 and working 7 rows of k2, p2 ribbing, as I did for the bottom of the body and the neck edge.  I had to increase one stitch in order to get the ribbing to work.  The pattern has you decrease one stitch before starting the ribbing, but the pattern also calls for a k1, p1 ribbing, which I have never liked.  I also only worked 1 inch of ribbing as opposed to the 2.5 inches called for in the pattern - I don't like a lot of cuff on my sweaters.  I ended up with 70 grams of yarn left on my final skein, which is enough to do the other sleeve with a little extra for margin.

Pattern:  Winter Braided Yoke by Hélène Rush
Yarn:  Knit One, Crochet Too Meadow Silk
Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Winter Braided Yoke - Body Done!

I finished up the body this morning.  I only did 5 of the 6 increases called for in the pattern and began working the ribbing on row 81.  I worked a k2, p2 ribbing for 7 rows and bound off in pattern.  I had to decrease 1 stitch at each side to get the correct number of stitches for the ribbing to work.

I have 39.2 grams left of skein 4 and I've caked and weighed skein 5, which came in as the lightest of the bunch at 97.9 grams.  That means I have 137.1 grams for the sleeves, or 68.55 grams per sleeve.  Hopefully that will be enough.  I figure if I run short I can always make 3/4 sleeves instead of full length sleeves.

Pattern:  Winter Braided Yoke by Hélène Rush
Yarn:  Knit One, Crochet Too Meadow Silk
Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Winter Braided Yoke - Neckband Done!

Last night I worked the neckband with skein 3.  It went quickly, although I think my copy of the pattern has an error as it states to work the ribbing on the neckband the same as the body, for 2.5 inches.  But the ribbing on the body is only worked for 1 inch, and based on the picture on the pattern the neckband is only worked for 1 inch.  I worked a k2, p2 rib instead of a k1, p1 rib as I like the look of it better.  The back shows the short rows that are worked to make it fit better.  I used shadow wraps for the short rows.

I tried it on this morning and I'm happy to say it fits perfectly.

Pattern:  Winter Braided Yoke by Hélène Rush
Yarn:  Knit One, Crochet Too Meadow Silk
Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Winter Braided Yoke - Two Skeins Done

This has been some good mindless knitting for me this weekend, and being worsted weight the knitting goes quickly.  Now that I've finished up my second of five skeins I'm going to go back and finish up the neckline so that I can use up the rest of the yarn on the body and the sleeves.  I've noticed that all three of my skeins so far are a little under 100 grams.

Pattern:  Winter Braided Yoke by Hélène Rush
Yarn:  Knit One, Crochet Too Meadow Silk
Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Winter Braided Yoke - Yoke Done!

Last week I received a message on Ravelry from someone interested in buying my Knit One, Crochet Too Meadow Silk yarn.  In order to determine if I was willing to sell I looked it up in my stash and noted that I had it ear-marked for a pattern, which I also looked up on Ravelry.  Next, I pulled the yarn out of the box it was stashed in and started hunting for the pattern, which I did finally find, and decided to cast on, and informed the person who had inquired that the yarn was not for sale.  I cakedup a skein and knit a quick swatch, getting gauge right off.  I finished the braided yoke today and started working on the body.

Pattern:  Winter Braided Yoke by Hélène Rush
Yarn:  Knit One, Crochet Too Meadow Silk
Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Dreamy Adalia - Making Progress!

I finally picked this project back up after letting it sit for almost 3 years.  In the interim I've started and finished 78 other projects.  Once I put it down it was intimidating to pick it back up again, given the complexity of the pattern.  I bought the pattern already set up for knitCompanion because of the complexity, but unfortunately that left me feeling like I was working blind, just following the instructions without a clear understanding of where I was going.  Not a good feeling.  And then there was the whole knitCompanion upgrade and I was working this in the Legacy app.  Fortunately I can still work in the Legacy app and once I got started it actually came back to me pretty quickly.  I think I'm getting close to being done with the body.

Pattern:  Adalia by Jennifer Wood
Yarn:  Spirit Trail Fiberworks Verdande in Daydream
Needles:  US 6 (4 mm)

Peacock Feather Shawl II - Finished!

Wow.  Has it really been a month since I've posted anything?  Well, I have been busy.  I finished Artsygal 2 back on October 20, and discovered a hole in it when I was blocking.  I still need to fix it.  More on that in a later post.  I also whipped this little shawl out while I pondered how to fix my other shawl.  I knit this for Ellen of Earthfaire.  She will be kitting it up for her store.  Thankfully the pattern instructions have been completely revamped and are now super easy to follow.  This one came out a little bit smaller than my first one. I think it is due to the Ella Rae, which just doesn't quite have the bulk of the Rowan Baby Merino Silk DK.  But on the bright side, at least I didn't run out of it.  I have more yarn to make another one and I bought extra so I can make the shawl bigger.

Pattern:  Peacock Feathers Shawl by Aksenik Lyudmila
Yarn:  Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball Starke 6 and Ella Rae Lace Merino DK
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm)