Marigold Pullover - Redux - Finished!

I also finished re-knitting the Marigold Pullover this morning.  Given that it is already 86 degrees out there (on the way to 100) there is no way that I am modeling this on our back deck.  For this sweater, I used a size 7 needle (size 6 for the ribbing).  I have already started re-knitting the Tiger Lilly Pullover.

3 skeins Fiesta Yarns Boomerang in Marigold
Needle size - 7, 6 for the ribbing
Pattern - top down raglan from Sweater Wizard Software

Marigold Pullover - Redux - Body Done

So, after wearing my Marigold pullover I decided that the gauge was too loose, and so was the sweater.  Having worked with several Fiesta yarns I have now decided that for my knitting, anyway, I need to go down a needle size from the one recommended on the yarn band.  I have also refined the pattern to improve the fit.  Here is the body of the Marigold Pullover, re-knit.  I unraveled the sweater, winding the yarn with my ball winder.  Then I turned the yarn into a skein with my swift, tied it up, soaked it and then hung it up to dry to get the kinks out.  It took this treatment exceedingly well.  This is what it used to look like:

I do miss the pooling a little, but the fabric and the fit are so much better.  I am going to re-knit the Tiger Lilly and Calla Lilly pullovers as well.  In fact I have the Tiger Lilly Pullover sitting here next to me, ready to be unraveled.  I am hoping that they come out less psychedelic.

Morning Glory Pullover

I have been enjoying some mindless knitting this week.  I originally started this pullover as a top-down, but didn't get very far before I changed my mind and decided to knit it bottom up.  I started on the body last week.  I got a lot done on Sunday.  We went to Charlottesville to watch our daughter dance and I knit in the car on the way there, and during the performance, and most of the way home.  There was another Mom across the aisle from me who told me that she wished she could knit.  I told her it wasn't that hard.  I don't know why people defeat themselves without even trying.

This has been a very enjoyable knit, for a somewhat crazy week.  The yarn is wonderful, 70% Extrafine Merino, 15% Silk, 15% Cashmere.  A real joy to knit with, and fondle.  I love the colors, the way they are striping, and pooling just at the top of the sleeves.  I really like the cuffs with the purple and green chevrons in the ribbing.

Morning Glory Pullover - Take 2

Back in November I started my Flower of the Month Pullover series with this colorway - Morning Glory - but the yarn was Ballet, an Alpaca/Tencel blend that started to make my hands itch when I worked with it.  This was both puzzling and dismaying.  I had worked with Alpaca before with no ill effects, but apparently menopause can change your allergic sensitivities and it had apparently changed mine.  So I set that project aside for the duration.  It made me very sad, as I really liked the colorway.  Imagine my delight when I discovered the same colorway in Gracie DK at Noble Knits.

Fiber-wise this is the same yarn base as the one I knit the Orchid Pullover out of (70% Extrafine Merino, 15% Silk,  15% Cashmere), but that yarn is called Gracie's DK.  And Gracie DK is put up in 380 yard skeins while Gracie's DK is put up in 310 yard skeins.  Beats the heck out of me.

Orchid Pullover - Finished

I've been home from work yesterday and today trying to kick a cold that I picked up on my trip to California last week.  Fortunately I had some simple knitting to do as my brain was definitely not up to knitting lace.  I finished up my Orchid Pullover.  This is the January Flower of the Month from Fiesta Yarns.

The pattern is a top-down raglan, from Sweater Wizard.
The yarn is Gracie's DK in Orchid from Fiesta Yarns.  70% Extrafine Merino, 15% Silk, 15% Cashmere.
Gauge - 21 stitches, 29 Rows = 4 inches on US 6 needles

Poinsettia Vest

This is the December Flower of the Month Colorway from Fiesta Yarns - Poinsettia.  The yarn is Gracie Chunky, 70% Extrafine Merino, 15% Silk, 15% Cashmere.  The recommended needle size is 11 and the gauge is 12 stitches and 17 rows to 4 inches.  The yarn is very soft and nice to work with, if you like working with bulky yarns, which I don't.  A size 11 needle feels huge and awkward in my hands, especially after all of the lace knitting that I have done.  I did a single crochet edging and used up both skeins of yarn that I bought.  The pattern is a simple vest from the Sweater Wizard software.

Calla Lilly Pullover - Finished

I finished up my third Flower of the Month pullover.  No more in the offing for now.  I was going to make pullovers from the Ballet yarn, but it makes my hands itch when I knit with it so I stopped working on the Morning Glory Pullover and have put the other Ballet yarn that I have in my stash up for trade or sell.  The fact that the yarn was making my hands itch has me worried, though.  It is a combination of superfine Alpaca and Tencel.  Now, I work with Tencel in my weaving, so I don't think I'm allergic to that, but that means that I may have an allergy to Alpaca, which I find a little odd, as I have knitted with it before with no ill effect.  So maybe it is just this Alpaca.  Who knows.  As long as I don't develop an allergy to wool.

Tiger Lily Pullover - Finished!

I finished this up tonight.  I have gone back and forth on this one, and even considered re-knitting it and trying to get the colors to pool in a more coherent fashion, but in the end I decided to let it be, as the Beatles said.  Some things just have to be free to express themselves as they are.  It is pretty wild and crazy, but there is an order there, there are patterns in the waves that remind me of interference patterns - maybe if we adjust the rabbit ears...This is the May Flower of the Month colorway from Fiesta Yarns, Tiger Lily.  The yarn is Boomerang, Aran weight, 100% Merino.

Tiger Lily Pullover

One good sweater deserves another.  Having finished up Marigold, I cast on Tiger Lily.  The May Flower of the Month from Fiesta Yarns.  I have to travel next week for work and needed an easy airport/airplane project.

I really hate flying these days.  It was bad enough with the airlines cutting back and treating passengers more like cargo than humans, but now with all the security theater I dread walking into an airport.  I really hate being treated like a criminal in my own country, and it isn't even as if these measures are really effective.  Governments always use times of war to expand their powers, and the "war against terror" is perfect because it can never be finished or won.  The same also applies to the "war on drugs."  They provide an excuse for government to intrude into the lives of its citizens and erode our civil rights.  Rights that are enshrined in the Constitution that it seems most politicians never read.  George Orwell was right.  It appears that we are doomed.  For myself, I will opt out of the new body scan and endure the pat down.  I don't believe that the scanners are safe.  Exposure to radiation never really is.  At least the pat downs won't give me cancer.  Been there, done that, no thanks.

Marigold Pullover - Finished!

Finished this afternoon.  It was a quick and easy knit, and it fits perfectly.  This just may become one of my favorite sweaters.  The yarn is Boomerang, by Fiesta Yarns, in the October Flower of the Month Colorway - Marigold.  The pattern is a top-down raglan, from Sweater Wizard knitting software.  Boomerang may also become my favorite merino wool for sweaters.  It is wonderful to knit with, the colors are amazing, and it knits up so beautifully.

Marigold Pullover - Body Done

I spent yesterday and today finishing up the body of my Marigold Pullover.  I am quite pleased with how it is turning out.  It fits perfectly so far and I love the colors and how they are pooling.  The striping at the top of the bodice is due to the fact that the top portion is worked back and forth, with increasing row lengths.  When the yarn is joined and the body is worked in the round, the colors start to spiral.  The spiral is even carried into the ribbing at the bottom.  I wanted to finish the body before I started on the sleeves just in case I run a little short of yarn.  Sweater Wizard estimates that the pattern will take 953 yards and I only have 960 yards, but my gauge is spot-on, and my back-of-the-envelope calculation indicates that I should have enough.  I weighed my skein before I started the first sleeve, and I'll weigh it again when I finish it to make sure that I have enough.  If I'm running short, I can always turn the full length sleeves into three-quarter length sleeves.

Marigold Pullover

So this is another yarn that has been calling my name.  It is Boomerang, by Fiesta Yarns, and is another of their Flower of the Month Colors - Marigold.  It is 100% Extrafine Super Wash Merino.  It has great body, and feels almost like velvet.  A real joy to knit with, and who can resist those colors?!  Once again the pattern that they had come up with to pair with this colorway really didn't do anything for me, so I decided to do another top-down raglan.

Morning Glory Pullover - Update

I finished up the neck, body and sleeve increases today and started on the body proper.  I am very pleased with the fit and the way the colors are mixing.

Morning Glory Pullover

Of course, now that I have finished the Cleopatra Tank, I needed another easy project to carry in my work bag.  This year Fiesta Yarns started doing a Flower of the Month colorway each month with three different yarns, complete with patterns to go with.  I have collected all of the colorways but haven't done anything with them, partly because I have way too many projects in my queue.  The yarn is so beautiful, however, that it has been calling to me, so I finally broke down and pulled out the September colorway.  The yarn is Ballet, and it is 50% Superfine Alpaca and 50% Tencel and comes in 350 yard skeins.  It knits up at 22 stitches and 28 rows to 4 inches on size 6 needles.  This is the first time that I have worked with the yarn and I am liking it.  I haven't really worked with Alpaca before, and I am finding it a bit hairy (I like smooth yarns - no mohair or angora for me).  I have woven with Tencel, but never knit with it.  Tencel is a cellulosic fiber created by humans as a replacement for silk.  It gives the yarn a nice sheen.

For this project I created a top-down raglan pullover in my Sweater Wizard software.  The pattern that came with the yarn is a lace pullover that I thought was just too busy when you combined the lace stitch with the colors of the yarn.  I am letting the yarn pool if it wants to rather than working from two skeins as is usually recommended.  Frankly I feel that when you try to prevent the yarn from pooling you end up with a chaotic color effect that I find disturbing.