Copenhagen Cardigan - Cast On!

Truthfully, I cast this on back on January 13, but I put it away in a plastic box while I finished up the Seascair Blanket and Pillows, and the Hedgerow Shawl, and started working on the Bunny Wishes Sweater.  This project came about because Ewe Ewe Yarns was having a knit along.  The pattern was the Love Note pullover by Tin Can Knits, and the yarn was Ewe Ewe Yarns Fluffy Fingering and Magicland Yarns Marvelous Mohair, held together, and the colors…well, they were my favorite colors.  So I leaped without looking too closely, only to realize once I started really looking at the pattern that it was one of those where you knit at a loose gauge, and I am not a fan.  But I loved the yarn, so I went looking for a pattern that would match my gauge, and found the Copenhagen Cardigan by PetiteKnit.  It is a basic cardigan, knit top down, and I thought it would be really nice as a fuzzy purple/pink confection.  I quickly knit the collar, and then set it aside when I got to the short row shaping for the neck.  I did set the pattern up in my knitCompanion, so I was all ready to pick it back up again when the opportunity arose, and the opportunity arose when I got to the patterned hem on the Bunny Wishes Sweater.  I wanted something that would not require quite as much attention - more TV watching knitting, as opposed to TV listening knitting.  Yesterday morning I pulled it back out and made it through the short row shaping for the neck.

I’m still in love with the colors and the yarn.  I was never a fan of mohair before, but I like holding it with another non-fuzzy yarn.  I even learned how to set up linked counters in knitCompanion (not hard, just never had done it before) to remind me when to work the button holes.

Pattern:  Copenhagen Cardigan by PetiteKnits

Yarn:  Ewe Ewe Yarns Fluffy Fingering and Magicland Yarns Marvelous Mohair

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

Bunny Wishes Sweater - Plain Body Done!

After finishing the yoke, I divided for the sleeves and started working the body.  It took me three tries to get the stitch gauge right.  The first try I did not go down a needle size from the colorwork section (a rookie mistake) and my stitch gauge was way off and the body was way too large.  Fortunately I realized before I got too far into things and I ripped back and went down a needle size (from the 3.25 mm to a 3.0 mm).  It was better, but the stitch gauge was still off and it was still coming out too large.  So I ripped back again and went down to a 2.75 mm needle (the smaller needle called for in the pattern).  Finally, things were looking good.  My row gauge is tighter than the pattern calls for, but that is easy to adjust.  I did notice that my row gauge on the colorwork section was also off (less rows per four inches than called for), but that worked out okay.  I have noticed that my stockinette gauge tends to be in the ratio of 3 to 4 (stitch gauge generally is 3/4 of the row gauge) but my colorwork gauge tends to be more square (stitch gauge and row gauge almost the same).

Once I finished up the plain stockinette section I tackled the set up for the colorwork hem.  There are four charts that I have to work from for the hem for my size (charts 2, 3, 4 & 5), and charts 2 and 5 are repeated once.  So the knitting order is:  2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5 (front), then 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5 (back).  I pulled out different colored stitch markers to help give me a visual cue for the chart switching, but found out that wasn’t quite enough to keep me on track, so I resorted to making some labels for each section attached to locking stitch markers.  That seems to be working.  Of course I am also using knitCompanion, which I absolutely love for working charts.

Pattern:  Bunny Wishes Sweater by Sarah L. Kelly

Yarn:  Fleece & Harmony Wildwinds

Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm) and US 2 (2.75 mm)

Hedgerow Shawl MKAL - Finished!

Well, those three weeks (from cast on) sure went quickly.  I did take pictures after each clue, but just never got around to posting/blogging about them.  So, here is Clue 2.

And Clue 3.

It has been a little while since I did a mystery knit along, or anything with lace.  This project is the first lace shawl of the year, not that there is a ton of lace.  But it was a relaxing knit, and it used up some stash.  It is a shawl shape that I like, even if blocking can be a little bit of a challenge.

With the world being all browns, and white when it snowed, I was really craving some color.  The yarn is very soft, and it was nice to work with.  The shawl has nice drape.

Pattern:  Hedgerow Shawl MKAL by Helen Stewart

Yarn:  Round Table Yarns Camelot

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Bunny Wishes Sweater - Yoke Chart Done!

I finished up the yoke chart yesterday evening, after dark, so this picture was taken with artificial light.  I really enjoyed knitting the colorwork and watching the picture emerge.  Now I get to start the stockinette body and split out the sleeve stitches.

Which I have done, and got a picture in natural light this morning.  The stockinette will go quickly, and then I get to do the bottom section of colorwork.  I’m going to keep the mock cable ribbing for the hem and the sleeves because I like the look.  I might also keep them in the chestnut color, if I have enough, which I should.

Pattern:  Bunny Wishes Sweater by Sarah L. Kelly

Yarn:  Fleece & Harmony Wildwinds

Needles:  US 2 (2.75 mm) & US 3 (3.25 mm)

Hedgerow Shawl MKAL - Clue 1 Done!

A couple of weeks ago, I was poking around some of the yarn stash in my piano room (don’t ask) and came across three skeins that I had gotten in a club back in 2020.  The club was the Guigemar Yarn Club, and the yarn was Camelot (80% merino/10% cashmere/10% nylon), fingering weight (I have an insane amount of fingering weight yarn in my stash) from Round Table Yarns.  They were each in their own canvas bag, hanging on the door handle, and when I pulled them out and held them together I thought that they would make a nice shawl.

And wasn’t it convenient that Helen Stewart of Curious Handmade was doing a mystery knitalong of a three-color shawl.  I haven’t done a mystery knitalong in a while, although I will often buy the patterns and even a kit (usually from Miss Babs, because I have a hard time resisting those kits!), and then wait until all the clues come out and then maybe cast on at some undetermined point in the future.  Please don’t ask me how many kits I have in my stash.  Those are all project embryos waiting to be born.

Anyway, I felt like knitting something with some brighter colors, and as addictive as colorwork knitting can be, sometimes your brain just isn’t up for it but you still feel like knitting, so I cast on when the first clue came out and actually finished the first clue the day the second clue came out.  The pattern called for a US 6 (4.0 mm) needle, but looking back at the other shawls from her that I’ve knit I typically go down a needle size, so I used a US 5 (3.75 mm) needle.

Pattern:  Hedgerow Shawl MKAL

Yarn:  Round Table Yarns Camelot

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Bunny Wishes Sweater - Yoke Increases Done!

I have finished the yoke increases, although I still have about twenty rounds to go to finish the colorwork on the yoke.  I did end up ripping back to the neck band and starting over with a larger needle.  I had gone down a needle size from what the pattern recommended (3.00 mm vs 3.25 mm) because I was worried about it being too loose, but instead it was too tight.  So, now I’m using the recommended needles sizes (2.75 mm and 3.25 mm), and am very happy with the result.  My gauge looks to be spot on, which is always nice, but not always what happens.  I did do a colorwork gauge swatch, but not at first, because I was being lazy.  I did knit regular gauge swatches (not in the round) just to get a feel for the yarn, and based on those swatches I thought the 3.25 mm needle would be too loose.

The gauge swatch on the right was knit on 3.25 mm needles (US 3) and the one on the left was knit on 3.0 mm (US 2.5) needles, and I definitely like the fabric of the one on the left - for stockinette, knitted flat.  But neither swatch gave me gauge on both stitches and rows, and you really need to get gauge on both, if you want to get gauge.

But once I got knitting on the colorwork, I realized that it was definitely going to be too tight, so I knit a colorwork gauge swatch in the round.  I used the cuff pattern, and essentially I just knit a cuff, which I may turn into a lavender sachet.

I like the fabric, and more importantly, I got gauge.

Pattern:  Bunny Wishes Sweater by Sarah L. Kelly

Yarn:  Fleece & Harmony Wildwinds

Needles:  US 2 (2.75 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Bunny Wishes Sweater - Cast On!

Once I had finished my Seascair Cushions and Blanket I swatched for the Bunny Wishes Sweater, and cast on last Sunday.  This is one of the projects for the Fleece & Harmony Canadian Collaboration series.  There will be four this year.  The designer is Canadian, the yarn is Canadian, and if you get in on the kits, you get a Firefly Notions set of stitch markers in a matching tin, and she is also Canadian.

The designer is Sarah L. Kelly of Grey Owl Knits and I just love her color work patterns.  I have several in my library, but this is the first one that I have knit.  The yarn is Wildwinds and it is absolutely lovely to work with.

I really do enjoy color work knitting, there is something addictive about it, but it does require my attention - it is definitely not mindless television knitting.  Still, I’m making pretty good progress.

The pattern is extremely well written, with instructions for all the techniques used as well as links to videos, and color as well as black and white charts.  I’m using colors that are very close to the original design, so I’m using the color charts.  I have everything set up in my knitCompanion.  There is short row shaping at the back of the neck for a better fit.  The pattern calls for wrap and turn, but I used German short rows, my preferred method, and did an extra round after resolving all the double stitches before starting the color work.

I am almost done with the increases on the yoke.

Pattern:  Bunny Wishes Sweater by Sarah L. Kelly

Yarn:  Fleece & Harmony Wildwinds 

Needles:  US 2 (2.75 mm, for collar and cuffs), US 2.5 (3.0 mm)