Dreamy Adalia - Blocked!

I trimmed all of the ends and tried it on this morning.  The fit is good.  I also ordered some pewter Celtic Knot buttons for it, as opposed to the crochet buttons called for in the pattern.  When I picked up the collar I did not pick up the stitch count indicated in the pattern, but simply picked up evenly along the neck.  Then I worked two complete rows in pattern.  The first row (which is a wrong side row) I decreased, in pattern, to get the correct number of stitches as called for in the pattern.  Then I worked a right side row to get back to the starting point for the short rows, which I worked as called for in the pattern.  I picked up the wraps as I came to them on the succeeding row.  I bound off knitwise, as there was no indication in the pattern directions to bind off in pattern (as had been given for the sleeves).  From the pictures it looked like a knitwise bind off.

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

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)

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)

Dreamy Adalia - Progress Check

I have also been making progress on my Dreamy Adalia.  The pattern is pretty straight forward at this point.  I will admit that I didn't think the pattern was written as clearly, or charted as clearly, as it could have been, but fortunately there is a great picture of the back in the pattern PDF that I could zoom in on to make sure I understood what was really going on. 

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

Dreamy Adalia - Sleeves separated out

I've also been working on my Dreamy Adalia now that my deadline projects are done.  It had been so long since I had worked on it I had to do some reviewing of the pattern.  I was a bit thrown at first by the back increases and the green stitches, but I did eventually figure it out.  I cast on 5 stitches instead of 3 for the underarms.  Three stitches just didn't seem like enough.  Thanks to a demonstration by Merike at The Unique Sheep Retreat I am knitting cables without a cable needle!

Buying the KC pattern set up was definitely worth it for this pattern.


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

Dreamy Adalia - One Skein Done (Almost)

I am almost through my first skein, and I have completed one repeat of the front charts.  I am using the KC Design version of the pattern now.  Once I got used to it I like it.  I am glad that I have an iPad Pro, with the size of the back charts I need the real estate.  I did find a glitch in my pattern size.  The Left Front Chart didn't go to the proper row when I got to the end.  I compared the set up with the set up for the Right Chart and discovered that the Smart Counters weren't quite set up right - the number of repeats was zero instead of 99.  Once I fixed that everything worked fine.

It is so hard to get good photos in natural light this time of year so I've set up down in my studio, which has daylight spectrum LED light bulbs.  I hung a back drop up on the book shelf so I wouldn't have the random colors and shapes in the background.

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

Dreamy Adalia - All stitches cast on

Whew!  I made it through the rest of the casting on of stitches and all charts are established.  I had one little oops moment when I realized that I had missed a raglan increase, but I was able to pick it up within the existing stitches, so I didn't have to rip back.  I ended up not using the KC Design version for this part.  Instead I have the print out of the pattern to refer to for the row instructions, and I wrote row numbers next to the sections to help me stay on track.  I may switch to the KC Design version for the next bit though.

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

Dreamy Adalia - Cast On

I also spent some time this week casting on a new sweater by Jennifer Wood of Wood House Knits.  I receive her email newsletter and was suckered in by her latest cabled cardigan, which is knit top down and has oodles of gorgeous cables.  The yarn called for is Spirit Trail Fiberworks Verdande.  I did check my stash to see if I had anything that would work, but I didn't have anything with the yardage required.  However, it just so happens that I did a Spirit Trail Fiberworks yarn club last year where I received single skeins of their yarns and I happened to have a skein of Verdande.  I pulled it out and fondled it a bit and then went online and ordered yarn for the project.  Hey, how could I resist, there was a discount coupon and everything!  I ended up getting the color Daydream.

Which knits up just beautifully.

I also bought the KC Designs version of the pattern.  This is the first time I've tried working a KC Designs pattern and I'm still undecided on it.  I use KC all the time now for anything with charts, but I'm not sure about all the bells and whistles of the full blown KC Designs.  The charts have all been assembled, which means if I want to see the whole back it gets pretty tiny, even on my iPad Pro.  And if they put out a correction you have to delete your project and restart it.  Not fun, especially if you like to use MagicMarkers, which I have become hooked on.  The pattern itself is pretty advanced, at least at the start.  It's taken me 3 tries to get things right so far, and I still haven't tackled adding in the front charts, although I've read through that section of the instructions a couple of times now and think I understand what is going on.

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