Burgundy Pullover - Finished!

I finished up the second sleeve yesterday afternoon.  I really liked working the sleeves from the top down.  I did make one slight modification to the lace pattern - I switch the s1k2psso to a Central Double Decrease or s2k1psso.  I figured that would help make the lace not quite so obviously directional and I think it worked.  I have enough yarn in a dark blue to make one more of these pullovers.  There are currently 5 projects for this pattern on Ravelry, and I've done 4 of them.

Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Burgundy Pullover - One Sleeve Done

I finished up the first sleeve last night, which is good, because it is pretty boring knitting, but I can't read while I'm doing it.  I'm happy to say that the chart that I worked out for the short row shaping was perfect.  Now on to the second sleeve.  I'm really trying to finish up some projects so I can start some new ones.  There are so many things that I want to knit, but I don't want to have a whole bunch of works in progress.

Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Burgundy Pullover - Body Done

I also took this project along to work on during the Match Ceremony.  It was a pretty cool ceremony.  They pulled the envelopes at random from a pillow case and at noon, once everyone had their envelopes, they all opened them at once.


I'm working the sleeves top down, so I picked up my stitches around the arm hole edge, figured out the stitch count, which worked out to 72 stitches or 9 repeats of the lace pattern, and charted up the lace for all of the short rows.

Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Burgundy Pullover - Shaping Done

We ran a couple of errands this morning, including mailing off my two test knits to Laura so they could get their pictures taken, and then settled down after lunch to watch "Boyhood", which is almost 3 hours long, so I worked on my Burgundy Pullover.  It is perfect mindless knitting for watching a good movie or reading a good book.  I'm on my third ball of yarn and have finished up the side shaping and am only 27 rows away from splitting for the front and the back.  For this pattern I put the round marker in the middle of the back.  This makes the side shaping come out better because you don't have the jog.

I did find a project in my latest Bead & Button magazine that I want to make, but it uses a lot of different colors of beads and I need to figure out my color scheme.  I'm hoping that I can use stash beads - I like to do that when I can, it provides a fun challenge.  So far I have avoided the house work, well unless you count laundry, which I really don't because you just throw it in the machine and walk away.

Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Burgundy Pullover

After finishing up my Primula Adiri I started working on modifying a bottom up raglan cardigan to a top-down raglan cardigan.  I also agreed to do two test knits.  I didn't really want to start knitting on the raglan while I was working on test knits so last Wednesday I cast on another of my pullovers.  This is the fourth copy that I have made of this pattern (Goldenrod, Crimson Lake and Lilac are the other three).  I wanted something that was dead simple and that I could pick up and put down without worries.  On this one I will knit the set in sleeves top down.  I'm really looking forward to that.

I am half way through one of the test knits that I am working on and agreed to another test knit, bringing my total to three, but I don't have the yarn for the other two yet.  Last Saturday morning I prepared all of the clues for Snow Queen, as well as the stitch key.  It was very satisfying.  I am really enjoying the test knitting and tech editing.

Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Lilac Pullover - Finished!

This morning I sewed the sleeves to the body.  It is the only bit of finishing that I have to do on this pullover as everything is knit in the round.  Maybe on the next one I'll try knitting the sleeves from the top down.  I've been toying with the idea for the last two pullovers.  I've only done top down set in sleeves a few times, but I really like how they come out - when they are done correctly.  The only reason I haven't done that on this top is the lace patterning on the sleeve.

Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Lilac Pullover - Second Sleeve Done

Look, it's a lace bolster!  Actually, of course, it is the second sleeve of my Lilac Pullover.  This set up works great to block lace sleeves knit in the round.  It is almost dry. It was just a little bit damp on the underside, so I rolled it over. 

I picked this up again on New Year's Eve to knit while we watched a couple of movies.  We started out with Galaxy Quest, which we both love and think is a great homage to the genre, and finished out the old year with This Island Earth.  This is an unusual film from 1955.  The aliens recruit scientists by sending them a catalog with all sorts of cool parts that enables them to build a communicator.  What a great recruitment technique.  Two scientists, one of whom is a woman, end up going to the alien planet, which is in the process of being destroyed in an interplanetary war.  There is the usual bit about the aliens wanting to come live on Earth, peacefully, if possible, but if not...well, there are ways of making us compliant.  There is also the requisite alien monster - called a mutant - genetically engineered to be a worker.  The aliens all die, but our intrepid scientists survive and return to Earth with the help of the last surviving alien, a fellow scientist who does not believe in conquest.  Not your typical 1950s sci fi movie plot line.

I'll get the sweater assembled this weekend.


Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Lilac Pullover - Body and One Sleeve Done

Whenever I go on trips I agonize over what knitting projects to bring.  I can't bring everything so I have to choose carefully.  In the end I brought this project, and enough yarn to make another one, just in case.  I finished the body on the drive and one sleeve while I was there and started the second sleeve.  I'm about a third of the way done with the second sleeve.  I use a bolster made of paper towel rolls wrapped in plastic bags (from yarn shipments, of course) to block the sleeves.

Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Lilac Pullover - Making Progress

I'm almost up to the underarm on my Lilac Pullover.  It goes quickly, even with the lighter weight yarn, and I can knit while reading (Book 4 of the Game of Thrones series), or while watching movies (Edge of Tomorrow and Maleficent).  The migraine lasted through last week as well, but was manageable with some Excedrin Migraine and avoiding fluorescent lights as much as possible.  At least I was able to work the whole week, and by Friday it seemed to finally be going away.

Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Lilac Pullover

After a week of not knitting I was so desperate that I cast on a simple pullover.  This is the third one of this design that I have knitted (Crimson Lake and Goldenrod are the other two), and I have yarn for two more.  It is a classic, elegant design and is great to wear to work.  It is nice to have some simple mindless knitting right now.

Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Crimson Lake - Finished

I actually finished the second sleeve just after the New Year, but didn't bother posting about it.  I finally got around to sewing it in to the body today.  We took the day off because of the snow that was being called for so I decided it was high time I finished this one.  Besides, I picked up yarn for two more pullovers of this same pattern at the post office this morning.  Because I tend to knit in the round I set sleeves the same way I would for fabric tops.  Turn the body inside out, put the sleeve inside so that the right sides are together, pin around the edges and start sewing.  I try to leave a long enough tail on the sleeve to use for doing the sewing so I minimize the number of tails I have to weave in at the end.  I also did short row shaping on the shoulders and a three needle bind off.  In knitting, as in sewing, it is these finishing details that really help give the final product a more polished appearance.

Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Crimson Lake - One Sleeve Done

There is one disadvantage in knitting sleeves in the round - blocking them.  Usually I block them flat, but I decided to try an experiment with this sleeve and block it around two rolls of paper towels, safely encased in plastic bags.  It certainly opens up the lace, hopefully not too much.  Of course, if this doesn't work out I can always re-block the sleeve flat.

I don't know why the first sleeve always takes me so long to complete.  I finished the body on November 29.  The same thing happened on Goldenrod, although I think it only took me two weeks to finish the first sleeve, instead of nearer a month.  I finally got to the upper sleeve shaping last night.  I took most of yesterday off from working on projects around the house, resuming today with cataloging my stash in Ravelry.  I had it all cataloged, but somehow it keeps growing and had started spreading around the house in clusters of yarny goodness.  Almost all of it is boxed up now in plastic boxes, safe from evil bugs, there are just a few stragglers that I will probably take care of tomorrow.


Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Crimson Lake - Body Done!

I have been working pretty steadily on this sweater and finished up the armhole and shoulder shaping Wednesday night.  I blocked it prior to picking up stitches for the ribbing around the neck opening.  I have already started a sleeve.  Knitting this sweater a second time has allowed me to write my notes up a little more thoroughly.  I always make notes while I'm working a project, but I don't usually write them that clearly and they aren't always easy to interpret a second time around.  This time I actually took the time to put them on my Ravelry project page, usually they are only kept on Post-It note pad sheets and stuck on pattern pages or in pattern books.

Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Goldenrod - Finished!

Here it is, finally finished, and it fits perfectly.  I finished the second sleeve in two days (over the weekend) blocked it Sunday evening and sewed it in Monday evening and snapped this picture this morning before heading off to work (it is too dark when I get home to get any pictures during the week).  Hopefully my second one (Crimson Lake) will go a little bit faster.  The major modification that I did to the pattern was knit everything in the round - body and sleeves.  When I was working the decreases for the shaping on the neckline, armholes and tops of the sleeves I did ssk and k2tog 2 stitches in from the edge to give that nice line.  You can see it here in the neck shaping and catch a glimpse of it as well on the sleeve.  I'm planning on wearing it to work tomorrow (I am finally meeting my program manager).

Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 4 (3.5 mm)

Crimson Lake - Cast On

The photo does not do justice to the rich red color of this yarn.  I was originally going to call this sweater Scarlet, but that color just didn't seem rich enough.  Years ago I had a red color pencil in my collection and the color name on the side of the pencil was Crimson Lake.  It was a wonderful red.  A college friend of mine even wrote a poem about that color, which she wrote out in beautiful calligraphy.  We were into calligraphy back then, and Dungeons and Dragons.  I know that this violates my monogamous knitting habit that I have been practicing, but I really needed some simple knitting to put in my work bag, which has not had any knitting in it since I finished the body of Goldenrod.  I knew that I would be doing some document reading this week, and I really find that document reading goes so much better if I have some mindless knitting in my hands.

This is the same design as Goldenrod.

Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Goldenrod - One Sleeve Done

It seemed to take me forever to finish the first sleeve.  The lace pattern was easily memorized and I even took the sleeve with me when we went to Charlottesville last Sunday to watch Amy dance.  I even pulled it out a couple of times at dinner afterwards.  When it came to the decreases for the shoulder cap I improvised the adjustment of the lace pattern and had to rip back twice when I decided that I had made the wrong choice.

I did make some modifications to the sleeve.  I knit it in the round, which did pose some challenges when it came time to block it.  I also did not do any shaping of the sleeve until I reached the shoulder cap.  The pattern calls for decreases and increases in the lower half of the sleeve but I really did not want to mess with that because of the all over lace pattern.  The pattern called for casting on 50 stitches, which I did.  I did not join for knitting in the round right away - I worked 7 rows of garter (as called for by the pattern), and then did the increase row.  When figuring out the number of stitches to increase I took two things into consideration - how many stitches I needed to end up with (87), and the number of stitches in each repeat of the lace pattern (8).  I decided to go for 88 stitches (10 repeats of the lace pattern), which meant that I had to increase 38 stitches.  That is a lot of stitches.  I used my iPad App Knit Evenly Calculator by JAKRO SOFT LLC.  It is invaluable when you have to do increases, it will even step you through each increase, which is wonderful, because you know how easy it is to lose your place when you are doing a lot of increases.  To join the cuff I used the tail from my cast on and just did a couple of single crochets.

I was not able to get a really good picture of the sleeve blocking, this was the best that I could do.

I ran blocking wires up the side so I could spread it out and open up the lace pattern, but this left me with two pointy bumps near the bottom.  I'll spray those to get rid of the them when I spray the shoulder seam.  I was worried about the length of the sleeve and the shoulder cap so before I cut the yarn I pinned the sleeve into the body (and was happy when it went together perfectly with no bunching and no gapping) and then very carefully tried it on.  Sewing the sleeve was pretty straight forward.  I turned the body inside out, put the sleeve inside the body and pinned the sleeve to the armhole with the right sides together.  When sewing set-in sleeves I like to start at the top and work down one side and then the other.


Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 4 (3.5 mm)

Goldenrod - Body Blocked and Neck Edging Done

Once the body was dried from being blocked I went ahead and did the neck edging.  I like to do my finishing as a I go along so I don't have a bunch of finishing to do at the end.  It also gives me a nice sense of accomplishment.  I have started the first sleeve.

Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 4 (3.5 mm)

Goldenrod - Body Done

This is the sweater formally known as "Ladies Sweater - 1838" by SMC Select.  Using my typical naming convention I decided to rename it for the color, so I decided on "Goldenrod" as being slightly more poetic than "yellow".  I started this sweater 5 months ago and it has been languishing for far too long.  Part of my reluctance to work on it was due to the fact that I was worried about the fit, but I decided to persevere and resolved to finish it after I had finished up the Virgo Shawlette and before I started anything else.  I am becoming a monogamous knitter.  I think it may have something to do with my new job position, which requires a great deal of focus, and that focus seems to be carrying over into my home life and hence into my knitting.

Once I had split for working the front and back I was able to try it on and determine that it will not be too big on me.  This also provided motivation for finishing.  I really enjoyed working the top shaping for the arms and neck because it felt like I was finally making real progress.  My size selection was something of an experiment.  I have broad shoulders and often have issues getting a good fit with sweaters with set in sleeves, which is one reason why I like to knit raglans, but I also like the tailored appearance of set in sleeves.  The problem I run into is getting a fit in the shoulders that doesn't make the sweater too big everywhere else.  This pattern already called for a fair bit of positive ease in the fit, and the yarn is fairly light weight (labeled a sport weight in the Ravelry database) and I'm knitting on US 4 (3.5 mm) needles so the fabric is not heavy.  In fact, when you block the knitting it becomes very light and drapey and is easily distorted, so it requires a gently touch.

I modified the pattern to knit in the round - my usual method to avoid seaming.  I'll also knit the sleeves in the round.  They are done in an all over lace pattern, but the motif is only a 9 row, 8-stitch repeat that looks like it will be easy to memorize.  Once I finish this one, I have the same yarn in scarlet to do another.  When I ordered the yarn from Elann.com I bought the yellow because I thought it would show the lace pattern better than a darker yarn (the model is knit in dark purple, but unfortunately they didn't have that color on the Elann.com web site).  After I got the yellow I decided that I really wanted one in red, so I went back and ordered more yarn.  I also have the yarn for two more patterns from this pattern book.


Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 4 (3.5 mm)

Ladies Sweater - 1838

My one complaint about this company is their unimaginative names for their patterns.  This sweater is from Moments No. 005 by SMC Select. I think they used to be Gedifra.  This is a lovely sweater with lace sleeves and a scoop neck.  I did a swatch and got gauge, but I'm a little bit worried about the size, it seems kind of big to me, but looking at the picture I think it is supposed to have some ease.  I changed the knit 1, purl 1 rib to knit 2, purl 2 because I just don't like the look of knit 1 purl 1 rib.  I am also modifying the pattern to knit it in the round.  This is my mindless project.  I also have this yarn in red, and will probably make a second one in that color.  You see, I need some more nice tops to wear to work.  In the fall I will be starting in a new position and will have to dress up a bit more than I usually do (cargo pants and polo shirts).  I do have rules about dressing up, though, it still has to be comfortable - no panty hose, skirts, high heel shoes for me - so come fall I am going to be the slacks and sweaters girl.

Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 4 (3.5 mm)