Liquid Gold Sinua - Finished!

I finished this project up this past Monday - a holiday for me - but it has taken me a while to get a decent picture in natural light.  I've already worn it to work.  If I had gotten another skein or two I might have turned this into a tunic so I could wear it with leggings.  I really like the I-Cord cast on and bind off and have plans to use it again.  I skipped the ribbing at the bottom, and also lengthened it.  I added side increases starting at my natural waist.

Pattern:  Sinua by Susanna IC
Yarn:  madelinetosh DK in Liquid Gold
Needle:  US 6 (4 mm)

Liquid Gold Sinua - Fit Check

I finished up the second sleeve this past Saturday so I started working on the body again.  I started with the leftovers from the upper body and finished up the remains of that skein last night, so I took advantage of the situation to put half the stitches on a second needle and check the fit.  The pattern does not have any body shaping, but I started adding increases at the waist.  I'm working the increases every 10 rows because it is easy to remember and gives a reasonable spacing for the increases.  I haven't decided how long I'm going to make the body.  I just started my last full skein, and I have two leftover balls from the sleeves.  The pattern also calls for ribbed edging, but I'm going to skip the ribbing and work another I-cord bind off.  And the fit is perfect.

Pattern:  Sinua by Susanna IC
Yarn:  madelinetosh DK in Liquid Gold
Needle:  US 6 (4 mm)

Liquid Gold Sinua - One Sleeve Done!

Once I finished up my Margaret Beaufort I picked up my Liquid Gold Sinua again and finished up the sleeve.  This is actually the second start on a sleeve.  I had started working the sleeve on the other armhole using the remains of the skein that I had been working the bodice with - the skein I didn't continue with when I joined the body at the underarm, and had actually worked through the end of that skein, but I had picked up more stitches around the armhole and I wasn't sure I liked how it lay when I tried it on.  So I picked up stitches around the other armhole using my old standby method of picking up a stitch for every other row and knit that one to completion.  That pickup gave me 68 stitches to start with.  I increased 1 stitch at the shoulder seam on the second row of the stitch pattern as I was working the short rows, and then picked up an extra stitch on each side of the underam seam to close up any pesky little holes that sometimes happen down there.  That gave me 71 stitches, which is what the pattern actually called for.  I started the decreases when I reached the elbow, and worked 6 sets of decreases every 10 rows.  I ended up working 5 full repeats of the pattern chart - the part that you repeat, which I liked because I ended the sleeve on the end of the repeat.  I did an I-cord bind off, and looked up how to graft my end to my beginning.  Actually super easy and pretty intuitive, once you think about it.  One skein of yarn was perfect for the sleeve, I even have some leftover.

I cut the yarn on the remains of the skein on the other side, and wove in the end, and have picked up stitches with a fresh skein, now that I know I can work the whole sleeve with a single skein.


Pattern:  Sinua by Susanna IC
Yarn:  madelinetosh DK in Liquid Gold
Needle:  US 6 (4 mm)

Liquid Gold Sinua - One Skein Done

I am finally able to get a good picture of my Liquid Gold Sinua.  When last we saw this project I had just finished up both the front and the back to the point where I was ready to join them together and begin knitting in the round.  I had been working with two skeins of yarn, but when I joined I only worked with one skein.  I did not cut the yarn on the other skein, I just set it out of the way while I worked.  I've now worked a good four inches on the body and am almost to the end of my working skein.  I put it back on to two circular needles so I could try it on and also get a good picture.  I am happy to say that it fits perfectly.  At this point I may leave off working on the body and use the other skein to pick up stitches around the armhole and work on one of the sleeves.

Pattern:  Sinua by Susanna IC
Yarn:  madelinetosh DK in Liquid Gold
Needle:  US 6 (4 mm)

Liquid Gold Sinua - Top Portion Finished

When my brain is not up to working on my Velveteen Rabbit test knit (I'm on the last chart, and the last 2 skeins of my yarn set - I have a 12 skein circle set) I pick up this project instead.  This evening I finally finished up the other half of the top part down to the underarm.  I am now ready to join the front and back and begin working in the round.  I'm going to cast on 8 stitches for each underarm.  There is no shaping called for in the pattern, I haven't decided if I'll add any, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do at the bottom.  The pattern calls for more knit 1, purl 1 ribbing, which I don't really like the look of.  I skipped the ribbing at the top, maybe I'll skip it at the bottom and finish with an I-Cord bind off, or some other finishing technique that will help prevent curling.

Pattern:  Sinua by Susanna IC
Yarn:  madelinetosh DK in Liquid Gold
Needle:  US 6 (4 mm)

Liquid Gold Sinua - Cast On

I've been thinking about my Liquid Gold Sinua and how I want to adjust the pattern, because that is just what I do.  I did a swatch, and got gauge right off.  Always a good thing.

The pattern is worked from the top down, a preferred method of mine, and it has a boat neck.  As written, you work the front and back separately, join them at the neckline, then pick up stitches for the sleeves, knit the sleeves and then join the side seams and the sleeve seams in one fell swoop.  I want to join the front and back after I finish up the armhole and work the rest of the body in the round, and then pick up stitches around the armhole and work the sleeves in the round as well.  My first challenge was the neckline.  I want to join the shoulders with as little bulk as possible, and I want I nice edge around the neck as well.  In the end I decided on an I-Cord cast on.  For the size that I am knitting (38 inch) I need 77 stitches each for the front and the back.  The shoulder join is 12 stitches on each shoulder.  Using a 32-inch circular needle I cast on 53 stitches, placed a marker and cast on 53 stitches.  Why 53?  That is how many stitches I need for the neck opening on the front and the back (77-12-12 = 53).

Here is my I-Cord cast on.  If you haven't worked one of these they are pretty easy, work a regular I-Cord, but knit into the back and front of the first stitch, and when you slip your main I-Cord stitches back to your left hand needle, leave that extra stitch on your right hand needle.  I really like the I-Cord cast on because in addition to giving you a nice finish those cast on stitches are locked in place.  You can pull the needle out (once you've finished off your I-Cord) and those stitches will not disappear, which can give you all kinds of options.

Next I had to get the other 24 stitches.  I used 2 24-inch circular needles and two cakes of yarn and cast on 12 stitches on each needle using the long tail cast on.  I took the first needle and slipped 53 of the cast on stitches onto it, then I put away my stitch marker, and using the second needle slipped the other 53 stitches onto it.

Now came the fun part, joining everything together.  I want to pick up the other 12 stitches from the cast on portions, but I realized I actually needed to pull the new stitch through the stitch currently on the needle.  I used the working yarn from the cast on from the opposite needle.  I used a crochet hook to pull a loop through each stitch.  It was a little fiddly, but not too bad.

And here it is all joined together.  I worked a couple of rows on each piece to get things established.

There are a couple of other modifications that I am making.  The top part of the body is worked in a knit 1 purl 1 rib, which I've never liked the look off - it always seems sloppy - so I'm working in a straight stockinette stitch.  The pattern is also worked straight until you get to the bottom of the armhole, at which point I will cast on 9 stitches on each side for the underarm, resulting in a right angle.  I'm going to add shaping.  The sleeves are shaped for a drop shoulder sweater - they are trapezoids with no cap shaping.  I'm going to add cap shaping because I'm going to knit top down set in sleeves.

Pattern:  Sinua by Susanna IC
Yarn:  madelinetosh DK in Liquid Gold
Needle:  US 6 (4 mm)