Hot Cocoa Cassatt - Finished!

I actually finished this a week ago (on April 4) and once it had finished drying it has been on my dress maker dummy waiting for me to take a picture of it.  In the mean time I got distracted by a test knit.

Here is a picture of one of the sleeves, so you can see how I modified the cables.

The original had bobbles, which I just don't knit, so I completed the cable design.  They twist the opposite direction on the other sleeve.

Pattern:  Cassatt (part of the Sweet Paprika Sweater Club) by Elizabeth Sullivan
Yarn:  Sweet Paprika Minuet in Hot Cocoa
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Hot Cocoa Cassatt - One Sleeve Done

The sleeve worked up quickly, and I could read while I was knitting.  I set up the chart for the cable pattern in my Knit Companion app so it was easy to keep track of where I was and I used the smart counters feature to keep track of how many rows I had knit so I could work the shaping on the lower arm.  I didn't do any shaping until I had knitted to just past the elbow, then I did decreases every 10 rows, working 5 decreases in all.  I still haven't quite decided if I like the cropped length.  I'll decide once I finish the other sleeve.  It will depend upon how I end up styling it with my wardrobe.  I can certainly see Audrey Hepburn wearing this sweater.  If I don't like it I can always rip out the bottom and add some length with the leftover yarn I will have.  And if I do like the length I may use the leftovers to make a little cabled ascot to wear with it - I can definitely see Audrey wearing one.

Pattern:  Cassatt (part of the Sweet Paprika Sweater Club) by Elizabeth Sullivan
Yarn:  Sweet Paprika Minuet in Hot Cocoa
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Hot Cocoa Cassatt - Collar Done, Body Done

After finished up my Burgundy Pullover I went back to my Hot Cocoa Cassatt.  I really love the yarn for this one.  It is soft and I love the colors.  I worked on the right sleeve for a while and then I checked my yarn usage to see how I was doing.  I'm not doing any shaping on the sleeve until I get past the elbow (my arms are a little muscular and I usually have trouble with the fit of sleeves on my upper arm in store bought clothes) and I wanted to make sure that I would have enough yarn to still complete the collar.  So I decided to take a break from the sleeve and finish up the collar.  I used up the remnant of the second ball from the body and then joined the fourth ball that I hadn't used any of and finished up the collar with that.  Now I know that all of the yarn that I have left I can use on the sleeves.  I haven't decided how much shaping I will do on the lower arms, but I know that I want some ease.

I've already received an email telling me that the third sweater kit will be shipping soon.  I really liked this club and hope they run it again.  You know in advance what the sweater patterns are and you only have to order the ones that you want.  I went for all three patterns.  Then you get to pick the colors that you want for each kit.  I must admit that I'm not as big a fan of mysteries as I used to be and at this point in my knitting career there is only one yarn dyer that I let surprise me - The Unique Sheep.


Pattern:  Cassatt (part of the Sweet Paprika Sweater Club) by Elizabeth Sullivan
Yarn:  Sweet Paprika Minuet in Hot Cocoa
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Hot Cocoa Cassatt - Body Done, Almost

I still need to work the collar.  When I started out I figured I would work the collar after I had finished up the raglan shaping and before I started working the body.  But when I got to that point I decided to keep working the body at least until I had used up the skein that I was working with (I am not crazy about having multiple yarn balls attached to a project - they just get in the way).  Then I decided that I would do a contrast color for all of the ribbing so I ordered some more DK yarn, a different brand but with a similar yardage and content.  While I was waiting for that yarn to come I joined the second skein and kept knitting on the body.  I had worked about 3/4 of that second skein and the body was about to my waist when the yarn came.  I tried it on and decided that I wanted to keep the cropped length of the original pattern so I went ahead and worked the ribbing in the original color finishing it off with the Tubular cast off as directed by the pattern.  I do love the way that cast off looks.  I didn't do any shaping on the body as I wanted a bit more ease.  I started working on the right sleeve last night.  I am not planning on doing any shaping until I get down to the elbow (my upper arms are a bit muscular and I almost always have problems with clothes being too tight there).

Here is a close up of my lovely glass buttons.

Pattern:  Cassatt (part of the Sweet Paprika Sweater Club) by Elizabeth Sullivan
Yarn:  Sweet Paprika Minuet in Hot Cocoa
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Hot Cocoa Cassatt - One Skein Done

After finishing up the yoke I cast on the stitches for the underarms and started working the body.  Once I had worked all of the first skein of yarn I put the stitches on scrap yarn so I could check the fit and get a couple of pictures.  I'm adding the buttons as I knit.  They are glass bead buttons with little roses on them.  I slip the loop on the shank over the stitch after I make it.  Here's the back.  I'm really loving the color of the yarn.

I'm going to keep on knitting the body for at least one more skein and then figure out what I want to do from there.

Pattern:  Cassatt (part of the Sweet Paprika Sweater Club) by Elizabeth Sullivan
Yarn:  Sweet Paprika Minuet in Hot Cocoa
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Hot Cocoa Cassatt - Raglan Yoke Finished!

I cast this on Saturday, but didn't really start knitting on it until Sunday.  Besides modifying the pattern to knit top down I also modified the cable pattern.  The original had "knots" or "bobbles" replacing one of the arms of the longer cables, but I don't do "knots" or "bobbles" so I recharted the cable pattern to remove that feature and complete design.  Readers familiar with Barbara Walker's book Knitting from the Top will recognize the view, although the yoke doesn't join the way it does in her drawings because the drawings don't take into account the third dimension of the body.  The yoke doesn't stay in a flat plane, it drapes across your shoulders.  I used right and left lifted increases throughout, which I think gives a nice decorative effect on the raglan "seams" and a nice edge along the neck line that will make picking up stitches for the collar pretty easy.  I've now placed the sleeve stitches on waste yarn and cast on the underarm stitches.  I'll work about an inch of the body and then check the fit.  Based upon the measurements, the fit should be good, but it is always best to confirm.  I also need to check my yarn usage so I can make sure that I won't run out of yarn with the modifications that I want to make.  I'm thinking of working the collar, cuffs and bottom ribbing in another color of yarn, just to give me more freedom to play with the design.


Pattern:  Cassatt (part of the Sweet Paprika Sweater Club) by Elizabeth Sullivan
Yarn:  Sweet Paprika Minuet in Hot Cocoa
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Hot Cocoa Cassatt - Swatches

I did take some time yesterday to wind up one of the skeins of Sweet Paprika Minuet in Hot Cocoa that I got as part of the Sweet Paprika Sweater Club, which I joined last year.  The pattern calls for a US 7 (4.5 mm), and the yarn band calls for US 6 (4 mm).  The pattern gauge is 20 sts and 28 rows, while the yarn band has 21 sts and 28 rows.  Given that this is a DK weight yarn I figured that the US 7 needles would be too big for me to get gauge so I started with the US 6.  The swatch on the left is the result.  I have the row gauge spot on with that swatch, but not the stitch gauge.  I also didn't really like the fabric, the stitches are just a little loose for my taste.  So I swapped out my US 6 needles for US 5 (3.75 mm) needles and swatched again.  The result is the swatch on the right.  I have the stitch gauge spot on with this swatch, but am a little short on the row gauge.  I like the fabric, so will go with the US 5 needles.   For this pattern stitch gauge is more important than row gauge so I will adjust the pattern accordingly as I knit.  Because I am knitting this from the top down instead of the bottom up making length adjustments will be even easier.

Here is a shot of the yarn in the skein.

Sweet Paprika Yarns Minuet - 100% superwash merino wool (100 g/220 yds).  It is a lovely yarn, soft, a little lofty, nice twist, feels wonderful to knit with.

Pattern:  Cassatt (part of the Sweet Paprika Sweater Club) by Elizabeth Sullivan
Yarn:  Sweet Paprika Minuet in Hot Cocoa
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)