Sew Wrong

Finished Sweater: Carnac


carnac 1


carnac 2

Pattern: Carnac by Army of Knitters
Yarn: Knit Picks Simply Cotton Worsted in Brass Heather
Needles: US 10 and 15
Size: 37 1/4

The impulse to make this sweater resulted from a phone conversation with my sister aka The Stitcherati about our current knitting projects.  Almost one month later (could have been faster actually), I had my own version of Army of Knitter’s Carnac and my sister had hers.

Yes yes, I can be quite impulsive…but it seemed like such a quick, instant-gratification knit, something I haven’t had since I knit my Star Crossed Beret in February (hmm, my sister was up visiting that weekend, too).  And of course, being impulsive, I didn’t knit a gauge swatch.  I just jumped on in with my needles and yarn and casted on the required amount of stitches and knitted away the hours watching Murder, She Wrote on Netflix.

Should have knit that gauge swatch.


carnac 3

It’s not that I’m unhappy with the sweater, but it didn’t turn out how I wanted it to.  I was hoping for more of a loose, boho-casual fit shown in the pattern picture.  Instead, I got a sweater with shrunken sleeves, a short rise, and very very tight armholes.  I blocked the dickens out of it, thinking that the cotton yarn would grow when wet, but it didn’t loosen up as much as I had hoped.  Ah well, such are the consequences of impulsiveness.  I got used to the tight fit as I wore it during the day, but felt that I kept tugging at the sleeves and bottom of the sweater.

The pattern was clearly written and was an easy to remember pattern repeat that knitted up in a flash.  Where I got stuck was trying to figure out how the heck to knit the sleeves in the round on size 15 needles.  The pattern never calls for DPNs, just circulars, and I tried several times to get the sleeves going on a 16″ circular needle.  I was also too impatient to wait for US 15 DPNs to arrive by mail (do you see a theme happening here?) so I shelled out for some nice 40″ Addi Turbos to try out Magic Loop.  After several attempts and throwing my knitting across the room, I finally figured out the technique and finished the sleeves in a matter of days.  


carnac 4

I also picked up less stitches around the neck than the pattern called for…about 44 I think?  I’m sure that if I had actually gotten the right gauge I would have picked up as many as the pattern said I should pick up.

I guess this sweater was a happy accident, but it was nice to finally finish a major project since my Leaflet sweater almost a year ago.  It’s given me the push to tackle another sweater or two – an Owls sweater, which almost seems like a mandatory knit for every knitting blogger, and Andi Satterlund’s cropped Chuck sweater (psst I bought yarn for it this weekend).  I wonder if I can whip these off of my needles before the end of the year…

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Pumpkin Cross Stitch


great pumpkin xstitch

Fall is my favorite season of the year!  As much as I hate that the changing of the leaves (so pretty) means the end of summer and the onset of cooler weather (and snow to come in New England), I love that fall means it’s time to break out the cuddly sweaters, boots, and warm cups of cider.  And the pumpkins!  How could I forget.

I’m a serious pumpkin freak this time of year…I make pumpkin and cranberry muffins, pumpkin scones, pumpkin coffee creamer, burn pumpkin candles, and right now I’m eating jelly pumpkin candy as I’m writing this post.  So I thought, why not add some pumpkins to my indoor decor?  I stitched up this little framed cross stitch in an evening and it’s sitting nicely with my mini gourds and owl candles on a shelf.  Follow the pattern below to bring a little bit of fall into your home.

I used DMC embroidery floss in brown for the text and orange and green for the pumpkins and vines.


Pumpkin xstitch

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Fall Sewing Plans


early fall 2012

From left to right: Simplicity 1880 in chevron crepe de chine, Simplicity 2054 in grey sweater knit (maybe), Simplicity 2145 in abstract crepe de chine, Vogue 1194 in raspberry rayon spandex, Simplicity 2368 in floral ITY jersey

It happens every year at this time: the weather starts to turn cool and my thoughts turn from sewing cute summer clothes to knitting comfy wool sweaters.  I always lose my sewing “groove” when the mercury starts to dip but I’m determined for that not to happen this year – my sewn wardrobe consists of only warm-weather clothing and that needs to change.

So yeah, what can I say – I love my dresses.  As much as I’ve tried this year to diversify and expand my sewing horizons, I always gravitate back to dresses, especially now that boot season is in full swing.  I have a nice collection of spring/summer dresses, but only one or two dresses that I can wear for fall/winter.  So that’s where I’m starting off for the fall, and then adding in some separates after I get dresses out of my system.  Plus, I already have the fabric and patterns on hand for all of these.  Sweet!

The other great thing about stitching up dresses for fall is that I get a complete outfit without that much of a time investment.  My job is about to get really crazy really fast (as in, next week to be specific) and I’m not going to have a lot of time to devote to sewing in the next two months I’m afraid.  These dresses are pretty straight-forward without a whole lot of fitting that needs to be done (except for Simplicity 1880 and Vogue 1194), so I can sit down for a few minutes each day and stitch up what I can.

Oh man, I’m so ready for fall…just not the craziness that is retail at this time of year.

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On the Needles: Carnac Sweater [WIP]


carnac

Apparently, there are hazards in talking to my sister on the phone (aka The Stitcherati).  We’re crafty ladies and like to dish on the projects we’re currently making, things we’ve seen on Pinterest, and stuff we want to make.  Well, last Sunday, she told me about a sweater she started to knit that she saw over on the Anthropologie Knits board on Ravelry.  I may have squealed in delight into the phone when I looked up the project on my iPad while talking to her.  This was a must-knit sweater, and I had to knit it now.  Which is why I paid extra for shipping on Knit Picks because I wanted that yarn to knit that sweater NOW.  Get the picture?

The pattern is Carnac by the oh-so-awesome Heather Dixon of Army of Knitters.  I’ve always said that I’m “lace-challenged” in that even the most simple of patterns always seems to make me stumble and screw up my knitting.  Once I got the hang of the constant yarn-overs, which make this sweater look almost like crochet, I started to breeze through this pattern over the weekend while watching a marathon of “Murder, She Wrote” on Netflix.  Oh, Jessica Fletcher…it’s a shame Cabot Cove isn’t a real place in Maine because I’d move there.

I’m planning on seeing my crafty sis when she comes to visit me in October and I hope we can both wear our Carnac sweaters while she’s here.  I’m trying to crank mine out as fast as I can to wear in time for the impending fall weather, and I can’t wait to see how hers turns out!

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Leaflet

Leaflet

Pattern: Leaflet by Cecily Glowik MacDonald

Yarn: Osprey by Quince and Co. in Nasturtium
Needles: US 11 circs 
Size: Small

Leaflet

Last week we felt our first really “cold” day of autumn in Boston, which reminded me that I needed to block this sweater and wear it before it’s no longer in season.  I love how this sweater turned out – it’s the perfect fall color, the short sleeves make it a great layering piece, and the leaf pattern on the back is a nice surprise.

I had some trouble starting this sweater, as I wrote about here, due to my initial yarn selection.  But once I got over the hump, the sweater flew off my needles and was a quick knit.  I probably would have posted this sweater earlier but I was just too darn lazy to pick up the stitches around the neck and knit the ribbing.  So it sat in my knitting basket, waiting, until one of the girls in my knitting group asked me how my sweater was coming along and wanted to see it the following week at our knitting night.  It was some good motivation to get me to pick up all of those stitches around the neck, which I dreaded doing.

Leaflet

The other nice thing about this cardigan is that there’s no buttons or buttonholes, hooray!  Sometimes that can really ruin the look of the ribbing band around the front of a cardigan.  I picked up a cute shawl pin at Webs  in Northampton, MA that had a leaf decoration at the top, which seemed apropos for the sweater I was intending to use it for.  Even more versatility with this sweater – easy to wear it open or closed.

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