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Lucinda November 16, 2011

Lil’ Gray Cape

Yarn: Cascade Lana Grande

Needles: US 17 circs

Size: Small

I love capes. Ever since I saw the pictures from the spring runway shows, I knew I wanted a cape for fall this season. Yes, they are impractical. Yes, they trigger images of super heroes or Little Red Riding Hood. But damn it all, I wanted a cape this year come hook or by crook. And why buy one when you can make one?

My initial plan was to make the Not-a-Poncho City Cape by Wendy Bernard. It had all the elements of the RTW capes I had seen in stores, with the slits for arm-holes and a chunky ribbed collar. When I went to my LYS Gather Here, Virginia unfortunately did not have the amount of gray Eco Wool that I needed. Which was probably just as well; I don’t think I would have been brave enough to rock a giant knitted cape like I originally thought. So instead I scrolled through my Ravelry queue and found a little DROPS cape pattern that I liked and some chunky gray yarn at the store that fit the bill.

I modified the amount of stitches I needed to cast on since my gauge was smaller on the needles I used (US 17 instead of 19). The rest of the pattern was followed exactly, except I knitted the collar ribbing to 6″ instead of 8″ – it just seemed like it would be too much collar if I knit it to that length.

I also used two buttons I had in my stash instead of three like the pattern calls for. I like the open look just two buttons creates, and the ribbed collar has more of a sailor collar effect than a traditional fold-over collar.

I wore this to work this week since it’s been chilly in the building (seriously, is the AC still on??), but I probably will only wear it around the apartment in the coming months even though I got comments at work on how cute it looks. It’s like a little woolly blanket that fastens around your shoulders and stays in place. As much as I love how it looks, it doesn’t replace the warmth and functionality of a coat.

At least I’ve gotten my cape-lust out of my system now.

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Lucinda November 14, 2011

Leaflet

Pattern: Leaflet by Cecily Glowik MacDonald

Yarn: Osprey by Quince and Co. in Nasturtium

Needles: US 11 circs

Size: Small

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.

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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Lucinda August 20, 2011

I really should be packing, but…

I just can’t even begin to think about all the packing I have to do in preparation for moving at the end of the month. Granted I just have a bedroom in a Philadelphia style house and I’m only moving three minutes away to another apartment, but I have stuff.

Like, a lot of stuff.

I previously furnished a one bedroom apartment almost all by myself for my first two years in MA, but things happened and I’ve been subletting in the city for the past five months. I crammed just about all of my furniture in my room, my couch is down in the living room (the four boys I live with love it), and all of my pots, pans, dishes, and spices are in the kitchen. Not to mention I have all of my clothes, books, yarn, fabric…the list goes on. This will be my fourth move in the past three years, and I’m just tired of doing so. I guess you could say I’ve become an expert on moving.

So instead of packing, I’ve been making progress on my Leaflet. I brought it to work on at Pints and Purls at Gather Here in Cambridge the other night and knitted to the point where you divide for the sleeves. I’m right now just about half way through the second of three leaves, which are so fun to see materialize throughout the process. The Boyfriend is always watching me knit this when we’re on the couch in front of the TV and I think he likes to see the leaves form as I knit, too. He was even suggesting the other night on how I could have mixed up the leaves, making each one look different. How can you not love a guy who is actually interested in what you’re making?

One thing I’ve noticed about this sweater on Ravelry is that, in my opinion, the sweaters made in the Osprey yarn look better/nicer than sweaters made from other yarns. Like I said, just my opinion, but it’s almost as if this sweater was made for this yarn. I had difficulties getting gauge when I tried using a different yarn than the one recommended and when using this yarn I can see why – it’s a yarn between a worsted and a bulky, and I really can’t think of another yarn that looks like this. So when sweaters are made from worsted yarn on 10US needles, the look is much more open and loose. I’m so happy I went with this yarn and colorway, plus it’s a dream to knit with. Plus, I’m certain at the rate I’m knitting that this will be done just in time for cool weather to set in. Which is not that far off in New England…

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Lucinda August 8, 2011

Leaflet Progress So Far…

Let me tell you, I had a devil of a time trying to get gauge for this pattern. I first blogged about my plans for Leaflet last month after returning from vacation and acquiring Valley Yarns Berkshire from Webs in Northampton, MA thinking that the weight would be appropriate for the sweater. I swatched on 10s like the pattern called for; no dice. I got 8 sts/2″ instead of 7.5 sts/2″ or the 15 sts/4″ as the pattern called for. So I switched to 10.5 needles – same result as the 10s. Then I tried 11s, but got 6 sts/2″ and the fabric was way too loose and airy looking. I was convinced that there was no way I could use a worsted weight yarn like Berkshire to achieve the stitch gauge that the pattern called for, so I broke down and bought the Osprey yarn like the pattern called for from Quince and Co.

I’m glad I did – the yarn is a dream to work with. Sure, I wasn’t able to find a match to the wine colored yarn I originally planned on working with, but this Nasturtium color is a wonderfully rich red-orange color that I fell in love with as soon as I opened my package, perfect for fall and layering with thermal tees and boots. And orange is not a color that I’ve knitted with: when looking through my notebook on Ravelry, I knit predominately with reds and pinks and purples, so this is a nice change from my usual go-to colors. I think a bulkier weight yarn instead of a worsted would have worked better with this pattern when substituting for the yarn, and when I swatched with it, I did have to go up to 11s instead of the 10s that the pattern recommends. I’m cruising right along with the pattern now, which is knitting up quickly, and I love how fun the leaf motif is to knit on the back. Yes, I know hand knitting is all about the process, but I can’t wait to get this sweater off my needles so I can wear it in the coming months!

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Lucinda September 1, 2010

Round Yoke Cardigan WIP

I’m making yet another black sweater so I can wear some of my knitwear to work. The neckwarmer was a nice break between my tank and this, something to break up constantly look at a puddle of black, which can really be hard on the eyes sometimes. This cardigan is plugging along slowly but surely, and I’m just about at the point where I stop knitting the body and make the sleeves. I’ve never made a round yoke sweater before, but it seems like a neat way to make a sweater: no visible seams at all, it just all blends together after you join the sleeves to the body and knit up to the neck.

The yarn is Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, which is one of the first yarns I knitted with when I started making sweaters, and I forgot how much I love it. It’s the perfect blend of wool and cotton and has enough spring in it so that the cotton doesn’t stretch out and isn’t’ itchy (to me at least) like straight-up wool. I opted to do the modified version of the sweater that Wendy mentions in a sidebar in the directions: a three-quarter length flared sleeve with a wide neckline. It’s great for TV knitting since it’s just back and forth stockinette, which is also making it a little bit slow for me since I’m slower knitting back and forth than in the round. But hey, it’s about the process, right?