march's mile

ok, ok, ok, fine, it's april. i'll just have to get used to it. for another 3 weeks...

but! despite march being even more busy than february (again, senior year, hectic time), i still knit a little bit! especially on spring break. remember this cardigan i told you about last time? yeah, still working on it... but, i got those 2 fronts done over spring break using about 3 skeins, which is, like, record time for anything being done in terms of that cardigan. and i may have just started the sleeves today (including skein #6 of 10 of the MC...), but i had a chemistry test, and other things that came up literally RIGHT after spring break. this is a slow going sweater. i can't wait til it's finished.


however, i did manage to start AND finish some things! for christmas, my loving family got me a skein of madelinetosh tosh sock in 'baltic' (*drool*). this. yarn. is. gorgeous. i absolutely adore it! when it was on my wishlist, i thought it'd be a great pair of socks, but once i got my hands on it, i couldn't just hide it away in my sneakers, only to be seen at winter!


luckily, i found this pattern, granary by Kirsten Kapur, that perfectly fit the bill. i went up to a us10, and finished with 2 yards left over. also, be sure to print your pattern out in color, or else make note of where the repeats are, or check your pdf first before you email the designer about how you just can't figure out the chart, otherwise you might end up feeling like a dumbass... (that said, if you ever have problems with one of Kirsten Kapur's patterns, i highly recommend emailing her, she's very sweet and patient.)

anyway, i called it 'eyes like the sea,' because when i wear it, my honey says it brings out the blue in my eyes. :)

'i don't know what to do with my hands...'

i also started Flamboyan by Stephen West, using dream in color smooshy in 'strange harvest,' and spud & chloe fine in 'hippo'. stephen west snuck in some intarsia, which i didn't realize until i was knee deep in it! but oh well, goodbye fear of that technique! it's a good pattern, well-written and thorough. but holy smokes, this thing goes on and on forever! on the RS, you increase by 4 stitches, on the WS you increase 2 stitches, it gets gigantic! i'm so glad its done... the s&c is always a pleasure to work with, though i think i could have gotten away with half what was recommended, i have quite a bit left over. i really enjoyed the smooshy. i think the smooshy would be great for a fingering weight cardigan, but it might be too big for a pair of socks, in my opinion. 

i really like mustard and grey, and turns out they were quite in vogue this past fall, fingers crossed next fall too!

i'm such a model, you guys don't even know.

so, i think my total for march (including the flamboyan, even though i finished it today... ) is .94 miles. honestly, i expected it to be a lot less... hopefully in april, i'll be able to blog more. but, these last 3 weeks of class will surely be hectic.

february's mile

happy valentine's day!! wait, no? happy st patty's day!! wrong again? happy spring break? damn, how is it already april!

february was a really hectic month. senior year is a hectic time...

i got some knitting done, though. i finished the Larch Cardigan by Amy Christoffers. and i LOVE it! the fit is fantastic! her attention to detail is spectacular (though some of it could have been explained a little better. i mean, i understood the techniques, i just really wanted to know the reason for doing that particular thing in that spot. make sense?)

i ended up only using 15.5 skeins of the 17 my mother has had in her stash for more than a decade. mum said she wanted me to make something beautiful with it. i hope this fits the bill.

the pattern notes called for 1728 yards, and i was 300 short. knowing that i planned to modify the sleeves at least, i figured being 300 yards short wasn't going to make for very happy knitting. so i substituted some Classic Elite Fresco at the cast on edge of the bottom hem and the sleeve cuffs (the white bit). and then i got finished with the body, and started picking up for the collar, and thought i just might have enough to do the entire collar and front ribbing in the blue. and then had the brilliant idea that since the cuffs weren't joined in the round until after the hem, and that both that portion and the bottom hem had been bound off, then picked back up and worked, they could easily be taken out and redone... but then i took a good, hard look at how many stitches big my collar was going to be, and how many stitches i'd need to pick up on the fronts, and how long that bind off was going to be (the part around the neck has some stitches knit twice, then bound off). and i just didn't think i could risk it with only 83ish yards left, and do all that nonsense at the hems. though i have to say, that in my case, even with the sleeve modification, the yardage estimate is ridiculous! i made it with less than 1400 yards. just a heads up.

but, i really love it. it's completely unique. not only because i knit it and made the sleeves fit me, but because almost every other cardigan that people have made with this pattern has been a single color. sure, maybe in a few years it might be nice to remake it in a single color, but i adore my little two-tone! now if only it were still sweater weather... the angora in the blue fuzzed out like CRAZY!! and yeah, angora does that. but this is waaaay more than i expected (my theory is that because of its age, it's gone a little off its rocker). i might have to comb-shave it...

i highly recommend this pattern, for a good, all-purpose, gorgeous cardigan. and i'd love to try some more of Amy's designs (i've got my eyes on this one. might have to wait a while though...).

SO! my count for this sweater is approximately 1,369.5 yards. but, i'm also plugging away at this cardigan whilst at work (check out designer Mel Clark's blog for better pics). i knit those striped side panels, and the back, using approximately 3 skeins. at 175 yards each, i'm up to 1894.5 yards, or 1.08 miles!! yay february!