Category: project – Elaine Striped Cardigan

 I wore the Elaine Striped Cardigan today and I love it. 

These particular pants aren't perfect, but they really are the only things I like with this sweater that I can wear at the moment.   

If I were not losing weight I would make some alterations on the pants, (the folds at the pocket require a simple, but time-consuming, fix) but it is not worth the time at this point.  They will get me through a little more of this season.  Better to spend the time making new pants.  I have a few different shades of maroon wools, and hopefully one will go with this sweater.  I also think a pair of dark khaki or olive green pants would be lovely and I might have something that will work.  Certainly both colors would work with many other things as well. Jeans in a dark wash are another possibility, but again, I have none that fit me now.

I will get there, I'm still working through my priorities, weighing what I want in fit and style, knitting and sewing projects, versus the demands of exercise, trying to eat well, and reaching goal weight.  It is not so much about being a particular weight, or even "thin" but about control and overcoming the penalties of a few years where control went out the window and  stress ruled the day.

At the moment diet and exercise have priority, and everything will follow suit, hopefully in a measured fashion.

The Elaine Striped Cardigan is done!

 And I am happy with it and like it on, which is surprising only because right about the time I started setting in the sleeves I really did not like this sweater and was ready to throw it into the "to be unravelled and redone" pile.  But I persevered and I am glad.

I tried it on last night and happily danced around the house a little bit before throwing it in the wash.  The various parts were in various states, some having been blocked, others not, and the sweater had served as a lovely sleeping blanket for the cats while I dithered and dallied and put off sewing in those sleeves.  Here it is on the blocking board.  It is supposed to be cold and gray with a promise of snow so I don't expect it to dry quickly.  Of course given the lack of snowfall in this area so far this winter, it may just turn out to be sunny and dry, yet again.

Slow to dry may be a good thing though as I have broken my #1 rule of "No More Orphans".  I have nothing to wear with this, or at least nothing that fits.  Oh I can wear it with jeans, but I don't really like it with jeans; the sweater already has so much color in it, and none of them are blues, grays or blacks, which I feel I could work into the denim theme.  For me, I like my contrast to be a little more coordinated.  The pants I was going to wear with this sweater when I started it are now too big.  I have a couple of things that I may be able to alter to fit, and I have fabric, so something will turn up soon.

 In the meantime, in the absence of modeled shots, here is a close-up of the lovely wooden buttons.  These were in my stash, obviously just waiting for this sweater.  The top button is a little small, and tends to roll around, but it works, and it is nice to actually be able to use something from the button collection on an actual garment.  I am always amazed at how I can have so many jars of buttons and nothing to go on a given project.

I didn't quite make it by the end of January, but the sleeves were completed last night and blocked this afternoon.  The body of the sweater has already been assembled so I just need to knit the collar/neckline and button loops.  I need to look for buttons as well.  I'm hoping there are some in my extensive button stash.

 My intention had been to knit finish the knitting this morning, after errands and while I was sitting in yet another doctor's office, but I brought the yarn and the knitting needle and left the sweater at home.

Instead I started a sock, a plain simple stockinette sock, top down, with a picot edge hem at the top.  I'm just past knitting the hem in place and continuing to the body of the leg.  The yarn was originally to be used in a different pair of socks, shown here, but I didn't like the way this flecked yarn looked in the lace pattern so I ripped them out during my last ripping frenzy.  Simple socks will be much better.  Besides, socks make a nice, easy, carry-along project.

I need to do some swatching for the next project/projects and crochet an edging on a blanket and it is cold and dark enough that I expect the sleeves to take a couple of days to dry.  Finished objects should be coming up soon.

 One sleeve done, two to go.

I finished the first sleeve last night and I was so excited because I was determined to have the Elaine striped sweater finished this month.   But it was one of those crazy days where I was constantly starting something, getting interrupted, getting back to it and forgetting where I was, getting interrupted again…….

By the time I got around to wet-blocking the sleeve it was getting late and I was in a bit of a hurry.  I thought I would spin the wet sleeve out in the washing machine.  I've done this many times before without a problem.

But this time I didn't check the spin speed before I started the machine.  What went in as a soft, waterlogged, floppy piece of wool came out about half-sized, firm and thick and very nicely felted.  If it weren't so small it would make a lovely sleeve-shaped rug.  Pre-felting the sleeve was about 25 inches long.  Now it is almost 15.  I didn't even know I could felt something with just the spin cycle.  I'm not sure what I will do with this yet, but I will save it.  I'm sure I can make something useful out of it that will always make me smile.

Before this, I wondered what I would do with all the extra yarn I thought I had.  Now I wonder if I have enough to knit two more sleeves.  I think I have enough of the Elaine, the multicolored yarn.  I probably don't have enough Manos.  I am hoping to have enough Manos to get through the sleeve and then have to buy another skein for the front bands.   

I have no one to blame for all the problems with this sweater but myself, for silliness, and self-delusion, and just plain old inattention.  It is kind of amazing that so many things can go wrong with one sweater.  But I am determined it won't get the best of me.  

I wonder if I can knit two sleeves in one week and still get the sweater finished.  I wonder if I want to knit two sleeves in one week.  No I know the answer to that; there are other things I want to be doing.  I won't let this sweater defeat me, but I won't let it run my life either. 

I am making good progress on the Elaine Striped Cardigan.

I ripped it all back to about 4 rows below the armhole shaping, then knit the body in one piece, adding another 4 inches in length before the armhole openings. Last night I finished the back, and I now have one front section to finish.

I should be able to get this piece done pretty quickly, perhaps tonight, perhaps not because I am fading fast even though it is not that late.  I may get a second wind.  

G is having a minor procedure at the hospital tomorrow, but this is too bulky to take with me.  I might take the one sleeve,which I also ripped back to below the sleeve cap shaping, and start reknitting it now that I know what the actual space requirements will be.  I might just read.  We are supposed to go out to see Avatar tomorrow night, assuming G is up for it, so it does not look like a promising knitting day. Even so, I hope to have the body and the one sleeve finished by the weekend.   Perhaps even a sweater next week.

I wonder if I have buttons?

The last time I posted it was mid December and much has happened during the intervening weeks.  Our planned trip to Knoxville was cancelled.  My step-daughter and her family decided to come up here at the last minute so we had a lovely Christmas with my three-year old grandson.  Much time was spent playing, painting, baking holiday cookies and decorating them, and one morning we were even able to go out and catch snowflakes on our tongues.  

Knitting progress was shelved in the general hubub and the rush to make a magical Christmas at home on three days notice; but then Christmas is all about magic and it doesn't take a lot, just creativity and love.

The family is gone now, and I have settled down to the Elaine Striped pullover and one of the worst colds I have had in many a year.  I worked on the sleeve today, got up to the shaping at the top and decided to sew up the sweater and make sure my lengths were correct before proceeding.

At this point I finally had to face facts and deal with the uncomfortable little gremlin that has been sitting on my shoulder and nagging me about this sweater for some time now and admit that he was right all along, and in fact the reason I have been making slow progress is due to the fact that I was never able to completely convince myself that all was well.

The simple truth is that the armholes are just too long.  When the sweater is sewn up the armhole opening is halfway between my bust and my waist, considerably low. And there is no way the sleeve cap, as written will fill the space.  In fact, I don't even want the sleeve cap to fill the space as the sweater would be cumbersome and unwearable.  

 So I ripped the sleeve back to before the cap shaping and then I started ripping back the sweater.  I have finished ripping the back, although I sill have the side seams sewn together at this point.  Next I will rip back the fronts.  

Then I need to add about 4 inches to the sides before the armhole shaping and continue the neckline and shoulder shaping as before.  The total length of the sweater is perfect, the armhole depth is the only issue.  And I will be happy to continue this knowing it will fit.  In fact it may even move along a little more quickly.

It is a suitable end to the year, and although ripping a sweater sounds like a sad way to end a year and begin another, it is actually quite positive since I am no longer fooling myself, wasting my time pursuing dreams instead of reality.  Not that dreams aren't worth pursuing, just that they need to have some foundation.

I hope to close out this year by unraveling this sweater, hopefully finishing  long before midnight,  at which point I shall top off the evening with a little green glass of Nyquil rather than the pink champagne residing in my icebox.  The dawn of a new day and a new year is time enough to begin again.

 The Elaine Striped Cardigan is moving along nicely.  I started the back last night and here it is shown with the two blocked front pieces.  The sweater is not really wider than it is long.  That's just me trying to get it all in the picture in a rush.

Maybe I'll even have it ready for Christmas, but I have several other sweaters waiting to be finished as well. I seem to better at starting things than I am at finishing them lately but I do intend to get a handle on that.  My plan is to finish the gray cardigan this coming week and also finish the body of this sweater.  I suppose I am pushing it to think I will also finish the sleeves and assemble the sweater before we leave for Tennessee on the 23rd.  But I am considering the possibilities for a travel project as well, just in case.

I also installed the new stitch count app on my iTouch.  I'm already using it and quite happy as I can keep count of total rows and also a counter for shaping.

Here is the first piece of the Elaine Striped Sweater.  I finished it a few days before I went to New York for the sit and sew seminar.  Unfortunately, despite having hauled the sweater with me to New York with grand plans for knitting in the evenings and making great progress, I only knitted one row.

It doesn't look like the knitting will continue tonight as it looks like blog maintenance is the plan for the evening. It seems that once again I have moved the blogs, changed the plan, and then decided that the original plan really was the best.  I should have known better.  I figured I would never get back to the sewing, that I would sew, but that I would abandon the reveries on the whole process.  I misjudged myself. I was wrong.

So I have copied the the sewing posts back to the other blog to provide some sense of continuity, and I have finally cross posted the knitting posts from a year ago, the last time I changed blogs, so that I can index and find things that I wish to find.

Sew Distracted is up and running again and all the recent posts about sewing and the sit and sew seminar are available on both blogs. .  If you are interested in sewing and not knitting, you will henceforth find me there.  If you are interested in knitting please hang around.  I've also finally imported the knitting posts from the previous attempt at blog-combing so that all my knitting projects are available in one place.  As to other mumurs and musings, they will just end up wherever they end up.

And you know what?  I'm happy to be sew distracted again.

No, Avril is not done.  But I need to lay her out on the cutting table and stitch her up before I can continue, and he cutting table has been claimed for more pressing needs of the sewing variety.

In the meantime, I needed something to knit.  Enter the Elaine Striped Cardigan, pattern # 284 from Schaefer yarns.

Actually, I would not have chosen this project from this photo, but it is the best I can do.  I saw a sample of this sweater in my LYS, Yarn Central in Hopewell Junction and admired it for some time before I eventually tried it on and decided to make it.

The store had one color of the recommended yarn, Elaine, that Iocked but not in a coordinating color so I chose some Manos to use as the main color.  I came home all excited, wound up the skeins, and threw them in a knitting bag and promptly forgot all about them.  Until now.

I am about 22 rows into the left front; the pattern has you start with the fronts, and I am loving knitting this.  I had my doubts when I knit the swatch, but the yarn does grow a small bit when blocked and the knitted fabric becomes more flat with a softer hand.

It is going a bit faster than I anticipated as I only worked on it a couple of hours last night, but it is an easy rhythm and the colors make me smile so I am hoping it will go quickly.