16 November, 2010

Lacewing

Kittens, after a month, it is finally done. No more teasers for you. And no more kvetching about how this will never get off of needles.




Pattern: Honeybee Cardigan, Laura Chau (Ravel it)
Yarn: Sundara Sock, Garden of Delight (May 2009 LE)
Needles: US size 6


This took much longer to knit then it should have due to a very slow start, ripping and recasting on due to math fail & brain fog, and an inability to keep moving when I was knitting. I have a couple of theories about why this happened.

As you can see from the date, this Sundara had been sitting in stash for about 18 months, and while I liked the color, I was no longer in love with it and wanted to see it used or rehomed. I wouldn't consider myself a fickle yarnie, but my color preferences do sway a bit and at the time I purchased this green, I was madly in love with the color. Right now, I'm still liking green, but not rabidly infatuated with it or seeking it out. (This changed as a I actually worked on the sweater. The process helped me refall in love with the colorway.)

The other is something I learned about myself while knitting this. To date, I haven't had an issue following a knitting pattern or trying to understand what the writer's instructions are. I'll get momentarily confused, reread, understand, and move on. It happens. With this knit, I kept tripping up and had to spend better parts of an hour reading and rereading the directions. This was not the fault of the pattern and as far as I can tell, it didn't have any errors. All of the information was correct. What I learned is that Ms. Chau and I think differently, and this is the first time I've encountered that. Portions of the pattern were--to ME--redundant and it confused me, thinking there must be something I was missing in the reading. I discovered that I fill in the blanks on my own and this was tripping me up. They were all silly things that once I got them, I laughed about it, even if I was cussing up a storm and getting irritated at the time. This will not make me avoid her patterns in the future, but it will put me on alert.

Those two things aside, this knit grew on me and I'm quite pleased with it. I learned a slick new technique.





Bottom-up, seamless set-in sleeves. LOVE. How slick is that?! I tend to avoid set-in sleeves because I can never get them to match up properly or look nice. My gauge always varies a bit as I knit separate pieces and no matter how many times I measure, the sleeves never match up with the sleeve holes. To say they frustrate me is an understatement. I have a feeling I'm going to be using this technique quite a bit in the future and will definitely alter patterns with set-in sleeves to attach them this way. I would likely knit nothing but set-in sleeves if they weren't such a pain in the rear.

Speaking of the sleeves, this was the one "major" change to the pattern I made. Rather then a 12" 3/4 sleeve, I wanted a short one. This decision was first made to make this as quick a knit as possible, but later I realized it was a good one. Alabama is not exactly cold most of the year and with short sleeves, this is adorable over dresses.

And that i-cord finish for the neckline? Such a simple--but pretty--way to finish the knit off. It was putzy and took forever, but well worth it.




My arm may fall off from all of the back patting I'm about to do. How beautiful are those picked up stitches for the button band?! After 3 years of knitting, I finally feel proficient in the technique and like I really understand it. Nice, neat, and even. No more uneven pick-ups varying between two different columns of stitches because I could not figure out how to see where to place my needle.

The buttons were some freebies thrown in my last order from GreenRayProd on Etsy. Jodi has some fabulous vintage buttons in her shop and always includes interesting information about them. Imagine my surprise when I saw these had been tossed in as a bonus. And how perfect they were for this sweater!

Lacewing is sweater 09 of 12 for IntSweMoDo. Unless I can pump out 03 sweaters in the next six weeks, I won't make it. But I'll be close!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh, it so beautiful!Your work is gorgeous, as are you.

Jen said...

Yay it is finally done! It looks great on you!

Kitten said...

So so awesome. I can't believe you knit such beautiful clothing so quickly. You make me die from envy. :)

Also, I am in love with your Hello, Kitty necklace.

SusanB-knits said...

Beautiful! I love it! The buttons are perfect for it.