Cardigan success!

It's taken a few months of chipping away at it (in between getting seduced by other projects), but my first proper cardigan is finished! I started it back in April, and blogged about it in my very first post. Awww.

The pattern is 'Chickadee', from Ysolda Teague's wonderful book on knitting well-fitting garments, Little Red in the City. I've put my notes on getting the fit right on my Ravelry project page. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find buttons for it yet, but I'm sure the craft shops in Melbourne will have a good selection. I can use a brooch in the meantime, or wear it open. Next on my garment-knitting agenda is a long-sleeved Cria cardigan from the same book, in variegated greens. :)

Dad and I had some fish and chips for lunch today, down at the 'Heads' - the mouth of the Whakatane river. The local seagulls were pretty excited about our chips! Cheeky buggers.

 

Progress

I've been working on my Chickadee cardie in fits and starts, and the sleeves are now complete! It's starting to look recognisably cardie-shaped at last:

I inserted a 'lifeline' (some scrap cotton yarn) through the row just before the garter stitch cuffs at the end of each sleeve, in case I need to backtrack and alter the sleeve length when it's finished. Once I've knit more of the body I'll be able to try it on and check the fit. I'm now onto a section of plain old stockingette until the waist decreases start. Good dvd-time knitting.

I've also been playing with my new turkish spindle. Learning to use a bottom-whorl type was a bit tricky at first, and I had to look up how to even start! But I now have a few metres of 'singles' that I'm going to wash, and see how they come out. I love the way the singles wrap around the blades of the spindle. It looks cool while spinning too, like a little helicopter...

My new cabled hat design is also getting closer to fruition. I've finished swatching and drafting out my charts, and I'm finally ready to start knitting. Some nice cables will be a good contrast to all the plain stockingette in the cardie - I like having projects on the go with different attention requirements, so there's pretty much always something that I can pick up and work on.
Here is my yarn for hat sample #1, all wound and ready to go. :)

Out of yarn error

Progress has been halted on my Chickadee cardie. I finished the left sleeve (adjusting the number of repeats for my freakishly short arms) and began the right sleeve, but ran out of yarn 1/3 of the way through. Never fear, I have another two giant skeins, but they're in Wellington. I didn't think I'd make this much progress while in Whakatane, so I under-packed!

With a dearth of ready-to-go knitting projects, I started my first cross-stitch project in years, using this pattern: Periodic Table of the Elements. Knowing me and cross-stitch, this will be a long-term project to chip away at.

I've also been pondering my next big knitting project, which I think might be this pretty jersey: Stasis Pullover.

I love Brooklyn Tweed patterns, and this is such a sweet, old-school design. I think some of The Little Wool Co's heathered 4ply wool would be lovely for this. Time to have some fun with sample cards!

Adventures in cardigan knitting

I'm knitting a Chickadee cardigan, and I love love love my colour combo! I think it gives the design a kind of retro-Scandinavian look.

I started knitting it three days ago, and I steamed through the yoke, I was so keen to see the little birds emerge. I've now started on the first sleeve. It's a seamless top-down construction, which I haven't tried before, so it's all quite educational. :)

The yarn is Little Wool Co. 8ply in 'Moorit' (a lovely natural undyed wool), with red accents in The Wool Company's 8ply Perendale in 'Cherry'. The cherry yarn is left over from my first (and only) jersey which I knit last year. Because I'm pretty inexperienced in garment knitting, I waited to start this until I visited Mum, so she could help me figure out what size to make. Fingers crossed we got it right... we shall see...