Seven Quick Takes--1st Friday of Lent

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Hello everyone! How’s your Lent going so far? (The weather might be providing your penance….)

So far mine is going well. I’m adapting this monastic horarium for my use, which is great for adding in extra prayer and also dedicated times for spiritual reading, Lectio, and work. So I get a lot more done, partially because I use this schedule and partially because I’m on social media less, although I think I might need to cull that even further. We’ll see how it goes.

(Fun fact: I was discerned being a cloistered Dominica nun! At Summit!)

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Little Patty and her family are definitely getting penitential weather. They live in Texas, so they lost power, gas, and water, and then had to go to her grandparents’ house for a bit. Now they have gas, power, and “60% water pressure” (according to her dad) so Patty and her family are warm, but so many families aren’t. Pray or them!

Patty does not seem to mind being bundled up….

And yes, she has two teeth now!

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Patrice Fagnat-McArthur wrote a lovely review of Living Memento Mori! (You can find all the reviews of the book here). If you’d like a copy, there are nine left on Amazon! Yes, more are coming, but you know you want it now, right? :)

In other book related news, don’t forget that I’ll be doing Stations of the Cross, using the prayers in my book, starting next week! (We were going to start tonight but….see next point.)

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This is going up later than usual because I had an ENT visit this morning. No, not Tolkien Ents, Ear, Nose, and Throat. I knew that it was going to be AN APPOINTMENT, meaning we’d have lots of thing to do, and we did. Ears were vacuumed (that’s the BEST seriously), and my sinuses were found to have infection. Yayyyyyy. (Not) So that means cipro, which means not moving for two weeks so I don’t rupture any tendons. Seriously, no working out. It sucks because I just started working out again yesterday and it was great. But, alas. Cipro for two weeks.

So because of that I am headach-y and dehydrated (because of all the heat that’s on), so my cochlear implant is hurting my head. So it’s going to go off making me deaf for the rest of the day, but that’s OK. But it does mean no stations tonight. Next week, though!

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I also have clinic on Monday. I have basically three hours between the testing part of clinic (labs, chest X-ray, and PFTs) and seeing my doctor. So I might go to the yarn store. I’ll definitely hit the local French bistro for lunch because it’s one of the perks of being at New Resort. I’m close to really really good food.

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My cardigan is ALMOST DONE! Yay!!!!!!!!!! Just about an inch more to knit on the collar and then I can cast off!

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I get my first COVID vaccine tomorrow! REJOICE!

Seven Quick Takes--Feb. 11, 2021

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Hello everyone! Happy Valentine’s Weekend!

Here’s your weekly Patty to kick us off….

Somebody really likes butternut squash! :)

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So yes, Lent starts on Wednesday…are you ready? Need Lenten reading? Pick up a copy of my book!

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Like I said last week, sales are super important, especially now that there aren’t in-person conferences (yet), so Ave Maria doesn’t have their awesome tables at these conferences to sell books! So it’s so important for me to get book sales, because they have sales goals for my book. So every purchase means so much to me and my publisher!

I am really awful at selling things. I hated selling Girl Scout cookies! But it’s part of the deal with writing in the 21st century, so, I do it. THANK YOU to everyone who has bought the book!

I will also be doing Stations every Friday in Lent with the prayers in my book, so come join us on Facebook!

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If you are using Living Memento Mori for book club or small groups at your parish, I will come talk to you! Yes! I will answer questions, talk about the book….whatever you need that can be done via Zoom. :) Email me to set things up!

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In the “well, you never know what will happen in Emily’s week” category: I spent Monday morning in the local ER because I was having crazy weird chest pain and I thought I might have pneumonia. So I went to get myself checked out. I’ve also been having productive cough, which I never have, so that also made my eyebrows go up a bit.

I was tested for heart attacks, COVID, pneumonia, and anything else—and I’m clear. So my body is ust being weird, and I think the issue with the coughing is that it’s coming down from my sinuses. I see my ENT next week so we can talk sinuses then but I wouldn’t be surprised if they needed some work. We’ll see, and I’ll let you know.

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I am FINALLY vaccine eligible on Monday! Huzzah!!!!!!! So we’ll see how long it takes for me to get scheduled with the local health department. Hopefully not too long!

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And in #emilyknitsacardigan news: I AM KNITTING THE COLLAR!!!!!!!

This is the LAST STEP before I block the cardigan, and I am so excited. At this point I just knit 5” worth of garter stitch to get the nice shawl collar you see here:

You can see that the collar is a pretty big design element here. So once it’s done I can bind off and block! And then wear it! I am excited!

(Unlike the photo, I will roll the cuffs on the sleeves. I have short arms.)

Yarn Along: Picking up stitches and finishing a baby blanket

Welcome to the February Yarn Along!

The big news: I have learned how to pick up stitches for my collar cardigan!

I went to the local yarn shop (LYS) after asking ahead if it was OK, because , COVIDtide. Normally they have sit and stitch hours all day but…not right now! One of the owners said sure, come in.

So I went down after endo last week, and she (one of the owners) sat with me and showed me how to pick up stitches—and she was so patient, and sat there until I told her to do what she had to do because I think I had it! :) So that’s when I bought some of this delicious yarn…

From L-R: Wonderland Yarns, Mary Anne fiber base in Jerusalem, Seaography, Egypt, and Biscotti

So that is a huge step forward and the best tip she gave me was—look at the Vs, not the windows. HUGEEEEEEEE.

See the vees here?

So we picked up the collar and then picking up the rest of the body is easier because it’s a 1 for 3 ratio, meaning pick up one stitch for every three stitches. Sometimes those Vs are hard to find! So I’m not quite done yet but I’m making progress. There’s only so long you can concentrate that intensely, or at least, only so long that I can. But the plan is that by next Yarn Along it will be done!

The nice thing about this—besides knowing how to do it—is that it’s not really an exact knitting science.A lot of it is by look and feel.

Speaking of things that are done, or almost—Patty’s blanket!

I’m on the last stripe and then I can weave in ends and send it off to her!

I’m reading G.K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense and I’ll be following that up with Common Sense 101: Lessons from Chesterton. Yes, I’m on a Chesterton kick right now. I also read The Survivors last night and really liked it, so if you like crime/mystery novels, try this one out. Jane Harper is a fabulous Australian author, and The Survivors is her fourth book.

What are you reading/knitting/making right now?

The First Yarn Along of 2021!

Welcome to a new year of YARN ALONGS!

So, what have I been working on?

Two things, mostly: a blanket for Patty, and the cardigan. :)

First, the blanket

I did make Patty a blanket over the summer, but it was with a cotton yarn that I really didn’t like. It was hard to work with and so I made mistakes. After finishing the blanket I realized I didn’t want to give Patty a blanket full of mistakes. So the blanket is still here but I knew I was going to knit Patty another one.

This blanket is done in super wash wool and it’s much better. No arguing with the yarn!

( If you’re wondering about this: yarn from animal sources—wool, yak, whatever—has “give”. You can tug on it, manipulate it, it’ll work with you. Plant fibers—cotton, linen, etc.—do not. You are tugging them. At least this is my experience. I do not like working with pure linen and pure cotton. Blends are OK.)

So this blanket is done in Ewe Ewe Yarns Ewe So Sporty. I’m using Berry (the pink), Iris Blossom (the dark purple), lavender (light purple), and vanilla (white/cream). It’s the same Sully blanket pattern that I love.

The book I’m reading, Miss Austen, is one of my Christmas books. :)

In the #emilyknitsacardigan realm, picking up the collar has been….challenging, to say the least. I did OK when I practiced on the swatch but when I went to pick up the stitches on the actual cardigan, they didn’t seem to want to come! So if anyone has tips on picking up stitches I’d love to hear them!

Seven Quick Takes--Only Treats!

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Helloooooo everyone!

Let’s start your day with some Patty, shall we?

Gosh I LOVE this kid.

Patty is four months old today!!!! :)

Also, here is her Halloween costume:

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From the blog this week:

The Brave New Us podcast is live!!!—I had a really fun time doing this one, since it’s about genetics!

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The cardigan is taking a break right now. The next step is to pick up stitches and knit the collar, which I don’t know how to do, so I am going to practice on the swatch.

In the mean time I’ve been working on this shawl. Ravelry notes here. It’s the sail-away shawl from Modern Daily Knitting’s “ease” issue, and it is easy! The yarn was actually a birthday gift and I’d completely forgotten about it during all the Big Projects I’ve been knitting.

The yarn is Sincere Sheep’s sport in Hathor’s Gem (the blue) and Suerte (the green). This yarn is magical. It’s so much fun to work with and the shawl is SO SQUISHY.

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My book, Catholic 101, turns three this weekend! Do you have a copy? It’s FIVE BUCKS, and if you’re a subscriber to the blog, you get an additional 15% off!

You can read it on any computer or e-reader, and it’s both PRINTABLE and GIFT-ABLE. So knock some folks off your Christmas list! :)

In that vein….

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Signed copies of Living Memento Mori are available! They are $20, and that includes shipping and a custom bookmark and prayer card that the Ave Maria Press marketing department made for the book! Fancy! I can dedicate the book to anyone you want! If you want a copy, email me. Buy some Christmas gifts and/or think ahead for Lent! :)

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Do we even want to talk about the election? How about not? :-D

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Next week I’ll have two new blog posts out for sure….the first one being about the second book, which is really exciting, and the second one being about health stuff, I think. No, nothing is going on that’s new, but I like to keep y’all informed about my life and health, so I’ll be writing a post about how things are going there!

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Emily Knits A Cardigan: Seaming!! (IT FITS!)

A seam, as seen from the “inside” of the cardigan (AKA, the part no one sees)

We are now into the finishing stage of the cardigan! Yay!

Here are all the posts in the Emily Knits A Cardigan series, so you can catch up!

Ravelry notes here.

So, seaming. This is putting all the pieces together, and this is where it’s sort of like a puzzle, as I explained last week.

As a refresher, this cardigan has five pieces:

• the back

• two sleeves

• two front pieces.

So the first seam I did (which you can see above), is the right “front” piece to the bottom of the back piece.I worked up to the arm hole.

Second, I seamed the first sleeve, and I was delighted to find it FITS—I slipped my arm in it and we have success! The third piece was seaming the front of the sleeve to the front of the cardigan, and the fourth piece was seaming the back of the sleeve to the back of the cardigan. So basically I can wear HALF of the cardigan now and it fits! HUZZAH!

The sleeve is a raglan sleeve, so it narrows to a point over the shoulder.

Shot of the sleeve—see how it’s set in there?

The second sleeved pinned before seaming.

I’m using a mattress stitch to seam the pieces together. It’s amazing and it goes pretty quickly once you’re in it. Make sure that as you work that you’re not getting any “excess” fabric—as in, check to make sure everything is going smoothly and there’s not a bulge anywhere. (If I can get a picture of this, I will, to show you what I mean!)

Now, with mattress stitch, you’ve lined the pieces up right next to each other. With the arm hole, I had to work horizontally for a bit, which was odd, but eventually it moved back to “regular” mattress stitch once the pieces straightened up. During the horizontal part, I did every stitch as opposed to doing two stitches at a time, to make sure that it was nice and secure! (If it was a more delicate yarn, like fingering or even sport weight, I would probably do every stitch for security.)

Also, when you seam, do it on a flat surface. I’ve been using my desk—it’s SO much easier than trying to hold it in your lap! You want a lot of good light when you do this too, and I have a lamp on my desk in addition to the overhead light, so that’s perfect for me.

BEHOLD THE FIRST SIDE!

Like what you’re reading? Check out my patreon account and become a member!

Seven Quick Takes: A Tea Break Weekend

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Hello, folks!

Jean Charles Cazin, October Day, 1894,

From the blog this week—and last, since I didn’t do 7QT last week!:

Amazon Prime Day: The Big Catholic Creative List!

Yarn Along #102: Blanket, shawl, cardigan….

My First Royalty Statement! (Buy copies!)

Future Janeite

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These arrived yesterday…

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Seaming the cardigan has begun! This is actually a fairly long process…..yesterday was the “pre-seam”, where I used stitch markers to piece three pieces together.

So in the photo above, I’ve laid out the five pieces of the cardi—the back, two sleeves, and two “front” pieces.

I decided to start work on the right side first, since I don’t have enough stitch markers to put everything together at once!

I’m pinning fairly close together using the “lightbulb'“ shaped removable stitch markers. I don’t have any plastic ones, which would’ve been GREAT for this.

More pre-seaming—this is the sleeve insert section so the sleeve is attached to both the sweater back and the front piece. You can also see the sweater back and the front piece pinned together for the side seam on the bottom of the photo.

This has been really interesting, because it’s a 3-D object—not a flat piece! So I had to visualize how things, like the sleeves, would actually become….sleeves! So what I figured is that it is attached in two places, but then I will seam the sleeve itself to make it into a tube. Whew!

This is the first piece i’ve seamed so I’m not sure how long it will take. But even after the seaming, there is a shawl collar that’s picked up and knitted in garter stitch.

The finish line is sort of in sight! My goal when I cast on was to wear it this fall/winter, and that will definitely happen!

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So, "tea break” in the headline, what’s that?

One thing I’ve really enjoyed during the pandemic (YES ENJOYED) is that my parents and I have been having monthly tea dates. There’s a local tea house that has a loveeeely tea, and they’re taking so many precautions to keep things safe, that we feel comfortable going there once a month for lunch and then going to the local Catholic bookshop. It’s the one thing every month that I really look forward to (I think my parents do too….at least I hope they do!).

(Just so you know—we’re really safe, in general. Dad works from home. I don’t go out all that often. My mom doesn’t either. So we’re basically staying home except for things like groceries and doctor appointments. So this is our “treat.” And honestly, it helps keep me sane!)

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I’m going to vote on Monday, too—yay early voting! I really love voting on Election Day, but this year….probably best to do it early. So we’re going to the county Board of Elections to do that on Monday.

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Some business: If you’d like a signed copy of the book as a Christmas gift, LET ME KNOW NOW. Email me! The books are $20 and that includes shipping and a specially designed bookmark and prayer card. I can dedicate the book to whomever you like, or I can just sign it—your call.

You can also get copies of my ebook, Catholic 101—you DO NOT need an e-reader to read it! You can read it on your regular computer! You can print it out! The ebook is FIVE BUCKS. Yup. Five dollars.

And finally, if you like what I’m writing, and want to support me, check out my patreon page! Memberships start at a buck a month (yes, a buck) and go up to $20/month. I am working on adding video, but that’s something else I have to pay for so I have to check the budget. :) Patreon support helps me do fun things like video! :)

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And finally…..adorable Patty.

Yarn Along #102: Blanket, shawl, cardigan....pick your project!

So the pieces of the cardigan are done, but with all the craziness of September, I didn’t start seaming it yet. That is going to happen. Probably this weekend because I want to devote time to it without being pulled in five million different directions by other projects! So the pieces are all waiting in my bedroom to be seamed. I’m a little nervous that the cardigan will be wonky—sleeve lengths or other issues—but you know what? Who cares, right? It’s my cardigan and I can wear it around the house and WHO CARES. I gotta get over the perfection idea. I mean it’s my first cardigan! So down with the fear of imperfection and ON TO SEAMING!

Patty’s blanket is now in the last set of stripes, yay! It’s part of her Christmas gift so I have a few more weeks to finish it, but I’m probably going to finish it soon and then get it all wrapped up to send to her come December.

Remember the lace scarf?

yeah, I loved it. And then I had to rip it out. :( Sigh. I haven’t gotten my courage up to cast it on again but I think I will in the next week….I just love that yarn so much!

DO NOT try to knit lace when recovering from surgery. That’s your free tip from me. :)

And finally….

a new shawl!

I love this pattern. It’s Hawthorn from Quince and Co and I’m using Quince’s Lark yarn in a special edition color way they had over the summer called Blue balloon. The great thing about the Hawthorn pattern is that it’s designed to be worked in any weight yarn! So if you see a color you just love, you can snatch it up and knit Hawthorn with it! (Hmmm, maybe my pretty yarn from the scarf above will get used here? :) :) )

It does use yarn overs (YO), so it’s good practice for those, but it’s not “true” lace. You just get these lovely wrapped eyelets and things like that. So this isn't a hard project, at least I don’t think so. It’s a good chance to practice YO! :)

I’m reading Story of a Soul, because St. Therese’s feast day was last week, and I generally re-read it every year. I love this edition because my friend Elizabeth Foss wrote the introduction!

I’ve been reading a lot of different things, sort of dipping into books here and there. I always have a mountain of books that I’m working on at any given time!

Like what you’ve read? Consider supporting my writing on Patreon !

Yarn Along #101: The Cardigan Is Ready to Seam!

In #emilyknitsacardigan news, the carding is READY TO SEAM! Right now it’s just a stack of pieces, so no picture, because….stack of pieces. :) But! This is very very exciting. very very nerve-racking. I’m holding off on seaming until after gallbladder surgery because it will require attention!

In other WIPs…..Patty’s baby blanket keeps growing!

I’m more than halfway done, so yay! I still haven’t decided if I’ll block it. Hmmmm. Do you block blankets? (I mean you personally.) Ravelry notes here.

And I’ve started a lace project!

This is from Modern Daily Knitting’s “Open” edition. I’ve never done lace before, but this project is just my favorite, although I can’t do too many rows at once because I have to concentrate on the pattern! But I’m getting it down so hopefully I can move a little faster! It’s called the rib lace scarf, and the Ravelry notes are here.

I adore the yarn! It’s from Lichen and Lace and it’s called pressed flowers. How can you not love yarn called pressed flowers?!

As for reading….I’m having surgery tomorrow so there will probably be much reading and less knitting over the next week!

As you can see the book pile is….massive.

Because, surgery. I’m going to have a lot of free time on my hands so I can read!

(There are actually even more books than this. Scary but true)

And I’m re-reading Mansfield Park as part of the great Jane Re-Read. I love Mansfield Park. This might be the book I take with me tomorrow because I probably don’t want to have to concentrate on anything new.

Yarn Along #100! --Cardigan sleeves and two finished WIPs!

Garter Graffiti shawl—Ravelry notes here

So, before we get to #emilyknitsacardigan progress, here’s some finished objects!

The first is the Garter Graffiti shawl, featured above, and here’s a closer look at the design:

I loved the yarn. I’d used the Mad Hatter speckled tea party yarn before in another shawl, but the Snowdrop yarn, which is the purple, is amazing. It’s 45% Alpaca, 45% merino, and 10% silk, and it’s wonderful to work with! I ended up with more yarn than the pattern called for and actually ended up using only one skein of the purple (called “ Piece of Rudeness”, isn't that great? They all have Alice In Wonderland inspired names), so I have a whole skein left and I’ll have to ponder what to do with it, because it’s great. Highly recommend!

This is also a great project for a beginner. It’s a great way to learn color work, and the only “tricky” stitch is a KFB (knit front and back) at the beginning of every row. This is a stitch I’ve used a lot in shawl making, so it’s a good one to pick up!

The second is the Puck Scarf, which I made for my friend Kathleen, using Quince’s Ospery in Peaks Ferry. If you’re an OSU fan, this would be great for a Scarlet and Gray themed item, because it’s bright scarlet! The only thing I do differently here is I weave in the ends (why are ends loose, Quince pattern people???)

OK so, onto #emilyknitsacardigan!

The first sleeve is completed, and the second is in progress!

(Ravelry notes here)

I’m glad that I get to do the second sleeve because I can use what I learned from the first one! After this sleeve, it’s on to mattress stitching the pieces together, and then picking up the collar, which you can see here:

From Home and Away

I really like how the cuffs and collar have the garter stitch detail; I think that adds something special to the overall project.

One tip I’d have for a big project like this: print out a clean copy of the pattern or make a copy from the pattern book, so that you can mark it up and make notes and HIGHLIGHT your measurements! It can be confusing seeing all the numbers, so I highlighted the ones for my size so that I knew what to do. I also made notes on the different stitches I needed to do and wrote out how to do them, and other notes as I went along.

And the other project in progress is a baby blanket for my goddaughter Patty!

The pattern is Quince and Co’s Sully, using their willet yarn (which is a Cleaner Cotton, which is better for the environment!) I chose colors haze, regatta, sail, and bowsprit, because I wanted some feminine colors, but ones that weren’t too juvenile, so that she could hold on to this blanket for awhile.

So here you see Haze (the strawberry ice cream pink) with regatta. I really love this pattern and I hope Patty likes it! (Not that she’ll be expressing an opinion for awhile yet!)

Yarn Along #99: Emily Knits A Cardigan--Sleeves!

Previous posts in this series:

The Back is Done

Update!

Emily Knits A Cardigan

My notes on ravelry

June has been busy in cardigan land! I managed to knit both front pieces and learned how to M1L, which was not a lot of fun but now I’ve got it and I am proud. They lay sort of oddly so it’s hard to see here how they fit, but you can see the place where the sleeves will go. All around the cardigan border will be a garter stitch collar.

Above you can see the three pieces together; they’re not lined up appropriately yet, so it’s a rough estimate of what it looks like! (especially the front on the right, just go with it! )

So now I have begun the sleeves! YAY SLEEVES! These have a nice garter stitch cuff detail that I like.

Garter stitch cuff

So the sleeves increase every six rows, on both sides, gradually getting bigger, and then I shape the raglan and it gradually gets smaller, to fit in with the pieces you see above.

After both sleeves are done, then it’s time to SEAM!!!!

I am actually really excited about this, can you tell?

As to what I’m reading….

I got The Ten Thousand Doors of January after Christmas, because it was on sale at B&N (see the sticker? :) ), and yes , I’m just now reading it. Quarantine (which for me is going on and on and on, like the Journey song) is giving me time to read all the books I have stockpiled! This book starts off….oddly. I’m hoping it sort of evens out and we get into a groove, because right now it’s the main character, January, reading a book about someone else who discovered these doors (portals?)…so yeah. It’s sort of weird but I’m hopeful! (really, it’s that gorgeous cover that sucked me in. Well that, and 50% off.)

Emily Knits a Cardigan--the back is done!

Other entries in this series :

UPDATE!

Emily Knits A Cardigan—first post

So, as you can see, the back is done! This is probably the biggest “piece” of the cardigan puzzle, so I’m glad to have this bit finished!

One of the hardest things for me in knitting this is knowing how many repeats to do. The pattern isn’t always clear—for example, in this case, the pattern said X number of repeats, but at the end, there should be 52 stitches on the needle. It took me about 11 more rows to get to the 52 stitches mark, so…..

Here are some detail shots:

Some of the decreasing toward the neck.

More decreasing!

The rest of the cardigan is as follows:

Left Front

Right Front

Sleeves

Collar

So I’m on the left front now, which is simple, except for the pesky repeats. Fortunately if I’m wrong and I have to frog, I don’t have to frog too badly. Unlike the back, which starts with 125 stitches on the needle, this only starts with two, and somehow that makes frogging more palatable to me!

And, cardigan love in the news….

Yarn Along #97: Emily Knits a Cardigan UPDATE!

Hello alll!

So you may be wondering where my cardigan project is?

It’s on the needles, humming along….

In case you’re new to this, here are the posts in this series so far:

Emily Knits A Cardigan—pattern, schematic, basics

Once I got gauge, I was happy as a clam and began immediately.

This little gauge is the BEST THING EVER, really.

So all was going well until…..

I had to RIP OUT. Alas! I dropped a stitch and I didn’t like how I fixed it, so I figured it was better to just rip it out and start again….so I did. I’m almost back to where I was before that, which is good! (I had just joined the third ball to the back piece, and was getting close to beginning the raglan shaping. EXCITING! :)

(Really, it is!)

So that’s been my main project. I am loving it. I have a bunch of yarn here for other projects that I’m debating casting on and then just rotating through projects but I also feel like I need to give the cardigan most of my love.

I’ve also been loving my Knit Stars classes, which I bought when they were on sale during the Early Bird period, so now I have Knit Stars 1 and 2 and 5, when it officially opens in October. Yay! I’m learning so much, which is great, especially as I work on the cardigan.

I’m also still working on the Elementary Wrap from Purl Soho, but that’s more like weekend knitting. Most of my time is on the cardigan. :)

Although I did pick up this GORGEOUS yarn….

As for books.

Yes, a lot of reading. Some of this is research for book 2, and a lot of it is just reading to keep me sane. :)

What are you reading/knitting/doing?

Emily Knits A Cardigan!

Yes, folks. The time has come.

I am going to knit a cardigan.

If I don’t do it now, when everyone is at home and I can ask EVERYONE QUESTIONS ALL THE TIME, then when can I do it?

Now is the time. It is the spring of our discontent but it will be the SPRING OF THE CARDIGAN.

So first up, what pattern?

I chose Hannah Fettig’s Boothbay Cardigan, because it can be knit in pieces and them seamed.* I definitely wanted to do one that was knit in pieces so that if something went horribly awry, I could rip out that piece, and not the whole thing. I’m not that great at frogging (ripping back ) to a certain point and then trying to pick up the stitches. So, a seamed knit it was.

Images from Hannah’s website, Knitbot

I didn’t want a brown cardigan so I chose a medium heathered grey, which is one of my favorite colors just because I think I look good in it! :) And it goes with a lot of other colors, as well, so it can be worn a lot. It’s Quince and Co Lark (the suggested yarn) in Kumlien’s Gull. (picture at the top of the post)

A few things, before we really get into the cardigan goodness:

When you’re knitting a garment you obviously have to choose your size. There are various ways to do this. The way I did it for this was measured my upper arm, and then chose the number on the schematic that was closest to this.

A schematic looks like this:

So, you want to take the number that is closest to your actual measurements (I am generally going up here) and you also want to look at the ease, which is listed in the pattern. Ease is either positive or negative. Positive ease means the garment fits more loosely; negative ease means it’s more form-fitting. This cardigan has a positive ease of 2.75”. So knowing that, I also chose the higher number for my garment, because I want he cardigan to be able to go over a long-sleeved t-shirt or a dress.

Knowing your measurement determines how many skeins of yarn you need to get. In my case, it was 17, and I threw in an extra one for swatch purposes.

Once I wound all the yarn (as you can see above, it was a lot of yarn), today (Monday) I cast on to knit the swatch. Gauge is fairly imperative when knitting a garment! So I had bought an extra skein just for swatch purposes.

BIGGEST SWATCH EVERRRRRR

The swatch was then blocked (ie, it took a bath!), and is drying.

Once it’s dry, I will check the gauge. If I’m bang on, it’s good to go. If I’m not, then I will knit another swatch with either larger or smaller needles, depending on which way I’m off. The book gives instructions for this, which makes me very happy! The fact that Hannah puts in so much good information in her book is one of the other reasons why I chose it for my maiden cardigan voyage.

So, that’s the beginning of Cardigan Adventures! Stay tuned….

*Hannah’s book Home and Away (from which Boothbay comes) is full of lovely projects, and all of the cardigans and sweaters can be made either seamless or without. There are also really useful essays in the book, so I highly recommend picking this up!