Friday, June 29, 2007

Kauni Cardigan Sleeves



Sorry for the shiny background! Don't know how to photograph this large thing!!
I am sailing right along on the cardigan, and if I didn't have a lot of company, I suspect that it may have been completed by now!
The two sleeves do not match, and I didn't try. For one thing, I don't believe I could have matched them, since it's difficult to tell where the colors change because of the LONG color repeats! I also thought about knitting them both at once with a steek, and then cutting them and sewing them on the body, but I chose not to do that. So in the end, I just kept knitting without cutting the yarn. I hate to waste it!!
I think that in the future, I will not knit a two-color sleeve down from the shoulders when it is attached to the body. I hate all the turning the sweater, and the two strands of yarn, and the two-circular needles or dpns I am using.
Soon, I will have to do the ribbing on the center, and am thinking about doing it with steeks at the top and bottom so I will be knitting circularly, instead of knitting back and forth with corrugated ribbing. I tried it with the neck ribbing and hated it. I'm also thinking about the buttons, and whether my polymer clay skills are up to the color matching or not. But that's another day!!!

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Kauni Cardigan Progress



I've made it to the first sleeve!! I already knit the neckband since I was already at a similar color as the bottom ribbing, and I am attempting to at least have similar colors for the knit bands. I hate to waste any of this gorgeous yarn so we'll see how it works out. The knitting has begun with the opposite end of the yarn in the ball, so that the color changes will be in the same order. The gauge on the sleeves has been all wonky and I frogged several inches of the sleeve and started over using two circular needles, in a size smaller than the body. The second picture shows the yarn I have left!!!!! I started out with four balls altogether and used the smaller ones first. The incredible part about this yarn was that there was NOT ONE SINGLE KNOT OR BREAK IN EITHER ONE OF THE SKEINS. This is in huge contrast to some yarn skeins I have used in the past (not this brand) that have had multiple knots in 50 gm balls. These were 290 gms each and not one knot. Amazing!!

You are also seeing how I manage the floppy sweater body while knitting the sleeves. I folded it all up in quarters, and stuck a circular needle through all the layers resulting in a nice small package to handle. The center steeks have not been cut yet to make it easier to manuever.

Openwork Ribbed Socks



My usual toe-up socks with dutch heel, knit on #0 dpns with 64 stitches, with crocheted bindoff in natural. Claudia's Handpainted toes, heels, and ribbing in Cotton Candy colorway, and Gems Pearl (not Opal as I previously stated) merino natural. These babies weigh in at 3 oz for the pair and are extremely cushy feeling. (They are 100% merino wool.) The stitch pattern is a simple 4 stitch, 4 row pattern repeat in openwork eyelet ribbing from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks and has great stretch to it.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Teal Swirl Treasure Woven Bracelets



I love these beads! It was too difficult to choose which design to make, so I did both. Which design do you like better? The spikey one has white Czech dagger beads in clusters.