Cast On Not One but Two

My New Tweed Reid lace pullover top has been finished for at least two weeks now. It's waiting to be blocked. It's waiting for me to find a few minutes out of my busy life to give it a good soak, roll it gently in lots of towels, and lay it out on my blocking mats. Actually, I'm waiting for floor space where I don't have to worry about family members who might accidently step on my finished product. I'm guessing, it will take at least 2-3 days to dry.

I've CO for two new projects. Two new cardigans to be exact. I'm knitting up My Favorite Cardigan by Wendy Bernard. It's an off the shoulder cardi with cables running down the fronts and on the sleeves. It's also a top down cardi. No seams! I'm using Classic Elite Waterlily in Blueberry color. Here's a picture of this gorgeous yarn:




I've also started another top down cardi. It's a cropped cardi pattern from Plymouth yarns. I'm using Plymouth Encore Tweed in Black. So far it's knitting up beautifully. This black tweed is the only color I like in the Plymouth Encore line. I have two more rows before separating the sleeves from the body. I may end up knitting a few more rows before separating to make sure the armholes are large enough.




Interesting that I'm not knitting something with a lace pattern. Interesting that these two new projects are top down cardis. I just keep on knitting. :)

The Fitted Cardigan - WIP

I love this cardigan! I love how quickly it's knitting up. I love the shaping and the darts. I love the two colors I chose even though the olive green is showing up as yellow in the pictures. The only negative thing I can say about this cardigan is it may not fit me. Sure, I chose the 38 inch finished bust when I casted on. The top of the sleeves, back and front appear to be in alignment with my body. The area under my bust is very snug. Almost barely breathing snug.

Bold & Bulky Mini Cardi - front view


Back view


I will continue to finish this cardigan and see what it looks like in the end. I have the two sleeves to pick up and knit and then pick up and knit the front and back neck edges.

I'll be back....

Update: I wanted to add that this pattern is available in the Fitted Knits book by Stefanie Japel. It's also a free pattern at Lion Brand's site and includes the corrections to the instructions.

Another Future Knitted Garment

I have another knitted garment on my knitting to do list that I wanted to share. This design is by Stefanie Japel.

Bold and Bulky Mini Cardi by Stefanie Japel

I love this pattern as it uses Wool Ease Thick and Quick yarns. For a 38" bust, the pattern uses 2 skeins of main color (MC) yarn and 1 skein of contrast color (CC) yarn. It uses 3 knitting needle sizes: Size 13 (9mm) circular needles, Size 9 (5.5mm) circular needles and 10.5 (6.5mm) regular needles.

I've been reading that this cardigan runs small. So, I may end up knitting this for 40" bust. Also, some knitters are reporting that they need more than 1 skein of the contrast color (CC) yarn.

This mini cardigan pattern can be found in two places. One is in Stefanie's book:

Fitted Knits: 25 Designs for the Fashionable Knitter by Stefanie Japel


It's also a free pattern at Lion Brand's site and includes some corrections to the instructions.

What I love about this cardigan's potential, is the endless color combination possibilities. I already have my yarn picked out for two different color versions: one will be Fig (MC) which looks like raspberry and denim (CC) and the other will be Black (MC) and Cilantro (CC) which looks like olive color.

I will be knitting a test swatch for this pattern.