Lil Black Sweater - Modeled

Finally! Almost live pictures. I had some time this morning to do a photo shoot of myself. I will be posting additional pictures of my latest shrug and the cabled vests I made. In the meantime, here's a few shots of me wearing my new Lil Black Sweater. Enjoy!














Happy Knitting!

My Lil Black Sweater - Completed

I'm back with a second post for today. Still feeling a bit sick, but that won't stop me from posting a review.

This is my favorite sweater. Funny. I seem to say that to each and every new knitting project I complete. Seriously, I had a blast knitting up this cute little sweater. I would have been done sooner than the 2 weeks it took me. You know how it is when I have to spread my knitting time across several projects, do some housework, get in some computer time, and go to work.

Here is my latest and cutest project:

My Little Black Sweater in Vintage by Sirdar Denim Chunky


Name of Pattern:
Little Blue Sweater

Designed by:
Simona Merchant-Dest for Interweave Knits

Published in Interweave Knits, Fall 2008. Available online as a single pattern purchase.

Pattern/Garment Description:
Short sleeved sweater with scooped neckline. Eyelet and cable pattern in the body and sleeves. Long ribbing pattern from hip to midriff area and short ribbing at bottom of sleeves. Ribbing around the neckline.

Size(s):
Finished bust circumference: 30, 34-1/2, 39, 43-1/2, 48, and 53 inches

I made a size 34-1/2 inches.

Yarns Used:
Sirdar Denim Chunky (discontinued) in Vintage color. It's a black and charcoal heathered yarn. Beautiful. I used 3.5 skeins of yarn. Each skein has 171 yards.

This yarn is a cotton, wool, and acrylic blend. Machine washable and lay flat to dry.

Gauge:
17 sts/4 inches

I was right on gauge in pattern.

Knitting Tools Used:
- Circular needles: 40 inch in size 10 (for the K2/P2 ribbing @bottom and sleeves)
- Circular needles: 40 inch in size 10-1/2 (for the eyelet and cable pattern)
- Circular needles: 40 inch in size 9 (for picking up the neckline)
- Circular needles: 16 inch in size 9 (for knitting the neckline)
- Cable needle
- Bent tip tapestry needle (seams and weave in ends)

Techniques I used:
- Used long tail cast on
- C4B, C4F
- YO
- SSK, K2tog
- p1tbl on WS
- Mattress stitch for the seams
- Knit the neckline in the round
- BO in pattern

Used mattress stitch for the seams


Changes I Made to the Pattern:
- I omitted a few rows while knitting the sleeves. I wanted my sleeves to end above my elbows.
- Instead of picking up and knitting 100 stitches around the neckline, I picked up 88 stitches.

Knitted fewer rows in the sleeve, but still ended up with the correct measurement within the sleeve cap area. BTW, this is the true yarn color


What I Like About this Pattern:
I love the shape and design of this sweater as well as the scoop neckline.

I enjoyed knitting this beautiful sweater. The eyelet and cable pattern made the knitting an enjoyable experience. Knitting with bulky yarn made this a fast knitting project.


The eyelet and cable pattern


What I Dislike About this Pattern:
Nothing to dislike at all

My Pattern Rating (Beginner, Easy, Intermediate, Hard):
I rate this as Intermediate. There's a lot going on with this sweater.

Conclusion/Additional Comments:
What can I say? This was a fun knit. Love the pattern, love the yarn I used. Perfect match. That's what made this project an enjoyable knitting experience. This is what knitting is all about.

Too bad this yarn has been discontinued. This is one of my favorite yarns. I ended up buying some other colors (on sale) for future projects. This yarn is machine washable and lay flat to dry. I wouldn't put this through the dryer as the results are horrible.

Personally, the only problem area I encountered was knitting the front armholes and neckline at the same time. I made sure I had a block of knitting time (peace and quiet) in order to do the BOs and decreases. I did end up writing out parts of the instructions. I'm getting pretty good at "reading" my stitches and not relying on my "counter" or my "tick marks".

When I finished sewing the seams, I tried on the garment. I noticed that the neckline was wide and loose. I could barely keep the sweater on my shoulders. Gut instinct told me I needed to make some adjustments on the fly. I used my 40" size 9 needles and picked up 88 of the 100 required stitches. I did one row of K2/P2 in the round and then switched to my 16" size 9 needles. Yes, that's what I did. Even though, my 40 inch needle fit around the neckline, I wanted to be sure that the neckline would not stretch out or become wavy while knitting. It was a bit tight knitting and purling 88 stitches on 16 inch needles, but it worked.

Picking up less stitches around the neckline, guaranteed that I would have a neat and close fitting neckline


This pattern is a winner! I love the design of this garment, the neckline shape, and the eyelet and cable pattern. I plan on using this neckline for other future garments. It's not too low and not too high on my neck.

This is definitely a TNT pattern for me.







I really do need to put more padding in the back of SusieQ

A Sneak Peek...

I've been under the weather for the last few days. Today, I ended up staying in bed. I popped in a DVD, The Devil Wears Prada, and knitted. I got a lot accomplished including drinking lots of water. I managed to finish my "Lil Black Sweater". Here's a sneak peek:



I'll be writing a review and posting lots of pictures later.

Note: the sweater is actually black/charcoal. I bounced my flash in order to show the details/highlights of this beautiful garment.

I'll be back....

My Rowan #46 Arrived and Knitting Thoughts

Yesterday, I received my welcome package to Rowan International. In the package was the beautiful #46 pattern book, their Autumn/Winter newsletter booklet (in color), a Rowan pin, welcome letter, another letter explaining the delay in their free yarn shipment, and a book sale notice. This annual subscription is definitely worth the price versus buying their pattern books separately.



I also received a package of brown/beige marled yarn in the mail from Jimmy Beans Wool. This yarn is destined to become a garment for my hubby.

Now that I have finished the 3 out of 5 WIPs, I want to start my Little Blue Sweater. I love the neckline and overall design. I love the final garments I've seen on Ravelry.

Little Blue Sweater by Simona Merchant-Dest for Interweave Knits

I have two wool yarns in mind (in my stash) and will need to knit a few swatches in the eyelet and cable patterns to see which one looks and feels like a great match. Most of the time, I can tell when the yarn and pattern will be a perfect match before I knit a swatch. This will be a bit different as I'm in between the size 34-1/2 and 39 inches in the bust measurement. Plus I will be knitting an eyelet and cable pattern throughout the sweater (front/back) which looks likes it will produce some amount of stretch with the eyelet and not much with the cable. I could go up a needle size and make the size 34-1/2 or go down a needle size for the size 39. I will make the call after I see what my swatches look like. ;)

Happy Knitting!