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....

Shrug This #2 - Completed

Shrug This in Sirdar Denim Chunky

I'm happy to say, it's done. I love this longer version. The total back length is roughly 16 inches. The bottom of this shrug falls at my high hip area. Here's my review:

Name of Pattern:
Shrug This

Designed by:
Toni Kayser Weiner (from the One Skein Wonders book)

Pattern/Garment Description:
Shrugs are all the rage and with this loosely knit version (three stitches per inch) you'll be able to "shrug" off the time investment. This shrug is worked from the neck down and there's no sewing required.

Size(s):
One size

Yarns Used:
Sirdar Denim Chunky in light blue. Used less than 2 skeins.

Gauge:
Roughly 3 stitches/inch. Cast on 53 stitches.

Knitting Tools Used:
Circular needles: 24 inch size 11 needle. This yarn was soft enough that I did not need to use my 29 inch needle.

Techniques I learned/used:
Long tail cast on (I'm loving this method)
Yarn over (YO)
Knitting from the top down
Raglan sleeves
Lengthen the body to fall at my high hip. About 53 rows in total.

What I Like About this Pattern:
Quick and easy to knit. Versatile pattern that can be lengthened.

What I Dislike About this Pattern:
Nothing to dislike.

My Pattern Rating (Beginner, Easy, Intermediate, Hard):
I rate this pattern as Easy. A beginner with some basic knitting experience could tackle this project.

Conclusion/Additional Comments:
This is my 2nd shrug. For this version, I lengthened it. The back length came out to 16 inches. Perfect, as I wanted it to fall at my high hip.

I actually enjoy knitting from the neck down.

Since I did the long tail cast on, I wanted the backside (I believe will double check) to be the right side. So, I ended up I adding an extra row of ribbing at the neckline. I also added an extra row at the bottom to complement the neckline.

This is my TNT pattern.

Side view

Back side



Within the next day, I hope to take some photos modeling both versions.

Another Shrug in the Works

Since the pattern is fresh in my head, I decided to start another shrug. I'm using a really cool yarn called Denim Chunky by Sirdar. I found this yarn in the clearance bin at my LYS. This will be perfect for casual wear.

Sirdar Denim Chunky

I'm actually further along than the picture shows below. I'm getting ready to knit the ribbing for the sleeves. I'm still on my first of two skeins of yarn. I'm thinking of lengthening the shrug so it falls at my high hip area. I tend to make my decisions at the spur of the moment. We'll see what I end up with.

Another Shrug This-WIP

This shrug looks like it will be slightly larger or loose fitting even though I CO the same amount of stitches as my previous version. This Denim Chunky is a nice yarn to knit with.