Shrug This - Completed

I finished my black shrug early yesterday morning, in time to wear to church. This is a quick and easy knitting project.

Shrug This in Plymouth Encore Chunky-black


I will be back later to post pictures of me modeling my new shrug. For now, here's my review. Enjoy!


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:
Plymouth Yarn Encore Chunky in Black. Used less than 2 skeins.

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

Knitting Tools Used:
Circular needles: 24 & 29 inch size 11 needle

Techniques I learned/used:
Long tail cast on
Yarn over (YO)
Knitting from the top down (first time)
Raglan sleeves
Lengthen the body by a few rows

What I Like About this Pattern:
Quick and easy to knit. Pattern can be easily 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 pattern has been on my mind since I first saw it in the One Skein Wonders book I purchased last year. Initially, I thought it would be difficult to knit. I didn't understand what YOs were nor did I understand why markers were used. Plus knitting from the top down? That sounded weird to me. Something I could not comprehend as I've been knitting from the bottom up and that basically makes sense to me.

So, I have a sweater, shrug, cardi/vest and soon to be completed shell experience tucked in my brain. I revisited this pattern and know what? The instructions started to make sense to me.

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.

Tip: The only thing I might add to this shrug is sewing a piece of black ribbon along the front side edges of the cardigan. I noticed the edging wanted to curl towards the inside and while I was wearing it, I kept straightening the fronts.

Personally, I thought this Encore Chunky yarn worked well for this shrug. I have worn it to church and received many complements. The shrug kept its shape throughout the day.

Partial back/side view


Partial front/side view

I plan on making one in a longer length, similar to Trina's version.

I really like the style of this shrug. It's comfortable to wear. It's really cute!

Here's a link to the Shrug This pattern.

Shrug Knitting

I just wanted to do a quick post. I'm almost done knitting my shrug.

Here's what it looks like so far:

Shrug This - front


Shrug This - back

Shrug This!

Here's my fourth WIP project on my knitting needles. This shrug is from the One Skein Wonders book that I purchased last year. I've been eyeballing this pattern for so long. Initially, I had no clue how to knit this top. I had no idea what a YO was and no idea how to knit from the top down. The instructions were foreign to me.

After knitting several easy garments, I went back to my book and would you believe...I understood the knitting instructions for this shrug? Yes, a lightbulb went off in my head. I proceeded to find some yarn and casted on the stitches. I'm using Plymouth Encore Chunky in Black. So far, it's a quick knitting project.

Shrug This! by Toni Kayser Weiner

I've included a link to the free Shrug This pattern at the One Skein Wonders site.

I'm truly amazed at how much I've learned and picked up in the last two months of knitting garments.


Update: I started out using my 24 inch circular knitting needles. About halfway into the knitting, I had to switch to my 29 inch circular needles. I am beginning to see why I need to have circulars in longer lengths. It's hard to knit with stitches that are crammed together.

Knitting Weekend & Other Things

My DB is arriving later this evening. Not sure what we'll be doing this weekend, but I'm sure it will be a photographic adventure.

I wanted to post a long overdue picture of me wearing my cropped cardi vest to give an idea of length and fit.

Wearing My Cropped Cardi Vest

I'm making progress on the back piece of my shell. Gosh, I just love this yarn color I'm knitting with. This shell is turning out to be slightly wider than 18 inches, which is fine for me as I don't want this shell to be too tight. I'm anticipating when I'm done with both back and front pieces that the finished bust will be around 37 inches. This will be my first fitted garment, so I'm quite excited to get this all knitted up and seamed and see how it fits. This will lay the ground work for me on how to judge a pattern size...just like sewing.

Shell - working my way towards the neckline

Since knitting is a very portable hobby, I plan on knitting wherever I go this weekend.

Happy Knitting!

Frogging!

Okay, so I'm not delirious nor panicky. I've done this once before. Frogging (the term Trina pointed out to me). I have been working on my sleeveless shell, knitting the back piece. I had done two sets of BOs (bind offs) per the pattern instructions and noticed that I was missing a stitch. I should have had 60 stitches on my needles, but only had 59. I checked my BOs to make sure I did the correct amount, which I did. You know, I shouldn't be knitting late in the evening when I'm tired and not sure if I can count correctly.

I slipped a marker into the last stitch of the first BO. I proceeded to frog my shell. It was only 4 rows. I slipped my circular needle tip back into the open stitches and recounted. Now, I have 71 stitches when I am suppose to have 72. I know I casted on the correct number of stitches, because my moss border stitch came out correct. So, I lift up my back piece against the light to see if I had any holes. None. I start checking the left side edge and see nothing out of the ordinary. I check the right side edge and sure enough there's an exposed loop waving at me to say..."you idiot, you've forgot me along the way". UGH!

Being the creative person that I am I took the loose loop and my crochet hook and did a chain stitch up the side (looping into the above side stitch thread) until I reached the row I was suppose to be on. I slipped that little sucker on my knitting needle quickly before it had a chance to wave a "see ya later alligator". Now, I realize this may not be a documented technique or the right thing to do to correct this, but it's in the seaming area which may not be a problem. Also, I've laid out the back piece flat on my floor and there's no puckering or ripples from what I've done.

Knitting is suppose to calm the nerves and relieve stress. And that is what it's doing for me. No panic attacks. Just fix the problem and move on. I also like to think I'm a bit creative. LOL!!!

Next Project...a Sleeveless Shell

I've been looking through various pattern books at my LYS and came across this darling simple shell pattern:
Ann Norling - Quick Knit Sleeveless Shell #50

You'll notice in the picture that the yarn used for the middle shell looks familiar. :) It's the same yarn I had used for my cropped cardi vest from my previous post.

I plan on knitting the sleeveless shell on the right with the seed stitch border at the bottom, neckline, and armholes.

I found this beautiful yarn at Michael's:
Patons Shetland Chunky Tweed in Sea Ice color

Which will go with my latest sewing creation:
Brown and blue floral sweater knit cardigan


I can't wait to get started on this knitting project. This will be my first attempt at a knitting project where I am not using the suggested yarns. I knitted a test swatch/gauge with this Patons yarn and it came out pretty close. BTW, if you see this yarn...touch it and give it a squeeze. It's sooo soft.

Cropped Cardi Vest - Completed

Here it is, my review of my cropped cardi vest. Enjoy!


Different views


Name of Pattern:
Cropped Cardigan Vest

Designed by:
Barbara Breiter

Pattern/Garment Description:
Cropped Cardigan Vest

Size(s):
Pattern includes sizes: Small (37"), Medium (41"), Large (45"), and XLarge (49")

I made a Small (37" finished bust). Length is about 14".

Yarns Used:
4 balls of Crystal Palace Meringue in Scuba Dive color (blue, teal, lavender, green, & off white). Total of 492 yards of yarn.

Gauge:
16 sts and 20 rows = 4" in St st.

Knitting Tools Used:
- Used size 10-1/2 (xmm) 24" circular needles (Clover Takumi Velvet Bamboo)
- Mini Kacha Kacha row counter
- Markers (reminder where I needed to decrease - personal preference)

Techniques I learned/used:
- Seed stitch
- Decreases: K2tog, SSK, and P2tog
- Knit the same as for right side, but reverse shaping (my first time!)
- Picking up stitches around the armhole and front and back neckline
- Sewing more seams

What I Like About this Pattern:
Uses less than 500 yards of yarn. Simple instructions.

What I Dislike About this Pattern:
Nothing to dislike.

My Pattern Rating (Beginner, Easy, Intermediate, Hard):
Easy pattern to knit. A quick knitting project.

Conclusion/Additional Comments:
The bottom border is knitted in seed stitch for about an inch. After that, I did not follow the recommended pattern, but used a garter stitch for the main body of the vest. If you follow the pattern, it will allow you to later, thread/weave a different color yarn (e.g. solid) through the front (every so many inches) to give it a plaid look. I wanted this to be a fast project and to first understand the shaping of this garment without worrying about purling here and there while decreasing. For a beginner, simple is better for me.

The armholes are knitted in 1/2" seed stitch. The front bands and back neckline are knitted in 1" seed stitch.

I think I'm getting the hang of sewing seams.

You can find this cropped cardigan vest pattern at Knitting on the Net.

Here are additional pictures:

Hand sewing one of the shoulder seams

Completed shoulder seams

Picking up stitches around the front of the cardi vest



A little bit closer look

Another Weekend of Knitting & Sewing

This weekend, I have to split my time between sewing and knitting. I have finished knitting my cropped cardi vest, but it's not really finished. I think I need to steam the edges to get it to lay flat. I finished the edges in a seed stitch and looking back at the end results, I might have knitted this too loosely which is causing it to ripple in some areas.

I love this garment and how it turned out. I am glad that I chose this color yarn, it is very cheery and bright. The t-shirt you see under the cardi vest in the picture below is one that I had sewn last year and it complements the cardi vest quite well.

Cropped Cardi Vest on SusieQ

I plan on posting my review of this cardi vest with additional pictures later this weekend.

Now, I need to get some sewing done. :)

Knit Six Rows and Remove 4 Rows...a Learning Experience

Over the last two weeks or so, I have been getting up really, really early. Like 4am or 5am. Like clock work. I've been picking up a knitting project and will knit for an hour or two until the rest of the house stirs from their sleep. That's one nice thing about knitting and using bamboo needles, it's a quiet hobby.

Well, this morning, I may not have been fully awake. (It doesn't help that I stopped drinking coffee, 1 year and 3 months ago). I picked up my shrug project and just continued K1,P1 where I left off the night before. I knitted six rows only to find that a few rows back, I messed up my "ribbing" pattern on the side of the shrug about an inch into the garment. It was quite noticeable.

What do I do? I quickly grabbed a stitch marker and hooked it on the last stitch of the last good knitted row. Then I had two options to fix this problem. One was to work my way back, undoing one stitch at a time. Well, that would have been 81 stitches per row and 4 rows to undo. Not a good option. My 2nd option was to pull my needles out of the garment and gently pull the yarn until it stops at the stitch marker. I went with the 2nd option.

I laid my garment on my rug and proceeded to pull the yarn out. Once I got to my stitch marker, I grabbed my needle and gently inserted the needle tip into the loops of my garment. Thankfully, I have been studying the way the loops look on my needles as I have been knitting. It was a slow process as I had to keep the threaded loops close to the tip of my needle and not stretch the loose loops from their stitches. Five minutes later, I had all 81 stitches back on my knitting needle. Only one loop was twisted, but I was able to fix that when I got to that stitch.

With each project I knit, I am being challenged to learn something new. I have to say that while I had a slight panic attack, it was well worth the effort to fix it and tuck this learning experience under my belt.

I'm happy to say that I've re-knitted the 4 rows without any problems.

Knitting Right Along

I am beginning to see a knitting pattern here. I seem to have four (4) different knitting projects going on at the same time. When I'm done with one knitting project, I start another one. Keeping four going. There's a really good reason for that and now I have an understanding why others might be doing this.

I am back to knitting my BHG beginner sweater. After seeing Monica's comment here and Trina's on Ravelry, I realized I needed to get this sweater done and preferably before the warmer weather heads my way. I really like how this Tudor (Homespun) color yarn is working out.

BHG Sweater-back...still working my way towards the neckline

I'm making some progress on my Plymouth Royal Llama Silk shrug. I don't think I have enough yarn. The pattern calls for 4 balls of yarn. I'm on my 3rd ball and have only knitted 1/4 of the main body (K1,P1). I still have 12 inches of the main body to knit. I know I'll need at least 2 balls when I go back to the K2,P2 section. So, I'll keep knitting until I run out.

Plymouth Royal Llama Silk Shrug...starting to knit the K1,P1 main body

I'm also working on a Plymouth Baby Kimono for my Godmother's granddaughter. The kimono takes only two skeins of Plymouth Encore yarn. My LYS only had 1 skein of the Heather Pink left. I bought that color plus a Light Pink skein...thinking I could knit different sections in different yarn colors (e.g. the front panels in light pink and the sleeve and collar in the heather pink). Well, the sleeves and front panels are completed. All I need to knit is the back piece, sew the seams, and then knit the shawl collar. I don't think I have enough of one color to knit the whole back, so I might end up knitting in the Heather Pink halfway up and then use the Light Pink for the top half. I'm not sure I'll have enough of one color to finish the shawl collar.

I am not comfortable enough to feel the yarn and figure out how much I have left. So, this is a good puzzle for me to figure out and get through this slight issue. In the meantime, I've put this project on hold so I can make a dent in the others.

Plymouth Baby Kimono...Heather Pink sleeve panels and Light Pink front panels

I still have my Cropped Cardi/Vest on my needles. I am knitting the last front panel.

This is amazing that the four knitting projects or WIPs I have, don't require the same needle sizes. LOL!!!