FO - Rustic Owls Sweater

Today I wove in all the ends, grafted the underarms, sewed the collar and am pleased to say that the sweater is perfect! It fits well, and the finishing is great if I do say so myself. I'm particularly pleased with the collar, once turned over it had a wonderful clean and finished look. The owls definitely need blocking which I will get to soon enough. For now however, I'm pleased to present my Rustic Owls:

Almost finished owls

Last week I finished the knitting for my owls sweater, now I just need to weave in ends, sew together the underarms and sew the collar. I have made the collar long enough that I can roll it over and sew it down, a much nicer look in my opinion.

I was going to do all the finishing last weekend, but with having to go to bendigo, it wasn't going to happen. The new plan is next weekend. The sweater fits well. I'll try to get a photo of me wearing it! But for now you'll have to settle for this:

I had to frog :(

Do as I expected I made errors in the ribbing of the socks, the depressing thing is I stuffed up before I had even had a drink, and still didn't 't realize. I also realized my counting needs work.

I had 62 stitches instead of 64, so I ended the second needle with Knut stitches, and began the first needle with knit stitches! Rookie mistake and I laughed when I real used, then promptly ripped it back. I cast on fresh this morning, have finished the ribbing and am happily working down the leg. Photos soon.

On another note, I calculated the yoke for my owls, and I have about 3 inches more of stockinette before I begin the pattern. I'm excited to see how it works out, but I'm expecting it to have a similar look to the tangled yoke in relation to the size and location of the pattern. So plenty of stockinette for the few drinks I've had tonight, as we have gone out to dinner with the kids.

Unfortunately my husband (love saying that!) hates me knitting in public, so while the kids are in the playground, and he is playing pokies, I am blogging. But it's proof that knitting is always on my mind.

About to join the sleeves

I have finished the second sleeve and am about to do my favorite part, join the sleeves to the body and begin the yoke. The first few rows are difficult, with the tightness between the sleeves and the body, at least until you have worked a few rounds.

I'm still planning to wing the yoke with the owls motif, try and get the pattern nicely in the middle and keep the fit nice. I'm also hoping the sweater will still fit, I have put on a few kilos over Christmas, but haven't most of us?

I'm working on a dishcloth at the moment, the sweater will be a settling down project now. Once I finish the dishcloth, I look forward to casting on another sock.

Loving my Owls

After finishing the "Ugly Socks" I got back into knitting my owls sweater, even though the season is completely wrong! I'm wearing strapless dresses due to accidental- but severe- sunburn. It is hot! So knitting a jumper seems a bit silly, but after finishing my February Lady Sweater, I remembered how much I love knitting sweaters.

I had two unfortunate projects, a grey and black striped sweater and my basic black cardigan, which kinda turned me off sweater knitting for a while. I am also a little unhappy with the fit of my Seneca sweater, I do not like the extra fabric in the back, and I should've made it longer.

So it was these projects which took away some of my enthusiasm. But I have realized that as long as I knit to fit me, and add in the design elements, I seem to be happy.

My owls sweater has nothing to do with the pattern so far, knit out of dk and not a bulky weight, I have had to do a lot of recalculating for the body and sleeves. My first attempt at the body was too big, second try a perfect fit. The sleeves are a perfect fit as well, although I did not take into account wearing a long sleeved top underneath. But I'm not going back now. I should finish the first sleeve today.

The yoke will obviously have the owls pattern in it, but it will be significantly smaller than the original design. But I think I'll prefer that anyway. Once I join the sleeves I will probably knit for a few rows, then do a decrease round to set up for the owls pattern. Follow that with 2 more yoke decrease rounds after and it should work out to plan, I hope. Looking forward to the challenge either way.

Only Stockinette in the Round

At the moment I have only two projects on the needles, my Owls sweater and a pair of afterthought heel socks. All I have is miles and miles of what feels like endless stockinette in the round.

Working on the February Lady Sweater reminded me of how much I love the various stitches that can be made in knitting, how interesting it can be. So tonight I did a mass printout of lace shawl patterns.

I haven't cast anything on yet, I can't decide what I want to do yet. I also have my eye on a few other cardigans that have lace in them, for summer. Cables for winter.

I also have my eyes on some color work sweaters for me and a circular shawl as some of my goals for next year. For now, I'm over the mindless stockinette!

Slow progress

I'm back at work and as expected my knitting time has dropped dramatically. But I'm slowly getting there. I have been working on my owls sweater, and have completed the first set of waist decreases. I know the calculations for the shaping, according to my body and gauge. I also have plans for a new way of shaping the sweater to my bust. I have found all my sweaters and cardigans have too much fabric at the back, but fit fine in the front. So after reading up on shaping, in particular "fit to flatter" I am going to increase up to the size underneath my bust, then do dome short row shaping to fit my bust. That's the plan anyway.

My second monkey has just finished the cuff, and that's it. Very slow progress, a row here and there, but that's all. I have been enjoying knitting my sweater on larger needles for now.

On a sad note, another pair of handknit socks have died. I really hope that my new socks on 64 stitches will last longer.