Beau & Cables in Chamonix Finished!

Believe it or not, I finished these suckers over a week ago. I've been dying to post them, but getting pictures of me and Bill in our respective sweaters has been a challenge. During the week, daylight is basically gone by 7 pm and the weekends have been crazy (or rainy). Yesterday we finally got some shots, so here they are.

Pattern: Inspired by Beau from Rowan Vintage Style. Ironically, I ended up borrowing the Beau pattern from Magknits and used the shape of a basic crewneck. I used pics of the Rowan Beau online to help me figure out how the striping and box effect worked.

Yarn: Tahki Donegal Tweed in a burnt orange color, a little over 5 skeins. Brown 'leather' buttons from Joann's.

Verdict: Bill really likes it! When I still had 1 sleeve to sew in, he said to me, "Are you going to sew that thing in so I can actually wear it tonight?"
I'm happy with how the pattern came out and glad that I managed to improv it. A successful knock-off!

Here's a close-up of the neckline.

*************************************************************************

Pattern: Cables in Chamonix from Yarn Girls' Guide to Beyond Basics

Yarn: GGH Savanna in a raspberry color, 8 balls.

Modifications: I decided to do this from the top down instead of in pieces. Since the pattern said to pick up 64 stitches for the neckline, I cast on that many and increased until I had the number of body and sleeve stitches. I ended up frogging several times because it was just too BIG. I added some darts in the back, since I didn't do the cables in the back and added a lot of waist shaping. My gauge was spot on - I knit and blocked a swatch and everything - but I realized that I also only did 3 cables down the front instead of 4 which may explain it.

Verdict: OK. It's a little big around the bust and under the sleeves, but overall it's a cozy winter sweater. I did wear it once to work when it was chilly last week, and I think next winter it will get more wear.

Right now, I have lots of progress on spring projects to show you, but I'll wait a few days. Happy Monday!

A Race to the FO Line

I am expecting to get 3 of my WIPs to cross the finish line here within the next 2 weeks or so. Here are the leaders:

Currently leading the pack is the February Baby Sweater from EZ's Knitter's Almanac. This is for a co-worker who is expecting a baby girl in April. I can't show you exactly how much is done, but let's say the odds for this to win are pretty darn good (ok, I just have buttons to sew on).

Next up in second place is Beau, for my hubby. I'm not using the 'real' pattern for this sweater, but instead trying to mimic the stitch pattern using a basic crewneck pattern. Beau is a sleeve and some seaming away from being the champ.

But don't count out Cables in Chamonix, who has had a remarkable run lately. There was a minor setback last week when about 10" of the body had to be frogged (it was way too big). Although progress doesn't look great, expect this knit to get some extra attention in the coming week.

A few other WIPs are struggling as they made it just on the needles, but we should expect some progress and improvement on them once these top three are out of the race.

PS. I mentioned a while ago that we are going out west in early May. Well, I just realized that we will be gone during Maryland Sheep & Wool. Clearly I had a major brain fart in scheduling. I live 30 minutes from the Howard County Fairgrounds. Doh!

Up for the challenge

Boy have I been busy lately. At work, when it rains, it pours. Everyone is done with the holiday festivities and late January they all come beating down my door. At home, things are the same, but my husband has been super busy at work and stressed out, and on top of that, things like this happen (the woman in the article was his law client) and he has put his work aside to address them.

Things are starting to calm down. We've booked a vacation for early May!! We're gonna do one of those out-west things that I never did as a kid. Right now, we're flying into Phoenix, seeing the Grand Canyon and then hitting Vegas for a few days. After that, we're still not sure. We have about a week between Vegas and when we fly out of San Diego. We want to see Los Angeles, but aren't sure yet what's worth seeing....

On to knitting. Sahara is done, ends woven in, blocked and folded in my closet. Hopefully Saturday I can get my photographer outside with me to take some pics.

In the meantime, I've cast on for 2 new projects. I contemplated doing knock offs of these a while back, and have decided I am up for the challenge. Part of the fun is figuring it all out, right? Well, first I am making a version of a cabled yoke cardigan from Karabella. I drew out a schematic and have hopefully calculated it all correctly. There's not much progress to show, but I am working from the top down and am ribbing away at the yoke.

I like the buttons though. They were $3.99 for 2 at Joann's, so I only bought 2 with a coupon. I'm waiting for a sale or more coupons to come in the mail. Am I cheapo?

The other new WIP is Beau, for my beau. I decided to make this one easy on myself and follow a basic crew neck sweater pattern for a guy and add in the stitch details. Here's my sketch of what I think it should be. I spent time zooming in on pictures on the internet and counting stitches and rows with my pencil tapping along the monitor screen.

And here's what it looks like so far.

I will surely show more of these when they get more interesting. American Idol and 24 have helped increase my knitting time, and there will be even more when Lost comes back next week.