KPP Fair Isle Cardigan Knitalong

photos!

Front on this is how my sweater looks. Wish my arms didn't look so stiff. You can also see that I blocked the sweater flat and left creases down the seams. Next time I'll block them around a folded towel.

This is a close up of the knitted in set in sleeves. I really prefer this look over a dropped shoulder design. I'm still not confident I could teach this technique ... at least, I'm not sure I have the math down pat to teach anybody how to do this with any size sweater, but I'm a whole lot closer to doing so.

Here you can see how that little triangle at the shoulder seams looks - it also makes the fit nice. Of course, I am not drunk nor am I still half asleep. sometimes pictures just turn out that way.

Here is the pile of snipped off bits from the woven in ends plus the bits I cut out when I cut the neckline steek.

and here is all the leftover yarn!   

Finished!

I finished, and I love my cardigan!  I actually finished nearly two weeks ago, but it took a good two days to dry after wet blocking.  Then I was, and still am, working insane hours, so no chance for outside daylight shots, until tonight.  Blocking made all the difference in the world.  I was worried it was a little two small when I cast off the last stitch, but it blocked to size perfectly, and all the stitches evened out. 

Modifications:  First off with the ribbing, I used Meg Swansen's "Purl when you can" method.  I also knit an extra plain row between the color bands on the body only to add a little length.  On the sleeves I started knitting with one color band higher than recommended on the pattern because I was afraid of the sleeves being too short - as you can see by the bunching around my wrists, this extra color band wasn't needed :)  I also did a three-needle bind off on the shoulders. Finally, I did an I-cord bind off on the cuffs, neck band, and front button bands, and liked the finished edge so much, I picked up stitches around the bottom ribbing, and did one there too.  It did eat up a little bit of the color work on the button band and neckband, but that doesn't bother me.  If I had it to do over again, I probably would have knit a row or two in black after the color work and used the last black row to attach the i-cord bind off.    

I think that's pretty much it - I have a ton of yarn left over, so I'm looking forward to lots more color work to use some if it up.  But first, I'm going to knit a few other sweaters that I've been itching to start (watch my blog for progress on those).  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about my cardi, and I'm definitely keeping up with the KAL here.  I may even show up again in a few months to work on a fair isle vest or two!

That curling checkered band

Happy news, gang. I've wet blocked my beautiful sweater and that red and blue checked ribbed section is lying very nicely flat and doesn't look like it will curl at all.

I intended to post photos today but I left the cable at home.

:(

I will remember tomorrow. I actually wet blocked the sweater before I tacked down the facings, sewed on the buttons or made the final decision about putting an i-cord trim around the bottom edge. That last feature is what drove my decision because I couldn't decide if I wanted the i-cord or if I wanted some other finish. I wanted a clear vision of what the sweater was going to look like before I put any additional trim on it. I wasn't sure I would like a tiny brown i-cord at the bottom - if it would like strange. Since blocking, I think it will look strange if done in brown and I'm going to do that bottom finish in black. In fact, I am probably going to do it in a little single crochet edge because I want to wear the sweater on Wednesday and I won't have time to do an i-cord edging in such a short time-frame. If I don't really like the crochet edging I can always take it out and do the i-cord.

Other news about this sweater is that it blooms beautifully when blocked. Particularly if you've lugged the poor thing around as I have, and knit on it in a wood stove heated living room, and it's just plain dirty, do consider wet-blocking instead of steam blocking. I always worry that I'll steam in dirt that won't ever wash out when I steam block something. Probably not the case, but it's just a little quirky worry of mine.

If your sweater has felt all scrunchy and soft and puffy - wet-blocking will surprise you by flattening it out beautifully. The fabric has lots of mobility in it - you can block it a little wider if you think you've knit a bit skimpily - or longer if you think it's a bit too wide or too short. In fact, if I were advising anybody about using this yarn I would tell them to knit a swatch and wet-block it just to see how the fabric behaves. (Not that I do this, oh no. I just start right on knitting and trust to Athena to watch over me.)

So. Happy news. Photos tomorrow. Debut on Wednesday.

It sure is quiet around here lately!  How is everyone doing on their cardigans?  As for my, I'm making very slow progress these days.  I have finished both sleeves, and steeked the front.  Over the last few nights I knit the neckband, and the left button band.  I used an i-cord bind off on the sleeve cuffs, the neckband and the button band.  I'm also considering picking up stitches around the bottom ribbing to apply an i-cord to that edge.  I really like the finished look it gives the edging.  I'm really looking forward to blocking this to see how it looks after compared to before. 

By the way, I noticed KnitPicks has put the Fair Isle vest pattern booklet on clearance for $2.99.  If you plan on making one of the vests, better snatch a pattern up while they're still available! 

Happy Knitting,

Penny