Sleeves!

 

I've separated the sleeve stitches from the body stitches on my Scéal Grá pullover.  It always feel like an accomplishment when I get to this point on a top down sweater and I feel like the progress goes faster, but that's especially true knitting at this gauge!  On a top down sweater, the point right before you put the sleeve stitches on holders is also the point where you have the most stitches on the needles.  Fortunately, this all happens at the first of the project when I'm still in the Excited-To-Begin-A-New-Sweater-Phase of knitting, so it's not usually a problem getting through it.  This is also why I love top down sweaters - they just seem to go faster to me.

Finished

 

I've finished my Capture the Moment cardigan!  All of the ends are woven in and the pockets are sewn down and it's ready to wear, which is great because it's supposed to be cold and rainy later this week.

I knit it in Malabrigo Yarns Arroyo in the the Prussia Blue colorway which is a super dark navy blue (I'm pretty sure there's some black in there too, but I'll probably coordinate it as a navy blue garment).  It's knit exactly as the pattern is written for the tunic length version (there's also a shorter version in the pattern).  There was a lot going on with the pattern; it definitely wasn't something I could knit on auto pilot, but all those little details really add up to a very nice finished cardigan.  It was worth it!

Here's a shot of the pockets - aren't they beautiful?  Pockets are always a good idea, but the shaping on these is just lovely.

This was a lot of knitting (almost 2000 yards), but I love the finished cardigan.  I think I'll get a lot of wear out of this!

(Just a note, the collar and sleeve detail shots are overexposed to show those details.  The shots of the whole sweater are closer to the actual color, but the details get lost in the dark color.  In real life, it's still super dark, but the details do show up - it's just hard to photograph.  I guess that's what I get for using navy black!)

Something New

So Tuesday I mentioned that I only needed to sew down the pockets and weave in the ends of my Capture the Moment cardigan to finish it.  I haven't done any of that.  Instead I decided to start something new.  Remember the Cranberry Merino I spun over the summer?  I wound the skeins and started knitting it!

This is the start of another Pink Memories pullover - I'm calling it Cranberry Memories.  I knit this pattern a few years ago (in pink) and I thought it would be nice in handspun.  The front is worked in garter stitch while the sleeves and back are stockinette.  Also, there's a cute little pocket at the lower front.  I've just separated out the sleeve stitches from the body stitches.  It's amazing what a little change in gauge can do for your knitting speed!

I'll get those pockets sewn down on the cardigan - eventually...

Progress And Success

 

I've made some progress on my Scéal Grá pullover.  I'm still working on the yoke section, but I'm past the major lace section.  It's too big to stretch out the entire yoke on the needle at this point, but once I get the sleeve stitches onto holders, it should be easier to photograph.

Also, I finished knitting my Capture the Moment cardigan over the weekend.  I still have to weave in ends and do some sewing on the pockets before I block it, so it's going to be a little bit before it's 100% finished, but I'm through with the knitting.  I need a block of time during daylight hours (dark navy/black) when I can get both pockets sewn to their linings in one sitting.  I might have a chance tomorrow!

Spinning and Progress

 

I have finished my first bobbin of the Fireworks fiber.  This is 128 grams of fiber and to be honest, I have no idea why it's taken me so long to spin this.  I know there have been days I haven't spun at all in the past month or so, but I really feel like this bobbin shouldn't have taken so long.  Hopefully bobbins 2-6 will go quicker.  The Sari Silk in this fiber blend really makes for a textured single, but it also adds all the color!

In Capture the Moment news, I'm still knitting on it!  I've tried it on and even did a partial steam blocking yesterday just to see what it would do, and I'm definitely getting there.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and I can't wait to finish this.  Also, it's supposed to really cool off here tomorrow, so this would actually be wearable right now - if it was finished!

Have a great weekend!

Lace

 

I've been knitting away at my Scéal Grá pullover.  I've made it all the way through the charted lace section which means I survived the cluster stitch with two strands of yarn - one of the them fuzzy.  I didn't think that through when I chose my yarns for this project!  Fortunately, I'm knitting this on my Heavy Metals needles which have amazing tips and I made sure when I knit the more complicated rounds of lace I had the TV off and no one would interrupt me.  I just went slowly and counted everything on those rounds and it all worked perfectly!

I'm now to the point where things should be much easier.  I'm still increasing for the yoke, but it shouldn't take long to get to the point where the sleeve stitches get separated from the body stitches.  The rest of the pullover should be pretty straightforward.

A New Pullover

The Fourth Quarter ESK Knit Along has a Scandinavian theme.  Quite a few of these beautiful patterns involve colorwork.  Unfortunately, as I learned last year, I'm very slow at colorwork and as we approach the end of the year and the holidays, I just don't have time to get the project finished.  As I was looking through patterns (trying to talk myself down from the gorgeous stranded colorwork yoke pullovers), I found Scéal Gra.  Lace, I can do.

The pattern calls for a light fingering weight yarn and I decided I wanted a solid color.  This design is too pretty for variegated and speckled yarns.  I ended up choosing two yarns, both laceweight, to strand together - Shibuiknits Silk Cloud and Shibuiknits Lunar.  I went with the same colorway in both yarns - Deep Water.  It's darker than royal blue but not quite as dark as navy blue, and it leans just slightly towards green.  Lace usually shows up better in lighter colors, but I think with the high silk content of both yarns, the sheen will catch the light and the pattern will show up just fine.

I've just started knitting this but I'm through the short rows for the neck shaping and I'm about to begin the lace.  The two yarns together are super light and soft - I definitely want to use this combination again!

Big, Cozy Cardigan

 

I know technically that Capture the Moment is a vest, but for some reason, it feels more like a cardigan to me.  Maybe because it's oversized and I'm knitting the longer length.  I don't really know, but in my mind this is a cardigan!

I'm working on the pockets now.  (Yes, it has pockets!)  The little flaps you can see hanging down in the top picture are the pocket linings and above you can see how the front of the pockets look.  Sort of.  Nothing has been sewn down yet since I'm still knitting on it, but you can kind of get an idea of what's going on despite the general In-Progress-Wonkiness.

I'm hoping to have this finished soon, but there's still a lot of knitting to go.  I'm making the tunic length version, this is seriously oversized, and the gauge is pretty high.  Fortunately, it's mostly stockinette with the collar stitch pattern at each front edge. Why am I trying to finish this?

Because today is the first day of the fourth quarter and that means I can cast on for the fourth quarter ESK KAL!