FO - Ink Flare

Guess what happened! I finished my Ink Flare sweater!

After pinning it together loosely to see how it fit I decided that the sleeves work rather well and I pushed on towards the finish line. That same evening I sewed up all the seams (and the strange edging does help - it makes the task a good deal quicker) and just before bedtime I added the crochet edge. I had initially planned to do this in the same yarn, but after trying the sweater on I thought that since it's quite 'roomy' anyway, meaning that there is a rather vast expanse of purple, it might be a good idea to break it up a bit. 

I've had this teal coloured alpaca lying around forever. It came to me as part of a swap, and although I immediately loved it I never quite found the right project for it. It's deliciously soft and super strong (there is no way you can break it by pulling it, as I found out that evening!). 

Look at that pretty edge! :) I think it makes for a really nice accent colour to the berry/purple tweed. 

This morning I washed the jumper, blocked it lightly (mainly to get rid of the rolling edges) and dried it in the glorious sunshine outside and then I did a little photoshoot. I nearly expired in the heat because, I'm telling you, this sweater is warm!!

It really is quite large. I think you can see just how large on the two pictures below - there'd be room for anther half-person in there at the least! 

It is ever so cozy and comfy though, so  I don't really mind. I think I'll get a lot of wear out of this. While it wasn't quite so comfortable to wear it on a hot day like today, it will be perfect for those winter days when we are out with the family, or even when I'm sitting in my office. 

I'm really happy with the result, especially considering the bodge-job it really was. Since I didn't hit the correct gauge and then nearly ran out of yarn there are a few alterations to the pattern but I'd definitely knit this one again - hopefully that time with the right gauge!!

Alterations:

I cast on 8 stitches less than the smallest size for the body and followed the pattern up to the point when I got the right length, at which point I jumped straight onto the raglan decrease for which, again  I followed the pattern.

For the sleeves I cast on 2 stitches less than required for the smallest size and again followed the pattern. Due to my yarn shortage I didn't do all the increases but stopped at a random (pattern-wise) point and started the raglan decreases instead. I followed those up to the end, at which point I had 11 stitches left on the needles. 

Shared with:

A Year of Projects

WIP update - Ink Flare

Wednesdays are for WIP updates, so I thought I'd report on my progress with Ink Flare.

It's  getting tantalisingly close to completion now - the body is done, and I'm working on the 2nd sleeve right now. I had to alter the sleeves slightly to make a kind of 3/4 length because I'm rapidly running out of yarn. This was a pretty spontaneous decision I took when I was knitting the first sleeve. When I was about half-way done I realised that there was no way I was finishing the sleeve pattern with what I had left of my ball of yarn and since I have a very strict yarn allocation for this (I only had 4 balls of yarn, so it's 1 ball and a bit for each part of the body, and the rest equally divided for both sleeves), so I just cut it short and started the raglan decreases early. Once I finish sleeve #2 I'll probably loosely tack the whole jumper together to see if the sleeves look very odd. If they do I might rip them out and re-do them with a bit of a flare...

Anyway, here it is:

Close-up of the seam allowance. I was a bit confused by this because I had never encountered this technique before, but it does actually help when it comes to sewing the pieces together so I'm glad I went with the pattern on this:

Here she is, loosely sewn together to see what the sleeves look like - I think it might just work out OK...

I shared this WIP with the lovely folks at:

Keep Calm Craft On

Yarn Along 

A Year of Projects

Yarn Along / WIP Wednesday

I've finally found the right project for that unruly no-gauge purple yarn that I tried to force to become the Garter Yoke Cardigan - instead it's going to be come Ink Flare.

I first found this pattern in a knitting-pattern-a-day calendar in 2006 and kept it because its simplicity appealed to me. This would be a good casual jumper, I thought, cosy and good to hang out in. And then, as you do, I put the pattern aside and promptly forgot about it. 

In the spirit of my new-found knitting-from-stash resolution I was looking through my stash of patterns and there it was. I cast on with the purple yarn (which has no name I think - I remember buying it years ago from Texere to make an hourglass with it but guess what - it couldn't get the right gauge. Ha!). Anyway, I cast on and yes, you know it, I couldn't get the correct gauge. It seems like no matter what you do with it, this yarn wants to come out at 11 cm rather than 10 cm. I decided to go with it and just accept that this yarn wants to be different. I cast on for Ink Flare and deliberately picked up fewer stitches. Since it's a slouchy kind of jumper I'm hoping for a slouchy, cozy kind of end product that isn't going to be too huge. 

Since it's on 5.5 needles it knits up really quickly and I've already completed the front. I then decided to do a sleeve next because I wasn't entirely sure I'd have enough yarn for full sleeves (that flared body takes a lot of yarn!) - and as I predicted it was a bit tight, so half-sleeves it is. To be honest, I'm amazed how far this yarn goes.  I only have 4 balls of it and it really doesn't look like much. I only decided to try because I vaguely remembered that I had calculated yardage for the Hourglass so I thought that it couldn't be too far off. It turns out that one part of the body takes about 1 1/2 balls of yarn  - not too bad!

Also linked to Frontier Dreams - KCCO (Keep Calm, Craft On)

Yarn Along - Garter Yoke Cardigan

One of the projects that's been on my list for far too long is the Garter Yoke Cardi from Knit1. It seems like an age since I first spotted this pattern and decided to knit it. 

Well, about a week ago I decided that since I had finally finished Tea Leaves it was finally time to give this a go. I even started a KAL for it - if you're planning on knitting this in the next few months, join us!

And that's how far I have got.

I've been swatching all week but I cannot seem to get the right gauge. I've tried different needle sizes (even down to 3.5 mm when the pattern suggests 4.5 mm) and I've tried different yarns. My first choice was the purple yarn on the right but the gauge is so off for that there really is no chance. Even with 3.5 mm needles I only get the gauge down to 11 cm rather than the required 10 cm and the resulting fabric is really far too dense and stiff for my liking. This yarn has been in my stash for ages for that very reason - it's not a true aran but rather a sort of thin bulky yarn. 

Next on the list, the dark olive coloured yarn on the left. No such luck. The gauge was nearly as far off as with the purple yarn.

I then toyed with the idea of using Rowan Calmer but I didn't like the colour for this project. In my mind that light green wants to be a jumper rather than a cardigan. Why? No idea, but the conviction will not budge so I'm going with it.

I'm currently trying the light beige yarn. Not my ideal choice but I'm determined to make this from stash. The 4.5 mm needles yield a 11 cm swatch, so if I'm going down to 4 mm then perhaps, perhaps... 

I'll keep you updated. 

PS: I'll miss out on {this moment} this week I think, but I'll substitute for {Simple Things Sunday}. :)