Knitting

[mothwing]

I finished my first ever cardigan, the Gyre Cardigan.

Even though I did cave and knit a swatch (I hate swatching. It seems like such a waste of time), I got worried at first and started out with thirty stitches more at the beginning because it seemed too small, and several larger things that I'd knitted turned out far too small. It was very difficult at first to judge whether or not the cardigan would when it was still on the needles.

Turns out that it wouldn't, because you replace the dropped stitches with three new ones in its place, this I added sixty more instead of just thirty, and then, further down, this number grew to 120. And this meant that there was no way this cardigan was going to fit me, since it was comfortably eight sizes too large, so I had to give it away. Luckily, it fits my more statuesque friend perfectly! She doesn't usually wear short-sleeved cardigans, so she's not sure if she'll ever use it, but I'm glad that I didn't have to frog it. If she doesn't take to it, I'm sure it'll live on as a cat blanket somehow.

This is the finished project, unblocked (due to lack of room):


Pattern:


I should be doing several things for work at the moment, instead I'm learning how to do cable projects, starting with, what else, a scarf. It'll go well with my green hat, though.

Comments

[minervas-eule.livejournal.com]

*gg* I knew you would start to try cable-patterns, they are not that difficult, even I can do them, and I would not dare to do the dropping stitches things ;-); the green is a beautiful colour. I always underestimate how much the cable-pattern will shrink the width, so a scarf turned out much smaller than I wanted it for my son.

I hope the cardigan will be worn as such and not serve as a cat-blanket!

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Cables are fun! Though I did mess up the order of the knots in the second round. Will have to pay closer attention. That green was a revelation, it gets all the more vibrant due to the red fibres woven into it. Beautiful contrast!

The cardigan is really not my friends' style, but I'm happy she took it, and since I also really like her cat, that'd be fine, too. I'm glad that I don't have to frog it.

[tetleythesecond]

Oh wow, this is gorgeous! Hope the new owner will wear it and cherish it. How long did it take you to make it?

I admire people who have the patience and diligence to knit intricate patterns. I'm too impatient to do all the counting - although I know that theoretically all it would take is to have a pencil and paper next to me. I do want to do something with drop stitches one day, though. Maybe a summer scarf.

The scarf looks wonderful, too, and the red bits must make it really vibrant.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

It took about two weeks, but I don't know how long in hours. I did work on it every day, though. The sleeves took 2.5 hours each, that much I remember.

Pencil and paper or stitch markers and row counters - if you place the stitch markers strategically it becomes much easier to get an overview of what you're doing, the same goes for row counters.

That wool is amazing. Too bad they had only so little of it.

[kellychambliss.livejournal.com]

Wow, this is gorgeous. Such a rich color and lovely pattern.

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That is my favourite wool, I think. Fun to work with and I never get sick of looking at it.