FO: Quasi peplum cardigan

My latest finished object is from an improvised pattern. The yarn is Fibranatura Heaven. This might be a discontinued yarn, as I got it at a deep discount, along with the cream colored batch that I used for this sweater. I wanted to do something with some gathers since that would require more yarn than the normal cardigan and I had a ton of yarn. I didn't want the bulk of a full peplum, so I ended up with this quasi peplum cardi. The borders are seed stitch, and the stitch pattern at the waist is something called a "ripple" stitch that I found in one of my stitch pattern books. I used it way back in time on this skirt. It pulls the fabric in with a tighter gauge and is quite stretchy. I decided to use big snaps for the sweater closure so the buttons are decorative. I used some felt between the snaps and the yarn fabric to keep everything sturdy. I think I would have liked this sweater in a heavier yarn of the same gauge, but I'm pretty happy with it.

Last FO of 2010

Happy New Year to everyone out there in the blogosphere! I hope that 2011 will be great year for you all.

This is my last finished object for 2010. It is a cardigan-stole, more or less. It wears like a stole in the back, but the front feels like a long slouchy cardi. The yarn is Shepherd's Wool from Stonehenge Fiber Mill. I think this yarn is probably one of my favorite worsted weight wool yarns. It's really soft against the skin, comfy to knit with, and reasonably priced. The pattern is self-designed. I wanted to make something like this after finishing the textured cardi, which also wears like a stole on the back. I wanted something shorter and without the inverted V back.

This garment doesn't look that interesting from the back when photographed, but up close and personal, the texture stitching is sort of nice. The color in this back photo is much closer to the actual teal color.

FO: Tuck stitching summer top

I recently finished my self-designed summer top. The main decorative elements are the rows of tuck stitches, which are on only on the front. I wanted the center tuck stitches to provide a little ease for the bust area. I think they ended up placed a little too high, but that turns out not to matter much. In addition to being decorative, the lower tuck stitches compensate for the extra fabric on the sides created by the center tucks. The bottom edge is a narrow folded hem started with a provisional cast-on. I must remind myself to use needles that are 2 sizes smaller for the hem instead of just one size smaller because there is still a little too much flaring. I used my now favorite crochet edging of single crochet followed by reverse single crochet for the sleeves and neckline. The "sleeves" are just gradual increases at the armhole area, with short rows to shape the shoulders a bit.

The yarn is Jaeger Trinity. I think this yarn has long been discontinued, but I love it. I should stockpile some more from ravelry sellers. I knit it in a slightly looser gauge than recommended. The top has a nice texture and drape. It's also substantial enough and provides enough coverage that I don't need to wear another layer under or over it. This might turn out to be one of my favorite warmer weather sweaters.

Green Leafy FO

This is a self-designed cardigan. The yarn is Plymouth Royal Silk Merino. The gauge is 19 stitches/4". I used about 900 yards.
I guess I'm calling it "green leafy" after reading your nice comments from the last entry. It's a standard construction cardi, knit in the round and split at the armholes. The sleeves are knit flat and sewn. I would have preferred to knit the body in flat pieces also, but I was afraid my seam would not look that great at the folded hem and the tuck stripe. I wasn't that picky about the sleeve underside seam, as it's not very visible. Those seams turned out fine after all, so I could have knit the body as pieces.

Here's a summary of the sweater's main features:
- The sleeve and bottom hems are narrow 6-row folded hem, begun with a provisional cast-on.
- A 5-stitch attached I-cord is used to finish the front and neck.
- A tuck strip done by picking purl bumps from five rows below separates the top and bottom sections and also delineates the "cuff".
- The leaf pattern is called a pea pod eyelet pattern in my Super Stitches Knitting book.
- I included some short rows in the front bust section so that the tuck stripe stays level from front to back.
- I found a cute duck button for it.
- It is sized at about zero ease for the body and a little positive ease for the sleeves.

The technical tip that I learned from knitting this is that narrow folded hems and tuck stripes require a smaller needle size to prevent flaring because those stitches tend to stretch and widen the gauge a bit.

FO: Dropped stitch yoke pullover

This is a pullover from my own improvised pattern. The yarn is Knit One Crochet Two Merino Gold. It contains little bits of metallic stuff that's hard to see in the photo. The contrast metallic yarn is Feza Iplik Night.
I wanted to try making a top-down raglan that has a yoke for the top section by doing the same number of increases but spread evenly. The increases are the standard 8 stitches every two rows. The yoke has 3 rows of double YOs which are dropped on the following row. For those rows, I did not do increases, but increased 16 stitches 2 rows later. I dub this pattern Cleopatra (Cleo for short) because of this neck piece. I'm very happy with the sweater and how the yoked turned out.

FO -- tweedy sweater

This is a tweedy pullover from my own improvised pattern. The yarn is Elsebeth Lavold silky tweed, in an olive green. I also used a little bit of pinky-dirty-beige for the trim. The ruched shell from Interweave Knits winter 2007 was the inspiration for the top part. I really liked the gathering, and this pullover uses the same yarn, but at a tighter gauge. The bottom half is knit horizontally. I wanted to try a horizontal knit because I think they drape better and stretch in length more than in width after being worn.

Details: The bottom has short row shaping. It was cast provisionally and three-needle bind off was used to join the last row to the start. Stitches were picked up for the top part and knit in the round until the armholes. The sleeves were cast on using tubular cast-on and knit with cap shaping and then sewn on.
A double strand was used for the crochet edging. The bow is purely decorative.

The neckline came out a little wider and lower than I'd like, especially after a day's wear, but it looks great with a layering piece underneath, so I'm happy with it. I thought about using a wide ribbed border to close up the neckline, but I really like the look of the crochet edging.

A finished object!

This pullover is my own pattern. The yarn is Debbie Bliss cashmerino DK, which is very light yet warm. I’m very happy with this. I got what I set out to achieve, which is a simple top-down raglan t-shirt-like sweater with a little cable detailing.
I put the small cables down the raglan sleeve. I did fuss with a swatch a bit to get the concentric diamond pattern correct.
The neckline finishing is just a few purl rows rolled under. The neckline does have a small amount of scooping in the front, so it was not knit and joined in the round immediately – there were a few rows of castings on in front to get the scoop.
The only thing I would do differently would be to add about 1" more to the length, but I can wear it as is.