and then there was one

A few people left comments which I wanted to address about my Poetry in Stitches cardigan, so I thought I'd share them here since I think that might be interesting to everyone. First though, I want to say thank you so much to everyone for all of the kind words. You really made my day!


Mel said:

And your fit gives me hope too, I'm wanting a more flattering, not-so-boxy fit for my cardigan (different pattern, same shape) when I begin it.

I feared the boxy shape, too, when I first looked at this sweater. If you look carefully at the pattern directions, you'll see that you cast on a certain amount of stitches for the border at the bottom of the body, and then when you start working the main flower pattern, you'll slowly increase stitches until approximately the bustline. To make mine have the best fit, I decided to have the largest part of my cardigan .5 inches larger than my bust, so it wouldn't obliterate my shape, but also wouldn't be too tight. After that, it was a simple manner of calculating gauge, and I was all set. If you make this, you might also want to watch how wide the armholes are getting. I laid my sweater in progress over another one that had armoles I liked, and just measured it that way.


Carla said:

I've been watching (lurking) as this sweater progressed since I absolutely covet Poetry In Stitches, (and have yet to buy the book let alone cast anything on)

If you're thinking about getting the book, do it fast! It's in its last printing and won't be available for much longer. I got mine at Schoolhouse Press for a reasonable price.


Beth S. asked:

Did you go buttonless? I can't see any...

This sweater is actually designed to hang open. Since the borders up the front (what would ordinarily be called "button bands", if we had any) are doubly thick because of the picot edge, it would be a little difficult to incoporate buttonholes. I also think that the designer wanted the spiky edges to really show, and if it buttoned, one side would be obscured. I don't mind it not closing right now, but I think once it gets colder I will attach some hook-and-eyes. That way, both of the spiky edges will be visible, but I'll stay a little warmer.


A friend also mentioned to me that she'd like to know my method with the beads. I followed the book's directions, which were to wait until the very end and then sew them on. This worked, but I can't help feeling that there is probably a better way. I've never knitted with beads before, but it seems to me like it would be much simpler to attach them while one was knitting. I was a little disappointed that the stitches I had to take on the back took away some of the prettiness of the stranding, and the whole process really made my hands ache. I'm thinking I might try doing my own bead pattern on my next colorwork sweater, so I'll try out another beading method and report back on how it went.


I'm now down to just one project, which seems a little sad. I've been slowly working on the Alpine Lace shawl from Victorian Knits Today. Unfortunately, I only have about one hour of knitting time a week, so it really is moving at a crawl. Clearly no time to photograph during daylight hours, either.

I'm nearly halfway done. I'm already worrying about how I'm going to block this. I usually use a spare trundle bed (I pin it on the lower mattress, then push it in so the cat can't sit on it), but I'm a little worried that it might turn out to be too long. It's so hard to tell before blocking.

all's well that ends well

Those beads did get sewn on, after all.

This is, of course, the "bridal cardigan" from Poetry in Stitches, although I've just come to think of it as my purple cardigan. The only major change I made was in my yarn. I used Morehouse Merino Farm's laceweight in three different colors; one skein of the dark blue, five skeins of the light blue, and six skeins of the purple. I also used 1.5 tubes of clear seed beads and I was very happy to discover the "big eye" needle, which will stretch to fit a strand of yarn, and then shrink to allow the bead to easily pass over.

What can I say except I'll never take it off?

last gasp

It was hemmed, seamed, and steamed. And then I remembered that there were supposed to be beads on the borders. Stay tuned...