Frogged

Posted on September 26, 2016 by Patti_is_knittinginflashes

Frogged: ripping apart a knitted or crocheted item. Rip-it, rip-it, rip-it…ribbit, ribbit, ribbit.

I blogged about this papaya sweater way back in 2011. Cute pattern but not for my body type. I love the yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Papaya Heather.

The frogged yarn might become this Shakespeare Cardigan.

The Vine-Lace vest by Cecily Glowik MacDonald just didn’t do it for me. Knit Picks Shine. Nice soft yarn that doesn’t pill. No plan for the yarn yet.

Next up: the Hippy Chic Cardigan: I loved this sweater (at the time) from Knit It! 2002 and couldn’t get gauge but I started knitting it way, way back before I started blogging. Disaster from the get-go.

Quite frankly I don’t like it now. It does have some waist shaping so it’s not a box and I like the collar. I think it’s the way it fits the model that I don’t like now. Never a fan of the Hi-Low look though I’m sure it’s not that style. It just looks that way. Red Heart Tweed in Charcoal.

This is one way to add yarn to my stash without buying any.

Bacardi Cardi

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Patti_is_knittinginflashes

I knew I wanted to knit this sweater the very first time I laid eyes on it. In 2007.

This sweater was the reason I bought the book: No Sheep for You by Amy Singer.

I loved everything about it. Colors. Style. Over-all look. And the name: Bacardi Cardigan

The original yarn was not available anymore when I decided it was time for me to knit. So I had to find a substitute.

I checked out the various projects on Ravelry to see what yarn other knitters used and narrowed it down to one.

With six different colors of yarn required I knew I had to be budget conscious. My LYS was having a 20% off sale store-wide. Yes! They carried the Cascade Ultra Pima that I wanted to use. I’ve knit with this yarn before and it is divine.

But my plan quickly vanished when they had only one of the six colors I needed.

Yes, the LYS could order the colors I wanted but the policy in the past was that I would have to buy all 12 skeins/hanks/balls per color as they did not want to be stuck with weird colors. It’s a small store and while I understand that policy, (in my opinion) it’s a dumb one. The owner was not available to question the policy so I decided to search throughout the store hoping I could find yet another substitute. I found many yarns that I could use. Not in the right colors for me. Or way out of my price range.

Back to the drawing board.

Wait. Someone used Drops Muskat. After some quick (or not so quick) math, I figured out what amounts I would need and the colors. And it all came in under budget! I wasn’t sure about two of the colors so I bought enough of each to make that decision when I saw them together with the rest of the colors.

I’ve never ordered yarn on-line before as I like to use all my senses, well, maybe not taste, when I buy yarn. It was a giant step for me to go ahead with it.

The yarn was shipped on a Thursday and arrived the following Monday! Fast, fast, fast turnaround.

I love the feel, smell, sight, and sound of the yarn.

I love the colors though if I had seen them in person, I might have chosen a lighter yellow.

What I bought will work for sure.

From the top and going clockwise: Warm Yellow #51, Light Olive #45, Apple Green #53, Light Beighe #61, Yellow #30, Dark Olive #44, and Khaki Green #77. I can’t decide on whether to use the light olive…

…or the bluer khaki green. Color in the photo is off.

Khaki green

Either one will look great. The warm olive will play off the other warm colors. The cooler khaki green will add another dimension.

What’s your opinion?

I have other knitting to do before I can get started on this. In the meantime I might just go ahead with some mindless knitting swatch knitting so when I am ready to go, that part will already be done.

I can’t wait to get started!

Grandson sweater

Posted on February 18, 2014 by Patti_is_knittinginflashes

Other than a couple of pairs of baby booties, I had not knit anything for our grandson, who turned one year old last month.

I knit sweaters for his twin sisters for Christmas 2013 and had enough yarn left over to knit a sweater for him.

I used Elizabeth Zimmerman’s February baby sweater on two needles but tweaked the pattern a bit by increasing the beginning stitch count to 70 stitches.

I also added buttons and button band down the the entire front and ribbing at the cuff. \

Okay, so maybe I just used her outline for the increases at the top of her sweater to make this top-down raglan sleeved sweater.

Is this sweater different enough that I can post the pattern?

Edit: I wrote this in 2025 from my 11-year old notes Click here for pattern. Warning: not tech edited.

The yarn is Louet Gems 100% Merino Wool light/worsted weight, 100 g/175 yd.

I used two entire hanks of the Pewter and part of a hank of the Linen. I knit the sleeves until I ran out of yarn making the ribbing extra long so the cuff can be folded back or not.

The buttons are almost a perfect match. Not that they need to match. I preferred less contrast so the stripes would be stand out more.

I added satin ribbon to the button side to give the button band more stability.

Added the same ribbon to the buttonhole side and did machine buttonholes in the ribbon before hand sewing around each buttonhole to secure the ribbon to the sweater.