Half-way done with the Cabled Sweater

Want to finish by March - so this is good, steady progress and puts me right on time to finish when I want. Of course, it'll be sad to finish this just as spring hits and I'll have less occasion to wear it. But such is the curse of the person who knits the current season instead of planning ahead better. :-)

I'm hoping to have Lia sweater finished before the end of the week.

February progress on plans

• Day one - finish a WIP - since three of the projects will take far too long to finish tomorrow - I might seam some of those squares for the ARL for their cats
  one cat blanket about 18" x 18" done


• Get to 50% done on Cabled Gloves - about 2% done


• 12 jellyfish hats (< 2 hours each) - 3 done of the 12


• Felted Knitted project bag - not started yet


• 1 Scarf - changed this to a COWL - done


• 1 12" Blanket Square - not started yet


• 2-hr Crocheted Baby Blanket - changed this to a little Gnome House for my son's stuffie and pet rock. He's been begging me to make something and I think I have a fun twist to do to make it worth my while. - 50% done

Sweater progress

Heavily Cabled sweater is about 40% complete:
I've finished both sleeves and have knit the body in the round for about 6 1/2 inches:



It takes me about 15 minutes for every two rows (cabling only on odd rows). I've had a couple of mistakes where I either tinked back a few stitches or where I dropped stitches down on the next row and reknit a small section. But none of the mistakes have been big... mostly just losing track of which row I was on. And all easily fixed. Have to say it's been an extremely enjoyable knit and not nearly as stressful as I thought it might be.


Lia - Bulky sweater: is about 60% complete



As promised by the designer, this is a super-fast knit. Using bulky yarn and size 9 needles. It doesn't look like it will fit in this shot - because the ribs pull in so tight, but it fits my size 12 body quite well with some negative ease. I have to admit to having gotten nervous quite a bit of the time during the knitting thinking this will never fit. So last night, after I seamed the shoulders I put it on, one more time, for the final check. Sure enough, it's got a flattering fit. I added an extra inch to the length before starting the cabled panel at front/center and I added the optional short-row shaping for the bust which adds a little more length as well as brings up the v-neck to a slightly shorter length. Both of which will make it acceptable for work-wear.

I anticipate getting the Lia sweater finished by next weekend. The Cabled sweater to 50% by the weekend after that. I'll probably set aside the cabled sweater until March so as to work on some of my smaller projects for a little while.

-- January end results; plans for February

This is what I finished:

2 Sweaters (one was 99% done before January)
1 pair of gloves
5 hats
1 12" square for a baby blanket
1 scarf
1 small toy Lion

WIPs:

1 Sweater - Cabled Sweater at 33% done
1 Baby Blanket - about 33% done
1 Hat - about 75% done
1 pair of Gloves - about 5% done

Hibernating Projects:

1 overly large toy Alligator (reserving the right to call it a crocodile if the mouth/teeth don't work out)
Lots of Blanket squares to seam together for something
Master Knitter's Program Level 1 swatches

February Plans:
Day one - finish a WIP - since three of the projects will take far too long to finish tomorrow - I might seam some of those squares for the ARL for their cats


Get to 66% done on Cabled Sweater
Get to 50% done on Cabled Gloves
Lia sweater
12 jellyfish hats (< 2 hours each)
Felted Knitted project bag
1 Scarf
1 12" Blanket Square
2-hr Crocheted Baby Blanket

February Sweater Plans

This will be the fourth sweater in the plans -- a photo from the Ravelry project page:



Lia (Rav link) is a bulky weight sweater with mild cabling and a super quick knit. I'm going to use Berroco Weekend Chunky yarn in Starry Night color way (a very pretty dark blue, not quite navy color).

I'm waiting until the first to cast on; am loving it!

---

On the cabled sweater news front? The ribbing is fun to knit and even though I haven't had a ton of time to work on it, going quite quickly. Last night though, sadly I hit upon a circular needle join failure. It's the first time I've ever had an addi turbo circular needle fail. I was a little shocked because I've had so much success with their needles and it took a few seconds for it to sink in. Thankfully, it's a size 4 which is my most common size to need and I happen to have a second one that was even a) long enough and b) with nothing on the needles... so I quickly picked up the fallen stitches with it; knit off the back end of the needle that had failed and then was able to finish knitting around... so I didn't lose hardly any time.

For the rest of the evening, I kept picking up the broken addi and giving it a dirty look. When I got ready for bed I threw it away in the trashcan; but felt I was missing something... should I have done a ceremonial disposal, I thought? My addi's are my favorite knitting tools. Somehow tossing them into the bin seems inadequate. That needle has worked on so many of my favorite projects.

My original plans were to save up to purchase a set of addi clicks this spring/summer... still debating on buying lace tips or not; now that they are coming out with longer needle lace tips, I was debating those... but now, I'm a little concerned. Are they really worth the extra money like I think they are? Folks say they really like the Knit Picks Options set. I'm not sure I trust them when they say the cables are as flexible as Addi's cables are.... so much to figure out.

-- All Knitting Status

4) As soon as OWL is approved cast on for Cabled Sweater by Bernat - get it to the 40% finished mark and go back and keep working on Pick, Pick, Pick it up Pattern until it's done.Cast-on; sleeves done, cast-on and knit all but a couple of rows of the body... will finish ribbing and set aside until Feb 1.

6) Second portable/simple project - pair of simple, worsted weight gloves - DONE

7) a half-dozen more Brioche Stitch hats (as time permits) - Going to work on this weekend

8) Would also like to find time to do a 12" square for a contribution to a friend's baby blanket. DONE

NEW) Since I finished everything in my target, with the exception of my hats... I've also picked up an old WIP - a baby blanket that is going QUITE SLOW (hence the putting aside). I figure when I get tired of working on hats, I'll work on the blanket. When I get tired of working on the blanket, I'll pick up the hats.

I'm heading to a local Knitting Retreat this weekend, so I should have a TON of knitting/chatting time and both the blanket and the hats are good for chatty knitting time as I can practically do both in my sleep.

Sweater #2 of 12 finished!

The Pick It Up sweater was finished in next to no time (it seemed) once I was done working on the sleeves. But, I guess that's how that pattern would work - since you knit the sleeves first, then stop working in the round - but keep working the same stitches until they meet in the back (which is half of the back). Picking up and working down to the waist from the back of the "shrug" and adding a pretty little cable meant I had some interesting knitting that sped right along. Then there are no fronts "technically" - it's just a garter stitch band around the front.

Unfortunately there aren't very good photos to share. I tried snapping a mirror pic, but it really didn't turn out. And my 8 yr old really doesn't do photos very well.

So here it is on the hanger - front & back:






The color in the progress post is a little more 'true'.

I'm back to work on the cabled sweater and hope to finish the ribbing this week.

Plans are to cast on the next sweater after February First!