My New Cardi!

On Sunday I finished the off white cardigan I have been working on. The one I had did not like my washer (but found a great home with Kris). The body of the sweater was based on the Landon pattern by Jordana Paige. The trim however is based on A Cardigan for Arwen pattern by Kate Gilbert. All together I think it came out all me. I tried to take pictures and got some interesting results, oops!

I started the body from the neck down like the Landon and when I got to the point where I was suppose to increase for the cable band on the fronts I made the front band seperately. I did a cable cast on and knit from the center back out each direction. The front band and collar are three times wider than the band on the Arwen sweater. When the band was the length I needed I sewed it to the body and continued with all live stitches. The bottom band and the sleeve cuff are the one area I am not sure of but will not be redoing. I had to increase the number of stiches to account for the "gathering" caused by the cables and could have added more to allow for a more A-line silhouette. I decided to keep the bottom as it is because I didn't want to sleeves to be any fuller. I could have gotten away with no increases in the sleeves themselves as they were big enough from the under arm. (It was only 8 stitches.)

The yarn is Sierra by Cascade Yarns and I am once again very happy with thier yarn. I will say again, Cascade is a great value for knitting. It is a 80% Pima Cotton / 20% Merino Wool blend and was perfect for summer knitting. I used about 8 1/2 skeins. The big test will be to see how it wears. My concerns are the weight of the cable bands making it stretch and any pilling. The wool made the yarn lighter then many cottons and I hope better memory. Only time will tell.

A little news

I have not been here for far too long. I just noticed I last posted over a month ago. Hmmm. The last month of school is traditionally very busy and I never seem to get more than a few rows knit on any day. There were weeks in June that I only knit one or two evenings so there is not much new to show. I have finished the body of the cardigan I am working on and have been making progress on the sleeves. I am tried of all the stockinette. I will take some progress pictures as soon as I can. It is pretty and I will get much wear out of it.

One thing to mention is the unexpected car trip we took back to Wisconsin two weeks ago. A very dear friend of ours passed away and so I was able to knit on the drive. 16 hours in the car each way is really not as much knitting as I would have liked. We left at 10 p.m. and drove through the night. My mister and I do well taking turns at the wheel. The time I was not driving I was napping and did so most of the trip. Some knitting was done of course and the body would still not be done had we not gone.

I am still unable to put my thoughts on the loss of Chuck into words. My mister blogged about him. I know that this wonderful man is in heaven. I don't think he is resting in peace, that was not his style. He will be playing hockey and making friends and welcoming new arrivals. God has a plan for the people that Chuck touched and it must include finding happiness in his absence. We will all meet again and I look forward to that day but for now there are still tears when I think of him. Pray for his family and the many friends that the pain of loss will lessen quickly. Ok, maybe I do have some words.