Not-so-Cowl Neck Sweater

I finished another sweater using the Too-Cute Cowl Neck pattern, but this time, I left out the cowl. I wish I could get a better picture, but unfortunately, it doesn't look any better on me, since I'm not quite the right shape for a fitted sweater right now, lol!

I modified the neckline to make it quite low with a scooped/oval neck. With all the variegated colors, I thought this type of sweater would look nicer with an off-white camisole peeking through at the top. Please ignore the inane expression on my face - taking a picture of myself is not one of my better skills. Ignore my messy hair, too. In fact, just try to mentally block my image from the photograph. I did try to photoshop myself out of the picture, but I thought that putting a photograph of just my (ahem) upper anatomy would be construed as slightly weird.

Heaven knows, I'd hate for anyone to think I'm weird. I'm a perfectly normal person, as I'm sure you're aware . . .

Specifications:
Pattern: Too Cute Cowl Neck from Better Homes and Garden's Hip Knits
Yarn: Plymouth Encore Colorspun Worsted Weight
Size: Large
Needles: US size 7, 9, and 11

Too-Cute Cowl Neck - Done!

I wasn't sure how well I'd like this pullover when I first started it, but I'm starting to fall madly in love with it now. First of all, I just love the way the shaping turned out right and the way the sleeves "bell out" right around the cuff. It's too cute! The sleeves fit into the shoulder really well, too, which you can't really tell in the photograph, so you'll just have to accept my ever-so-slightly biased opinion. The top of the sleeve has this sort of square-ish shape, so that the drape around the shoulder falls perfectly. Sigh, pure bliss!

The cowl-neck took me a bit of fiddling to get right, but I think it looks much better now. I tried it on, and although the pullover looks funny on my bulging pregnant shape, the cowl-neck looks pretty decent, I think.

Finally, I gave it a wash in the washing machine on a gentle cycle, and it came out looking even nicer and fluffier. I think this will be one of my favorite pullovers I've ever knit.

I can't believe I'm actually happy with something I've knit! VICTORY!

Specifications:
Pattern: Too Cute Cowl Neck from Better Homes and Garden's Hip Knits
Yarn: Plymouth Encore Colorspun Worsted Weight
Size: Medium
Needles: US size 7, 9, and 11

I've had so much fun knitting this pattern that I've already cast on for another one with some different colored yarn, although it's the same brand. I think I like the colorway for this yarn better than the last. I think I'm more partial to blues, but that could be because I'm expecting a boy. (It's weird, I know, but I tend to crave colors that co-ordinate with the sex of my baby. When I was pregnant with Banna-Boo, I wore so much pink that I didn't have anything else in my closet.)

The yarn started pooling in some odd places, however, so I had to rip out a couple of inches and start over. The other cowl-neck pooled too, but I don't think it was as noticeable. I have enough problems keeping clean, so I figured having brown spots of pooling yarn wouldn't help my image any.

To fix the problem, I just knit every other row from a different skein of yarn until the pooling problem stopped. It really only did that around the waist shaping part, so once I get past that, I'll be able to go back to knitting with one skein at a time.

Fun fun fun!

(I don't want to hear about the other projects that I've started. I'm working on them. Sort of. Here and there. I haven't forgotten them, I promise! I'm just following the dictates of my latest knitting infatuation!)

Cowl or Scowl?

I've been busily working away on one of my starter-itis WiP's (which my friend Danielle hilariously entitles "WiP-a-liscious"). It's the Too-Cute Cowl Neck from a Better Homes and Gardens knitting book that I got from the library.

I'm using some Plymouth Encore yarn from my stash, and I'm not entirely sure if I'm happy with the way this variegated yarn is turning out. The color in this picture here is pretty accurate.

I've knitted the entire back and the front and sewn them together, as well as knitted the cowl. I can't decide on the cowl neck. I know I bound off too tightly, so hopefully if I do it again with a looser stitch, it'll fall more naturally. Hmm . . .

Of course, I can't seem to leave things well enough alone, so I made a few modifications like lengthening and adding a cable up the front center.

I'm actually very pleased with the center cable. I wasn't sure if a cable would show up with this variegated yarn, but I was able to find a simple enough braid that seems to "pop" quite nicely.

I've done quite a lot of frogging with this pattern, mostly because 1) my math didn't quite work out as I had envisioned (no surprise there!) or 2) because the original cable I chose didn't look quite right.

The cable pulled the front part of the pullover a little smaller, so I'm really hoping blocking will help. Anyone know if 25% wool 75% acrylic will block?

Now just to do the sleeves!

So, honest opinions, please. What do you think of this pullover? (You won't hurt my feelings, as I'm completely on the fence with this). Should I just frog the whole thing and give it up? Handyman says it looks like a camouflaged pullover, but then, he's never been good with colors or fashion, so I'm not relying on his input all that much.

Starter-itis and Stash-bustin'

Those of you knitters and crafters who read this blog probably need no explanation, but for those of you who are (sadly) immune to this wonderful disease, "Starter-itis" is the insatiable urge to begin at least twenty new projects, regardless of sense or reason.

I think the spring fever bug has hit me hard with this strain of starter-itis, because I've been craving something (well, several somethings) to knit. (Why can't I have the cleaning bug? WHY?!)

Thankfully, my ploy of shaming my family into giving me measurements seems to have worked, because they're starting to trickle in. I don't have all of them yet, but at least there's enough information that I feel safe getting started on some new stuff. Want to see what I've cast on?

This is actually a pattern I downloaded (yes, *gasp* I actually paid money for a pattern!) from Knit and Tonic called "Something Red", which I'm doing in blue here, and I like the look of it so much, I'm planning to knit several versions this year. We shall see how far I progress . . .

Here's the yarn I chose. It's something from my stash (hooray, stash busting!), and not exactly what I had in mind when I downloaded the pattern, although I'm starting to like it more and more as I see it knit up.

It's some JoAnn's Sensations Ribbon yarn that has a bit of a glittery/chenille look once knitted, and I think it's rather cool. It's nice and soft, too, but a bit hard to work with, since there's no "give" to the ribbon. Although I love working on this project, I can see I'll have to pace myself or I'm going to hurt my wrists again.

This is another version of the same "Something Red" cardigan (which I am cleverly entitling, "Something White". I know, it's inspired, but what can I say?) that I've cast on with some 100% cotton recycled yarn (also from my stash). I haven't gotten much done, but I've gotten it started and done a gauge swatch already, so I feel safe continuing whenever I get the urge to switch from the "Something Blue" version. The cotton is wonderfully soft and non-splitty (something hard to find with recycled cotton sweaters), but it too has no "give", so again, I'll have to pace myself.

Next up on the queue is this little beauty called "Too-Cute Cowl Neck" from Hip Knits. I have some Plymouth Encore yarn that I bought awhile ago when my LYS was closing, and I thought it would look very nice with this pattern. Thankfully, it's nice and easy to work with, so this will be my go-to project when the other sweaters are starting to cramp my wrists.

Finally on the needles is a Booga Bag that I'm knitting with some Patons SWS (also from my stash). I'm increasing the bag size a little bit, since I have four skeins (instead of the prescribed three). I just love the bright cheery colors and the sheen of this yarn, which is one of my favorites to work with. I've never tried felting anything before (at least on purpose), so this should be fun. My friend Nikki decided to start knitting one of these little beautys, and I couldn't resist making one, too. (Oh, click on over to her blog and leave a little comment - she just opened it!)

Well, that's it for my list (at least for now). I think the only reason why I've stopped is that I don't have any more spare needles.