FO: Puff-Sleeved Cardigan

Another sweater done! My finish goal date for my Puff-Sleeved Feminine Cardigan was tomorrow, October 31st. I wasn't sure if I was going to have it done in time for my trip to Indiana this weekend. Alas, it is! A good friend told me a couple of weeks ago when I first blogged the beginnings of this sweater that I could definitely have it done in two weeks. I know I can knit fast, but at the time I just wasn't sure. The actual knitting was done Monday and the buttons were just added.

Pattern: Puff-Sleeve Feminine Cardigan, Fitted Knits
Yarn: Knit Picks Merino Style; Colorway - Pine (8.25 skeins)
Needles: Knit Picks Options Size 5
Started: October 10th
Finished: October 27th (With Buttons - Oct. 30th)

I am so thrilled to have another successful sweater! It really is relieving when it fits the way it's suppose to fit. I love the yarn color and I can understand why this yarn was chosen in the book to make this sweater. The Merino Style knits up to be a fabulous fabric and makes the sweater feel like there is substance to it. I think I could definitely wear this through the winter with a nice shirt underneath.

I had a hard time picking out buttons for it. I originally wanted to use a clear button but couldn't find any in the 2 stores I visited. I ended up with a creamy pearl button. It doesn't yell, "BUTTONS!" down the front of my chest which is always nice.

I made no modifications to the pattern. I did however come across a mistake in the Lace Chart for the Peplum. On Row 17 the K3tog should be a K2tog. This is the only way to get the pattern to work correctly. I don't know what others have done when they encountered this, but there isn't any errata for the chart and I know someone who heard back from the designer stating there wasn't an error.

All in all I just can't wait to wear my sweater tomorrow!

Cardi Time

A few weeks ago when I was "Fall" cleaning my apartment, I came across a box that had some yarn in it. After a moment or two of wondering what the heck it was for, I remembered I had purchased this yarn back in March. Of course, I needed to look at old posts to figure out what I was suppose to knit with the yarn.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to use this yarn for that particular pattern anymore. I went to Ravelry and decided to see what others were knitting with this Knit Pick Merino Style yarn. Lo' and behold I noticed many were knitting the Puff-Sleeved Feminine Cardigan from Fitted Knits. This is a sweater my sister had knitted months ago and I knew I eventually wanted to knit this for myself. I thought at the time I wanted to use a yarn that had a "sheen" or "silkiness" to it. My mind was quickly changed when sis didn't like the outcome of the bamboo yarn she used for hers.

Last Friday I decided to cast on for my own cardi using the yarn that was hiding from me for months in a box under a table in front of my very own eyes. It really is amazing what you can find when you really clean things out.

So this is what I got for a few days knitting. I had to go down to a size 5 needle to get gauge. I am about 88 stitch increases from getting to the point where I put the sleeve stitches on waste yarn (11 more rows to go). At this point I will have 410 stitches on the needles. I feel like it is taking forever, but I guess when you think about how I only started it Friday night and have gotten to where I am now, it's not going too bad.

Quick update on my Top-Down Raglan Cardi - one sleeve done, one to go, have to purchase and sew on 9 black buttons.