Woop woop!!!

I totally finished the Dark and Stormy Cardigan, as you may know, but just haven’t gotten official photos for you yet.

So I snapped some today (yay for self timer!) and wanted to show you:

dark and stormy cardigan sweater

PATTERN: Dark and Stormy by Thea Colman

YARN: My Glass Blue Superwash Merino Wool in worsted weight… this colorway pops on the scene from time to time, but you can see all the other colors I have in this yarn base here.

NEEDLES: US 4 (3.5 mm) I know, I know, you’re wondering, WHAT? The pattern calls for a size 7!! Well, I actually did three gauge swatches before starting this sweater and I had to use a size 4 to get the required gauge. (I tend to knit more loosely than most).

SIZE: 32 (I’m technically a 34, but I wanted the sweater to fit a bit tighter than the picture shows)

MODIFICATIONS: A lot!

•I changed the ribbing to twisted rib. How does one work twisted rib, you ask? Well, lemme just tell ya, cuz it’s SUPER COOL. It makes a tighter ribbing than normal.

So basically instead of working into the front of your knit stitch like you normally do, you work into the back of the stitch every time you knit. YAY! Works out great.

dark and stormy cardigan

•I shaped the waist as I saw fit, by just trying it on as I went.

•I shaped the arms as needed, by trying on as I went. I wrote down what I did for the first sleeve so I could repeat it in the second sleeve.

•Did some longer ribbing for the sleeves

dark and stormy sweater cardigan pattern

•Opted out of the shawl collar!  I know!! I know!! You’re saying, but … but… you said you were making this pattern just so you could learn to do a proper shawl collar. Golly. By the time I started on the sleeves (before even picking up the stitches to work the ribbing around the front), I was mentally DONE with this project.

dark and stormy cardigan sweater

It took all my willpower, gumption and gusto to plow through the sleeves and work the front ribbing. So no shawl collar. And I like it this way anyways.

I’ll save the whole “learning how to make a proper shawl collar” for some other day…

THOUGHTS: 

Well, well, well.

The time of truth has come.

What do I REALLY think about this sweater?

-Figured out how to do cabling without a cable needle. Google it!! It’s WAY AWESOME and saves you tons of time.

dark and stormy cardigan sweater pattern finished object

-Loved the pattern. I’d say an intermediate knitter could do it… I was a wee bit confused at first, just because there were so many different things to remember… increase here, start  the cabling there, add this, blah blah. But I did it and you could totally do it too… just make sure to remember everything and use stitch markers!

-Will I actually wear this sweater? Ummm… maybe. I’m not sure. I love the design. The color is to “dye” for. HA! The yarn is warm. The fit is great. But I dunno. I don’t know if it’s “me.” I don’t feel “at home” wearing it for some reason. I’ll have to let you if I end up wearing it much. Time will tell!

-Blocking – I chose to just squirt steam on it from an iron, rather than wet blocking. Worked great and is a great way to freshen up hand-knit sweaters! Just lay it out, blast it (don’t actually touch the sweater with your iron) with steam, gently stretch or shape that area and then move onto the next area. Helps to alleviate wrinkles in folded hand-knit sweaters, so definitely a good trick to have “up your sleeve.”

 

STOCKHOLM SCARF:

stockholm-scarf

Next project on the needles is the Stockholm Scarf.

I’ve been eyeing this lil’ baby for awhile now and finally took the plunge.

I’m using some worsted merino wool yarn undyed… it’s a new yarn base I’m testing out before purchasing and thought a good, cream scarf would be super usable come the dark, mind-warping days of our Alaskan winters. He he he.

The pattern confused me as I was trying to turn it into a pattern in the round, instead of flat, like she showed. Here is what I’m doing to knit it in the round, in case you want to as well:

CO 252 (instead of 256 like the pattern says)

Rnd 1: K1, P1, K2, P3

Rnd 2: as written

Rnd 3: K1, P1, K3, P2

Rnd 4: as written

And there ya go! It’ll be poifect.

So I’m off to do some work and will keep you posted on this scarf and my future projects!

Let me know what you think of the sweater!!

I dearly LOVE blog comments so I’ll await your response…

Bye for now… We’ll talk SOON!

XOXOXO

Chandi