The Specs:

-Pattern: Demi, from Rowan Vintage Knits.
-Size Knitted: the smallest one.
-Yarn: Rowan Magpie Tweed Aran (discontinued).
-Skeins: 6 skeins (540g, really) of shade 778.
-Needles: size 8 bamboo, (sizes 6 and 7 when called for).
-Buttons: La Mode style 43254.
-Start to finish: November 9, 2005 – July 5, 2007.
-For: Me!

The Pattern: I love this pattern. I love these cables with all the pretty twisted stitches. I love the bobbles. Love, love, love. The charts were a little tricky in the beginning (there's a lot going on there) but once the pattern was established and I could see what was going on it was smooth sailing.

The Fit: The only real issue I have with this pattern is with the fit of the sleeves. May I present Exhibit A:the pattern photo. As you can see, this pattern was meant to be a bit on the roomy side. Schlumpy-comfy with wideish sleeves and all that.

I made the size suggested for persons of my bustitude (3 to 4 inches ease). My body gauge was spot-on. I knitted, I blocked to measurements, I seamed the thing up and lo and behold...I have a sweater with very snug sleeves. Originally it was a sweater with very snug sleeves and a boxy unflattering body, but thanks to the miracle which is a blocking board, a whole whack of pins and a steam iron, I stretched and steamed the whole thing a few inches longer and now the body is a lot more fitted. This isn’t a bad thing…just different than I was expecting.

The way I see it, there are a few options: a) my biceps are magnificent, b) my gauge was off when I knitted the sleeves, c) the pattern could use a little tweaking, or d) all of the above. Hard to know since the sleeve schematic doesn’t include width measurements.

Mods: Being a tallish person, I knitted a couple extra inches in the sleeves. Another half inch wouldn’t have hurt, but whatever.

Why did it take you so long to knit this? I don’t know.

How’s the Magpie working out? ? It’s a little itchy, actually. I think the solution is to buy a nice wool wash, but I hate the idea of ordering one since I’m Really Picky about smells. Are there any good neutral smelling ones out there?

Why do you look so cranky? You should see the other photos. In my defense I’ll argue that getting into the zone and channeling my inner model was situationally appropriate. Because seriously people, when it’s 90 degrees out and you’re frolicking in the shallows of a public stream wearing a wool sweater…I think that looking committed to the project at hand is imperative.

Final Verdict: Love it! I’m particularly pleased with the buttons.

Hello. We look like cherry lifesavers.

Posted by Elli at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (129)

Two Demi sleeves, blocked and ready for action! All that's left is to knit up that little shoulder-flap-thingee that has the button holes in it (I'm sure it has a name, but it eludes me at the moment). Then we're on to Finishingland!

Hello. It's dark in here.

Something about the shapes and colors in this photo remind me of this fossil fuels stamp. Maybe I should try cabled trilobites next time?

Posted by Elli at 7:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (36)

For any of you out there who doubted me when I said I was going to finish up those stubborn lingering FOs, lookie here!

Oi! Demi sleeves!

It's slow going here in Sleevetown, but I'm plugging away. As usual, I'm working both at the same time so that they come out the same size. I keep reminding myself that if I was only working on one sleeve I'd be twice as far, but somehow this never makes it any easier. I just want to be done!

Though that in itself poses a problem since I have no idea how I'm going to manage a FO photo-session without passing out from sweater-stroke at this time of year. I would totally do it in a cave if it weren't for that pesky lack-of-natural-light problem. Come to think of it, all the cold-in-warm-weather locations I can think of are a bit short on natural light. Your average basement...the ice rink...a meat packing plant...

Good thing I have a bit of knitting to accomplish before I have to decide.

accidental color-combo inspiration from the violas

Posted by Elli at 6:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (32)

There has been regrouping. There has been knitting.

Need a refresher on what’s on the needles over here at Chez UFO? Me too.

brittanies, jump rings, and alpaca cloud

Starting back with the oldest and most languishy of the lot, we have the Flowerbasket Shawl, started sometime in the spring of 2005. Those of you who have been hanging around for a while might realize that I’ve only blogged about this project once (back in January of 2006) when I hauled it out in all its neglected glory to motivate myself to get a move on. As you can probably guess, no moves were made…until last weekend.

I’m currently cruising along with less than two repeats to go before the edging. Somewhere in the past two years lace knitting has got a whole heckofalot easier for me. Time to finish this one up!

Demi: most of a front, all of a back

Ah yes, the lovely Demi. I started her in November of 2005 and the front and back have slowly materialized over time. Problem is that I keep getting distracted by other projects and shunting her off to the sidelines. No more! The goal for Demi is to get her knitted before the weather gets too hot so she’ll be ready to keep me warm when autumn hits. My other secret goal is to get her knitted before Jared and Ashley finish theirs (don’t tell).

Sockiness

Jaywalkers:
I started the Jaywalkers in late December and I’m only up to the gusset on sock number one. Seems I just lost momentum.

Plain Old Socks:
No problem here! This is my current portable and brainless project.

So that’s the lot. Only four projects total (and two pairs of socks hardly count, if you ask me). The biggest problem is those two ancient hangers-on up at the top. Time to pull a yaiAnn and get them all outa here!

p.s. If you’re wondering where that green baby sweater is…it’s FINISHED! FO report soon.

Posted by Elli at 1:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (33)

It's Friday afternoon, I have the rest of the day off and the sun is shining! Time for a progress shot on Demi.

That there would be one completed back and a decent start on a front. Apparently a year-long break was just what I needed to clear my head. Now everything seems to be flowing pretty easily and the cabling is pretty intuitive.

Not much else to report, so I thought I'd show off a couple of the handmade gifts I received recently...

side view

This would be the world's cutest pincushion, made my friend Deb. It's perfectly constructed out of wool felt and she weighted it so it's got a little bit of heft to it. I just want to carry it around with me everywhere I go.

side view

My pop made us this bowl for Christmas. I think it's cherry (though I'm not absolutely sure about that one...correct me if I'm wrong Dad). It's made out of a log that I helped my dad lug into the car back in the days when I was a young thing living at home. I think someone down the road had cut down a tree and he'd talked them into letting him have a chunk.

Isn't it pretty? If you look at the side view you can see a bit of the bookshelf Pop made for our wedding gift too.

Time for a snack now I think. Have a lovely weekend!

Posted by Elli at 4:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (35)

I haven't forgotten about Demi, see? I'm into the armhole shaping.

Things are cruising along slowly but surely...I'm still pretty chained to the chart so I really only work on her at home. My only concern is that she might be knitting up a bit on the narrow side, but I'm trusting that a good blocking* will straighten things out.

By tomorrow I should have some finished Octo-Socks to show you. Aside from that, things have been a bit slow on the knitting front. I'm still regrouping from Christmas (read: doing all the stuff I put off so that I could knit presents). I also spent a good chunk of this weekend shopping and making plans for redoing the living room which, if you remember my knitting spot shot, is currently a bit dismal. This is what I've got so far:

-The background fabric is one of the set of curtains I found this weekend at Urban Outfitters.
-The pictures (still frameless) are the Owl Notecards by Susie Ghahremani from her shop at boygirlparty.com.
-The fabric swatches are for this couch (green for the sofa, hounds tooth for the throw pillows). We're also still trying to figure out if we should get the matching chair or if we should find a different one.

I think that should brighten things up a bit! Now I just have to be patient, as it will take 6 weeks for the sofa to arrive. I guess I'll just have to knit to pass the time...

*in case you're curious, I decided to return the blocking board. The store we ordered it from is being very nice about it so far.

Posted by Elli at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

I managed to sneak in a couple (short) evenings with Demi this week, and all I have to show for it is one repeat. The key to this project is to Follow The Chart. I don't particularly like charts (which is why you aren't going to see much in the way of lace knitting on this blog) so I wasn't paying very close attention when I set up the cables. Needless to say I completely mucked things up. So there was a bit of ripping. Now that I know what to expect, the Chart and I have settled into a relationship based on mutual respect. Things look promising.

There was some discussion among knitalongers about bobble size. I have opted for the abbreviated version (3 stitches rather than the 5 stitches called for in the pattern). I'm backed up by Thunk's expert opinion here. He declared that, as a man, he prefers small bobbles. A penny for scale:

Abe Lincoln likes them too.

Weekend plans? To blast through as much Christmas knitting as humanly possible. And to (perhaps) photograph some of it during daylight hours. Also, we're thinking of going up to Indy to check out the Lord of the Rings exhibit. Has anyone seen this yet?

Have a great weekend!

Posted by Elli at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Last night, feeling the knitalong spirit, I cast on for Demi. Well, I cast on twice. The first time I cast on for the 36" bust (medium) thinking "hmm...I'm would normally make the 32" but I'm a little under gauge so I should go with the 34" just to be safe...and it looks nice with a little bit of ease on the waify model there so I think I'll try the 36 inch." I knit about four rows before noticing something looked a bit odd (as in oddly huge) so I finally bothered to look at the sizing diagram and wouldn't you know that the smallest size (32" bust) actually measures 36"? So I'm making that one. Yes indeed. You'd think by now I would have learned how to read a pattern.

This is as far as I got on the back before bed. I'm just about to start the cables:

All those twisted stitches! Ai-yai!

In other news: progress continues on Thunk's Christmas sweater (can I rename it? I just can't bring myself to type "hidden agenda sweater"). I'm finished with the back and about a third of the way into the front. Lots and lots of k2p2 ribbing. It's a wee bit mind numbing, actually.

I also cast on for Mum's Christmas Laurent but I already have issues with the slip-stitch edging. The Rowan people want me to knit it on size 3 needles but on size 4s it's coming out way tighter than it should (it's actually a little too tight on size 8s as well). If anybody knows someone who has knit this one, send them my way. Otherwise the edging will be knitted on size 9s (bizarre, I know. This all just seems a little too wrong).

Posted by Elli at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)