Monday, February 16, 2009

Cable-y Goodness

081230 cable beret

This is old news but better late than never. Introducing my new cabled beret! Actually, I finished it at the end of December and have been wearing it ever since. For a long time, I've wanted to knit a slouchy beret and kept looking for the right pattern. On Ravelry, I came across the Cabled Goodness pattern, but I have to say my hat was "inspired by" the written pattern and not an exact copy of what the designer intended. I tried to follow her instructions, but things just didn't work out for me. So, when in doubt, wing it!

First off, I altered the brim circumference to 20 inches for the hat because I didn't think a 17 inch brim would go around my head. I was very wrong about that. As I neared completion, I tried the hat on and it swallowed my head. Way too big. With berets, since there's hardly a crown because you increase right away to make the disk shape, you need the brim to be snug just to stay on. Anyway, after I finished the top of the hat, I cut at stitch an inch or so in to the brim and unravelled all the way to the cast-on. Once I rescued all the stitches back onto the needles, I immediately decreased down to 17 inches, knit the ribbed brim, and bound off. That marked the end. This should have been an easy, straight forward hat to make, but it took longer than expected. It took three tries to figure out the decreases at the top. I must have been way off from the pattern because after initially following the written instructions, it didn't look right at all. Frogged it twice before the third time (the charm?) I made something work out, even though it doesn't have the cool cables snaking all the way to the top. Oh well. If the written pattern works out for you, that's great. I obviously had a hard time for some reason :)

Anyway, I love it now. This is fantastic yarn from Artfibers in San Francisco. Super squishy and luxurious. I made my pilgrimmage to Artfibers back in December before they closed their storefront. Even though I'm from this area, I had never been there before. I had known about it for a long time but took it for granted that it would always be there. At least I had a chance to do their "yarn tasting" and knit with a couple of their yarns before leaving.

081230 cable beret2

Yarn: Ming (50% wool, 50% silk), Artfibers
Needles: size 7 (4.5mm)

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Tweedy Aran Cardi

I love this cardigan! It fits well, especially around the shoulders. I've worked on other set-in sleeve patterns, but those still looked drop-shouldered. All thanks go to Norah Gaughan for a well designed pattern.

090201_03 tweedyarancardi

Pattern: Tweedy Aran Cardigan by Norah Gaughan
Size: ~35 inches around chest
Yarn: Tahki Donegal Tweed, olive green, less than 6 hanks
Needles: size 6 and 8
Knitting time: 2 months start to finish

090201_01 tweedyarancardi

My gauge was a little bit bigger (closer to 4 stitches/inch) than the written gauge. Sticking with my own gauge, I followed the pattern for the smallest size and came out with finished chest size of about 35 inches. This is probably the warmest sweater I have. Now with the weather cooling down again, I can wear it often this season. Yay!