I finished this sweater a week and a half ago, but was only just now able to photograph it.

I’m pretty pleased with the way it turned out.  I had to fudge the pattern numbers, as the smallest size yielded a 42 1/2″ chest, and Joey wanted a pretty slim fit.  I cast on 130 stitches with the goal of a 36″ chest allowing for a bit of negative ease in order to achieve the slim fit.

This was a great, quick-to-knit pattern that was very easy to follow.  For the yarn, I chose Cascade 109 Tweed in a bright turquoise color.  I think it’s a cool, funky cardigan that will keep Joey warm this winter.

The other day, Joey emailed me a link to this similar sweater by Ben Sherman.  He said the one I made is “waaaayyy better.”

I completely agree!

Pattern: Smokin’ by Jared Flood of BrooklynTweed

Yarn: Cascade 109 Tweed LE

Needles: US 10 1/2″ Knitpicks Harmonys

Started: May 09

Finished: September 09

So here’s my progress on Joey’s Smokin’ Cardigan:

(that tiny white thread running across is a dental-floss lifeline!)
I’ve joined the sleeves and am now doing a few decreases, and will move on to doing my first saddle-shoulder! (I should probably read up on how they are actually constructed so I won’t be confused…)

Once I finish off the shoulders, I’ll pick up those stitches that are being held by the white waste yarn and knit a garter-stitch button band that forms a shawl-collar.  I can’t wait to finish this one!

I just love it when I see someone knitting in public, especially when I spot them knitting on the subway. Funnily enough, I’m usually too embarassed to knit on the train. Every time I try it, I always look up to see about five different people watching me. I dont know why this should bother me, but as a lifelong-shy-person I typically avoid doing things that draw attention to myself.
The other day, I sat down on the train and right across from me was this lady, knitting a beautiful moss-stitch and cabled garment.

It looked like she was knitting two fronts of a sweater simultaneously on straight needles. I was so excited by this knit-spotting that I kinneared her. (I kept her face out of the pic cause I wouldn’t want random strangers taking pics of me and posting them online.) Seeing her knitting on the train made my day.
Then yesterday, Joey emailed me this:

a guy knitting on the train! Even better knit-spotting! I’m not sure what he’s knitting here, but I give him props for taking advantage of good knitting time and not worrying about what other people think.
I was inspired by these knitters and decided I would give knitting on the train another go. I knitted on the train on my way home from work, and I knitted on my way to work the very next day. Both times, I looked up to find people watching me, but I kept going. I mean, I watch the people I see knitting on the train- so maybe, like me, the watchers are genuinely interested in what I’m making. And maybe, just maybe, another knitter who is too shy to knit on the train will see me knitting and be inspired to give it a go.

Another good thing that comes from knitting on the train? Visible progress! I have two completed sleeves now:

Whoo! This is going to start looking like an actual cardigan soon!

On Monday, I had surgery to have my gallbladder taken out. I was looking forward to a week of laying in bed, watching good movies with my husband, and lots of knitting time. What really happened was a week of more-pain-than-I-ever-imagined, complete inability to sit up, lay down, move my torso, or do anything on my own, and lots of delirious grogginess from the pain medication. I was able to eek out a bit of knitting yesterday, and even more today, so I can tell I am finally on the mend. Phew! Here’s my sleeve progress:

Even though its going pretty quickly due to the big yarn and needles, I wish it were going faster. I’m ready to have this baby finished and get some modeled shots. I still have a cardigan to knit for myself before winter gets here. And I was eyeing some noro online today for a kerchief/shawlette….

A few days ago, I was knitting along on the body of Joey’s Smokin’ cardigan and I asked if I could have him ‘try it on’. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was almost up to the underarms already! I have been ignoring the heck out of my knitting lately, but thanks to the gloriousness of chunky yarn, I’m ready to start the sleeves of this thing. (Then I’ll join them to the body and work the saddle-shoulder shaping.)

I actually went to start the sleeves the same day as I finished the body, but discovered that I don’t own any 10.5 dpns. This came as quite a surprise, cause I thought I owned about two pairs of any and every needle you could imagine. I was still riding high from discovering I was much further along than I had imagined so I decided to cast on a sleeve and work it magic-loop, since I do have two (or three) pairs of 10.5 circulars.

I have to say, I really don’t enjoy magic-looping. I get the impression that a lot of people think it is way easier and less fiddly than dpns, but I feel the exact opposite. This is the second time I’ve started a project using magic-loop and decided to switch back to good ‘ol dpns. I stopped by my lys after work and picked up a set of dpns and I plan to attack the first sleeve tonight. I’m curious to know; which way do you prefer to knit in the round?

Henry has no preference for magic loop vs dpns

I’m re-entering the blogosphere after an unintentional break. I don’t really know what happened, I just got really busy and had nothing exciting to blog about.
It’s been slow-going on the knitting front, but I cast on for the Smokin cardigan for Joey and I’m really enjoying the bright turquoise.

I really haven’t made progress in my knitting over the past few weeks, mainly cause this guy likes to sit right on my lap and bonk my knitting out of the way with his rather large nose. Then we proceed to snuggle. He always wins.

So I got an email that the color of yarn I ordered for Joey’s Smokin’ Cardigan is out of stock- so I signed onto Google Chat while he was at his recording studio internship to see what color he liked best:

me: can you go to this page and tell me what color you want? your yarn color was out [Here's a link in case you want to play along]

Joey: Okay lets play a game. you tell me which color you like and we’ll see if we picked the same color.

me: sage is my number 1 choice wine is number 2

Joey: Yeah lets go with sage

me: was that your first?

Joey: Nah girl. I was playing you fool.
For some reason when I look at the small images of the color I can’t decide which one would work best.

me: yeah… me either.

Joey: Cause if I picked my favorite color it might look stupid as a sweater
Maybe we should do bright red cause I like that a lot.
Like the color of my guitar.

me: well, there’s only the one bright red on the upper right hand corner, is that the one? “Red”

Joey: Maybe a little too pinkish
Lets go with your original instinct.

me: but will that be too boring? you could prolly rock “persimmon”

Joey: maybe I could rock Persimmon.

me: what about turquoise? that might be uber hip

Joey: Hey I’m down. You know I’ll wear anything.
I need a good producers sweater.

me: Music producers wear turquoise cardigans?

Joey: This one might

me: You gotta make the final decision. I can’t be held fully responsible for you walking around rocking a turquoise cardigan…

Joey: haha. I really don’t know. Go with your gut.

me: okay, then it’s gonna be turquoise. speak now or forever wear your bright-ass turquoise sweater.

Joey: Lets do it.

me: lets do it

So what do you do when you haven’t bought yarn in a looooong time and someone sends you a knitpicks gift card?
You don’t take into consideration that you’re still slogging away on a sweater that you cast on for two years ago, and you don’t take into consideration that you’ve promised to knit your sweetie a cardigan. Instead, you logon immediately and buy a whole sweater’s worth of yarn for yourself and then sit and count down the days until it arrives in your mailbox, itching to cast on.
This, my friends is precisely why you should not put yourself on an involuntary and prolonged yarn diet. You end up making rash, selfish decisions while completely ignoring your lack of knitting speed, or the “I swear I’ll knit you a cardigan” promises that you’ve made.
But I can’t let myself cast on for that cardigan until I have finished knitting Thermal. I was zooming away at the sleeve last night and then something went horribly wrong. It was right there, at the intersection of two DPNs, at the end of the round: one of my stitches a few rows down looked loose and saggy and I half-convinced myself that I’d dropped a stitch. (It was hard to tell exactly what was going on cause there were some increases thrown in, and the waffle pattern….) So I laddered down and picked back up the same stitches, finally convinced that I hadn’t dropped a stitch after all, that it had just been wonky. Two rounds later, that same area was all of a sudden all bunched up and tight on my needles. Something was amiss, and I had no power to stop it. So I had to tink back about six rounds. By then I was so exhausted and aggravated that I just put it down for the night and poured a glass of wine. I still have no idea what happened or how it ended up that way.

Underside of sleeve. I like how the increases make a V in the waffle ridges.

I have to admit, I’ve never understood why people get bummed out in February. I’ve always had a couple of good reasons to like it: Valentine’s Day, and my Birthday.
But now that I’m living in a much more northern locale, I can completely understand how it can be a bummer of a month. Its dark outside when I’m leaving work, its dark outside when I’m waking up for work. And even when it is sunny and bright outside, it’s frosty as hell and sometimes pretty miserable to bear. Add in the constant worry about “the economy,” and the fact that we are living in a really expensive city on one salary right now…. well, bummer.
I don’t want to be bummed out, so I’m trying to focus on the good stuff I’ve been enjoying lately:

Deadwood on DVD
Coraline by Neil Gaiman

The insanely adorable acts committed on a daily basis by Henry:

Maxxin and Relaxxin by the Heater

Hanging Out on the Stairs with Joey

And knitting slowly and leisurely on the first sleeve of Thermal: