In which the sweater almost takes shape

So I was good and blocked the cardigan pieces before seaming, but after seaming it seemed a little bit small... Rather than being impatient and immediately moving onto cuffs and hems (well, I did knit the collar, i can't be expected to wait for everything, can I?), I was good and gave the whole shebang a long wet soak and have laid it out to dry, blocked fairly strictly to measurement. This way I figure I should get a decent idea of whether the perceived shrinking was due to my lazy blocking job, or an unexpected spring back in the knit fabric. If I feel that it's going to be too small, at this point I could still pull out the underarm and side seams (the raglan seams should be fine) and add in spacer panels if need be. I really don't want to, but it's better to know now rather than knit the whole damn thing and have to rip out the hems and reknit everything.



I think it's starting to look like a real sweater now! and I can't wait to knit the hems, cuffs, and work in all the last secret details...



There's more left to go than I care to admit, and the blocking has set me behind a few days, but it's The Right Thing to do.

In which our wandering hero returns

Well we made it back from New York in one piece.

I blocked the sweater pieces before I left, so now I have a nice stack of parts waiting to be seamed.



And I indulged in a little bit of yarn whilst abroad. I've got a bit of a design idea for this yarn, so we shall see what happens.



Now to get back to knitting, and time to start looking for a house in Vancouver!

In which Shelter is found

Just a super quick mid-trip update. I could talk about New York, but for now, I will just say that Purl Soho is ADORABLE, and I found and purchased some Shelter yarn! (I plan to go back and get a few more skeins in fact...)

Any knitterly suggestions/requests for/from NYC? I'm here for 5 more nights.

In which bags are finally packed

What's this?



A little tease of a surprise.



I got myself a madelinetosh treat to take on the trip with me :D

In which I present 'Bridgewater'

Well, the big shawl is knit and blocked and done! Loosely based on Jared Flood's Bridgewater, I took the general design (garter square + lace) and substituted a modified version of 'Chinese Lace' from Barbara Walker's 2nd treasury, and a modified wave chart from Eunny Jang's Print O' the Wave pattern. Yarn is Zitron Filigran lace weight (just over 2 skeins, so lots leftover to do something with), knit on my long-suffering Addis. Finished size is just about 48" per side, so... 65" on the diagonal or so?
Enough chitchat, have some photos while I go pack for a trip to New York! (yes, I will visit yarn stores if I can find them)

In which there is blocking! Finally!

I finally picked up some foam mats with which to block the shawl!

So, hopefully blocked photos soon.

In which I am ready to block

Took a hiatus from cabling to finish off the shawl.
It just needs a good wash and block. And I need somewhere to block it...

Lace


Lace


And miles of garter.

In which the cardigan is zipping along still!

I'm not gone, don't worry! I was just moving. And cleaning. And unpacking. And sorting and packing again for an upcoming trip (hello NYC!) and another move soon (hello Vancouver!).

For now, just some photos.

Left front,



And a complete sleeve (even though it's not all in the photo),



And part of another sleeve!



More news later.

In which another panel is finished

Well, right front panel of the cardigan is also done now! I would go and start charting the left front panel, but all my knitting books are boxed up for a few days whilst moving.



And here's a closeup of the raglan shaping.



A few people have asked about a pattern. I won't be writing a full pattern (I have no desire to make the charts available, I've used reams of graph paper to piece mine together, and scaling for sizes is out of the question), but if enough people express an interest in maybe a guideline through my process, I would consider making that available. So, if you're interested, better let me know!

And now I must go work on my thesis a bit more (it's due tomorrow, and then I will be done my degree!)

In which there is so much cabling

So, first off, I've finished the back of the cardigan. I didn't get a decent photo of the whole thing, but here's the Raglan decreases.



And I started the right front (about 8" in so far). I've got information on Flickr about the cables I'm using. The yarn is just good old Cascade 220, and the pattern is based off of a few different general raglan designs, but you know, with more cables. There are some more exciting things tentatively planned for this cardigan, so keep your eyes peeled!