FO: Penelope Cardigan

After 3 weeks of waiting on buttons, my sweater is finally finished!

This is the Penelope Cardigan by Andi Satterlund. The pattern was just released in September, and I received the pattern as a prize in the Nosegay Vest Knit Along (which was seriously so nice!). Andi actually made the sweater for herself a year or so ago, and I was hoping she would release it as a pattern so I was quite excited when the knit along was announced. 

I made this entirely of stashed yarns. The coral is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran and the blue is Cascade 220 Superwash Paints in Sapphire Seas. I grabbed both of these years ago for a sweet deal and just sat on them until a good project came along. I was worried about the odd color combo at first, but now that it's finished I absolutely love it. The colors are right up my alley and I think it will be a fun addition to my wardrobe.

The sweater is actually incredibly simple - it's all stockinette stitch, the only thing that makes it different is the color blocked section which is actually only 2 rows of stranding. Because of the simple construction and me having about a week where I just couldn't make myself do anything but knit, I finished all the knitting in just over 3 weeks. 

I even like the sweater opened up, which is realistically how I will wear it. I deliberated for a while if I would stick with the pattern or make the sleeves longer. In the end, I decided to just try the 3/4 length. I'm hoping that the sleeves not being full length will keep me just that little bit cooler so I'm able to wear this more often than some of my other wool cardis. The last few of Andi's patterns I've made up, I've combined sizes in an effort to custom fit me, but they ended up being a little too loose in the waist. This time, I decided to just knit a straight size Large and see how it worked out, and I'm really happy with the fit. The stretch of the wool really helped the fit, and it doesn't look too tight either - perfect. The only change I made was to lengthen the waist section of the sweater by 3" to accommodate my long torso.

Obligatory mannequin shot. You can see the subtle color variation in the blue yarn better in these photos too. It's hand painted yarn, so it has several tones of blue and a few purple as well. I'm not generally a big fan of variegated yarns, but when it's this subtle I think it's a really nice effect. Also, because of the color variation, the buttons I found were absolutely perfect. The buttons are glass with metal shanks. The glass is an iridescent bluey purple and they remind me of a garden gazing ball. The buttons help pick up the purple in the yarn, plus they make the coral pop. I really can't believe how good they look, and even though I complained heavily about having to wait so long to get the last 3 (seriously, it took the store 5 weeks to restock them and I checked every week) they were definitely worth the wait.

In these close ups of the sweater back you can see my slight mistake. This was my first time doing stranded color work and the back was the first piece of the pattern. You can see little blue spots in the center of my little coral scallops - this is where I tried to trap the floats (which are the strands of yarn you are not using) so that they weren't so long. I've always read that you just periodically overlap the working yarn, but I was worried I would pull it too tight (as is my usual trouble) and I ended up with the opposite problem. I should've pulled the coral stitches a little tighter when I trapped the float, but since they are a little loose you can see a little blue there. It's not awful looking and I improved when I got to the front so I'm not that broken up about it. I also stabilized the button bands with petersham ribbon (like I always do). The button bands still pull slightly just since the coral yarn is more stretchy than usual, but it's much better than it would've been without, that's for sure.

So there you have it - my Penelope cardigan :) I'm really excited for the weather to cool off a bit so I can actually wear it out in the wild. Thanks, Andi, for such a cute pattern and the fun knit along!

Summary:
Yarn: 3.89 skeins Cascade 220 Superwash Paints in Sapphire Seas - $19.83, 1.7 skeins Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in Coral - $9.60
Pattern: Penelope Cardigan - Free (Thanks, Andi!)
Notions: 11 buttons (La Petite #573) - $7.00, 50" of 1" wide Petersham ribbon in Creamsicle - $3.00
Time: 3 weeks (plus waiting for buttons - ugh!)
Total Cost: $39.43

WIP Wednesday: Waiting and Mysteries...

Things on my Penelope Sweater have reached a slight stand still. I finished the knitting over a week ago, blocked it last week, then didn't get to sew the ribbon on the button bands until the last 2 nights. The crazy thing is that all my sweater lacks from being completely finished is 3 buttons...

I bought these buttons (La Petite #573 - good grief I've said that number so much I've committed it to memory) at Hancock Fabrics a month ago. They were just so perfect for this sweater, I had to buy them even though they only had 3 cards of them in stock. "No worries!" I thought, "They will certainly restock them again soon." Guys, I've checked back every Monday for the past month (Monday is the only time I am anywhere near the store and it is an hour away from my house) and they STILL have not restocked this button. Every time I ask about it, I just am told that they get shipments of buttons all the time but the store has no idea what is coming until it gets there. I've checked every other store around that sells buttons, and no one else seems to carry La Petite brand. I've even looked online, but by the time I buy the buttons and pay the shipping I would be paying 4 times as much on the one card of buttons than I paid for the other two combined. Thus, I wait ...

I don't like having to wait so long (obviously, ha ha), but it's worth it on these particular buttons. I mean, could these be any prettier with this sweater? It's like these were made to go with my blue yarn. So, hopefully I get this completely finished soon, but until then it is certainly wearable. I've still got til the end of this month for the knit along anyway :)

I started checking all of my Ravelry groups a few days ago (after a long absence in some), and I learned that I was missing out on a Mystery Knit Along! What?! It's my favorite one of the year too, so I immediately purchased the pattern and started catch up knitting. It's the Fuzzy Mitten Mystery Knit Along and 4 clues (out of 6) have already been released. The first 3 clues are all to make the animal's outfit, which was just fine but since 4 clues were available and the 4th started the animal itself, I decide to just start with the 4th and go from there. 

These are the legs, the front and back of the body (black front, brown back), and the beginning of a trouser leg. The outfit is a karate gi (which is what the outfit they wear is called, and yes I had to look that up, lol), so I'm thinking of East Asian animals that this little guy could be. I have a few ideas (one of the earliest guesses by another Raveler is the one I think is correct), but I'm just along for the ride and hoping I can catch up with getting his outfit made. The next two clues will be released the next two Fridays and I'm so excited!

So that's what's going on in these parts. I just made a huge yarn and fabric score at a thrift shop last week, so my brain is reeling with future sewing plans. I'm starting my holiday gift making, but hopefully I can squeeze a few makes for myself in as well. To see what others are working on, head over to Gracey's Goodies and look around :)

WIP Wednesday: Almost There ...

Now that my Halloween costume is all finished and in hand, I decided to devote some time to my Penelope Sweater this weekend. I managed to finished the first sleeve and the short row cap on the second sleeve this past Sunday, and I picked it back up last night after a really long and tiring day at work. I pushed through and finished the knitting last night! 

I really like how this sweater turned out :) At first I was contemplating making the sleeves full length and echoing the scallop pattern at the sleeve cuffs, but in the end I figured I'd try the 3/4 sleeves and just keep it simple. I stayed up a bit late to finish this, so I didn't manage to weave in the ends and get it blocked yet - I hope to do this tonight. I already have ribbon for the button band, and I'm still short 3 buttons, but I will just put it all together this week in anticipation of the full amount of needed buttons. I really love the yarns I used, which leaves me torn between wishing I had used it sooner and being glad that I didn't because I love how it worked for this project. I love the subtle variegation in the blue yarn (Cascade 220 Superwash Paints in Sapphire Seas) and the coral (Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran) is just so soft and pretty. I've very excited to see how this yarn blooms after blocking and how it looks when everything is pinned out evenly.

In literary news, I am in full blown mystery mode. It started with The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith, which I finished last Thursday and liked so much I immediately requested the second in the series from the library. In the interim, I decided to read Jekyll and Hyde which has been on my list for years. This was a super quick read, so I searched for another and decided on The Secret History by Donna Tartt (which was amazing). I just finished that last night and the next Robert Galbraith came available for checkout, so I just started it today. I'm starting to think I have a problem, lol. I guess I'm really in the Halloween mood with these creepy mysteries.

I'm sure just this one project seems a bit boring, but I'm pretty excited about it :) If you'd like to see other people's projects, head over to Gracey's Goodies to see what others are making.

WIP Wednesday: Halloween Prep and Progress

I've been busy with so many other things this past week - lots of sewing (and various issues with fitting and whatnot that have made me so stinkin' mad), lots of cleaning and home repairs, and lots of going to bed early and waking up really early to teach early morning seminary at my church (thankfully I'm just substituting for the week - I'm so tired!). It seems that I spoke too soon about how much knitting I got done, because I've now negated the speed with not doing anything on my Penelope for a full week. Ah well. At least I made the sleeve cap and got started on the straight knitting and decreases. At least that's visible progress. Come November, I hope to have more knitting time. Halloween is always busy for me. One of the things that took some of my knitting time is this next project:

Can you guess what it is yet? Probably not, lol. It's Bing Bong from Inside Out! I'm making him to go with my Halloween costume (I'm setting up a whole Inside Out themed trunk for Trunk or Treat this weekend at church - I will get pictures!), and I really need to kick some butt on making him up. Above you see his head and body along with his ears and half of his nose. At least the body is done since that's the biggest piece. I have all the yarns picked out from my stash for his parts, I've just got to have more crocheting time! So frustrating. I'm hoping that I can finish him tomorrow along with my dress so I don't have to stress about my costume at the last second.

I also did manage to finish my Put A Cat On It skirt, but I have to get pictures to post it. Hopefully I can accomplish that soon! Sigh. If only I had more time and didn't need so much sleep.

That's it for me this week :) Check out Gracey's Goodies to see what others are making up too!

WIP Wednesday: Penelope-ing and Cat Sewing

I've been sailing right along with my knitting this past week. I had kind of an off week overall and was feeling really down for no good reason. Meaning I could barely force myself to do anything at all once I got home from work. Thankfully, knitting came to my rescue :) I didn't feel like do anything but knitting, so even though nothing got done around my house for a week I do have some crazy sweater progress to show for my time!

I finished the entire body of the sweater this past Sunday! I just started this sweater on October 1st to go with the knit along, and this is the most progress I've ever made on a sweater in that period of time. I think part of that speed is due to the incredibly simple nature of this sweater - it's all stockinette! I decided to just follow the size large this time and I'm really happy with the fit in the body. I did make the sweater about 4 inches longer than the pattern calls for, but I have a long torso so this still makes it hit me at the hip. 

Sunday night I realized that I had no idea what buttons I would use for this sweater, and the time for buttons is fast approaching so I scoured my stash and came up with nothing whatsoever that would even remotely work. Thankfully Hancock Fabrics had a big Columbus day sale and Monday was the last day. They had all their buttons 50% off, so I went a bit crazy and picked up 4 possibilities.

The bad part of my button excursion - they didn't have enough of the ones I like best. The blue iridescent ones on the top are far and away my favorites (they look like they were made to go with the blue yarn, don't they?!), and they only had 8 buttons in the store when I need 11. I bought them anyway in hopes that I can find another card of them. Just in case I can't get more, I bought the other sets as back ups. I think my next favorite set is the pink and yellow speckled ones, then the clear-ish iridescent ones. I swear my button stash grows by leaps and bounds with each finished sweater. Anyone else have this problem?

In sewing news, I did manage to get a project to almost completion before my funk fully kicked in. I made my first ever circle skirt (which has absolutely no hanger appeal whatsoever, lol) with this Gertie design cat fabric for the Put A Cat On It Sew Along. This was a big drafting experiment, and it mostly worked out except that my lining fabric stretched majorly and now the fit is distorted at the waist :/ I've concocted a few plans to fix the issue, but I haven't been home much to try them out yet. Hopefully I'll figure it out this week. After that I just need to hem this and it's finished :) I'm also hoping to muster up the courage to tackle my Halloween costume alterations. Ugh.

That's it for me this week! Head over to Gracey's Goodies to see what others have in the works :)

WIP Wednesday: New Sweaters - Yay!

In honor of finishing my Agatha Cardigan, I started two more, lol. The one that I've devoted the most attention to lately is my Penelope.

The knit along officially began on October 1st, and managed to finish the color work for the yoke pretty quickly. I just joined the pieces together for the body last night. I decided to use some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino in Coral from my stash for the yoke because I liked the color combo with my main yarn. The main yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash Paints in Sapphire Seas that I've had since 2013. It's high time this pretty yarn gets used!

The Cascade yarn is hand painted and has a lovely color variation of blues and a little bit of purple. You can see this better in this picture. I know it's an unconventional color combo, but I still like it :) Plus all of this yarn was from my stash! Yay for a huge stash when you don't have money to buy yarn, lol. I''m really excited to have this sweater for the winter.

Before the Penelope KAL started, I needed a new project so I went ahead and began another sweater, lol. I've always loved the Ginny Cardigan from Unofficial Harry Potter Knits and I kept coming back to that when I decided that I wanted a more outerwear type sweater this year. It worked out perfectly to make since I have this amazing yarn in my stash that worked perfectly for it - it's Limerick by Wisdom Yarns (now discontinued) and it's a DK weight 100% merino wool superwash yarn. The yarn is very hairy and varied in thickness compared to my usual standardized Cascade and cheapy acrylic yarns I tend to use. I was worried at first that it would look odd, but it's knitting up beautifully. I guess this is really my first "rustic" yarn. I love the color variation - it goes from kelly green to a more blue/teal color and back. Anyway, I just started the owls on the back before I set it aside for the Penelope, lol. I'm really excited about this sweater too though!

I also finally started sewing my Halloween costume this week. I think I cursed myself by thinking it would be a quick project. I got the  dress all put together only to discover that it's too tight when I tried it on. Ugh! I've let it out everywhere I can, but it's still too snug so I may add gussets to the side seams. I didn't want to think about it any more last night so it's just hanging out in the naughty corner for the moment.

I'm also pretty ridiculously excited about Sewing Indie Month and my submissions :) The voting is going on right now, so if you wouldn't mind voting for one of my projects over here. Sorry for all the vote begging. I'll lay off next week, lol.

That's it for me this week! Head over to Gracey's Goodies to see other fantastic works in progress :)

Sew/Knit Along Addiction - My Plans This Fall

As I know I've mentioned on a few posts lately, I've been taking part in several sew alongs. I always love the comradery and fun community that springs up around them and I always want to join in but never seem to make the time to whip up something appropriate. Finally this year I managed to get things lined up to really join in the fun. I figured I'd post some here that I'm planning on joining :)

First of all, there's Sewing Indie Month. I entered 3 makes in the Everyday Casual category that I made throughout the month of September (Blue Floral Sorrel Top, Melissa Skirt, and Forest Friends Sorrel Top). I even jumped this ahead in the blogging queue so that I could get them submitted in time :) Yesterday was the last day for submissions, so my pattern hacking plans did not get made up. I am really proud of the pieces I did make and ended up with two outfits to boot. I have basically lived in this skirt since I made it (I'm even wearing it as I type this, lol) and I have to force myself not to wear the Sorrel tops constantly too. *Shameless Plug Time* The voting for the contest officially begins today! If you liked my pieces, please head over here to vote for one to help me possibly win a prize :) (just click the little heart on photos you like) I guess I'm not really employing a good "strategy by submitting 3 makes, but oh well. I had fun making them :)

I also submitted my Forest Friends Sorrel Top in Selfish Sewing Week hosted by Imagine Gnats. The submissions are posted on Kollabora (which I updated to include all my wardrobe makes this week - see mine here . Who knows if anything will come of this contest, but is was fun to join in.

Cindy from Cation Designs just announced the Put A Cat On It Sew Along this week and I really really want to participate! I have a few yards of the cat printed poly dobby chiffon from Gertie's spring fabric line that I picked up on the 4th of July with the intention of making a cute skirt with it. I'm thinking a simple circle skirt would be really fun since I've yet to make one and this fabric is nice and wide so I know it would work for the length I want. I just have to figure out a lining fabric and do the math. Here's hoping I can get it done!

I also have been making things with the intent of finally joining the Fall Essentials Sew-Along with Rhinestones & Telephones. Even though it doesn't really get cold here, I wanted to enter my Forest Friends Sorrel and Melissa Skirt in the Chic Chemises and Fashionable Foundations categories because they are absolutely the perfect fall outfit pieces for me. Hopefully I can get more pieces made by the November 14th deadline too. I am also knitting a Penelope sweater that I plan to enter in the Chic Chemises group as well if I can finish on time.

I'm knitting away on my sweater for the Penelope KAL with Andi Satterlund. I mentioned joining this a few weeks ago, but I officially decided on yarn and cast on when the KAL began on the 1st. I've already made the top yoke pieces and did the color work. This is really the easiest color work ever and I love the simple result. I can't wait to get more finished so I can show progress :)

All of these projects are being made on top of working, regular life obligations, starting on Christmas gifts, and sewing and crocheting my Halloween costume! I'm going to be really busy, I can tell you. I'm hoping that by double dipping on some of my projects as entries in the different "------ Alongs" that I can still be a part of things without making myself crazy.