Tag Archives: berroco

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Mmmmmminimalist.

minimalistTa-da! I just keep pulling finished sweaters off the blocking board like I’m a magician! I swear I don’t have elves knitting these things. This one had been lounging in pieces with all but the sleeve caps knit since 2009 or so.

We had a couple of issues. I ran out of yarn before the sleeves, but the spare ball I got was a close enough match that I don’t think I’ll ever notice. Yeah, I didn’t stripe in the color on this one either. If it doesn’t seem totally necessary I don’t worry about it. Fearless knitting!

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I think I also put off the finishing on this cardi because I was intimidated by seaming Moss stitch, especially in the shoulders. Last year, when I was finishing the Larch Cardigan, I watched this video narrated by Cirilia Rose that explains how to do set-in sleeves. They do require focus and I use a lot of my Clover locking stitch markers to keep the pieces pinned evenly while I seam, but they’re not impossible or even that scary anymore. Whoa…I think I don’t hate  seaming anymore, but it’s still not as fun as just knitting.

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Yeah, that’s a stitch marker in my left ear. It’s conveniently close to a 12 gauge earring.

The yarn is Berocco Ultra Alpaca in Yucca Mix. I like it. I love the way the Ultra Alpaca Light has worn on my Larch Cardigan, so I expect some good performance out of this cardigan as well. I’m really happy to have another sweater I love that can be worn with a lot of different tops.

I feel like I’ve done almost enough sweaters of different types to just design one for myself. I don’t know why this still seems so intimidating, but I’d like to accomplish it soon. Even though I love the mindlessness of top-down raglans and not having to seam things, I really love the polished look and fit of set-in sleeves.

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Larch! Or the blog post where I make a lot of funny faces…

This baby is FINISHED. I started Larch Cardigan by Amy Christoffers last February or March. After setting her aside for numerous other ventures, she is finished. I reknit the collar several times. Lesson to be learned: hey, read the full pattern. Then read it again. Then read it one more time.

That collar is totally worth it.

I knit this in the exact yarn called for in the pattern, even the same color. That’s how much I like Amy’s taste. It’s Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light in Tupelo. It’s not the softest yarn ever created, but it sure is warm. I think alpaca makes me itch. Just a little.

A lady never forgets her first set-in sleeves. They were relatively drama free. I did all the other finishing and weaving in of ends first, then I watched this Berroco video that is narrated by Cirilla Rose and shows how to make a very nice seam. They weren’t scary, despite the groans I’ve heard emitted from women in the yarn shop about how much they don’t like these sleeves.

I will be redoing my little crochet button loops, but that’s for another day. I should have made them a little bit longer.

Um, we took a lot of pictures. Or at least my fella did.

I freaking love this sweater. I will wear it every week until it is no longer cold.

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Befuddled.

Ripping the collar.

I consider myself a pretty decent knitter, by no means an expert, but consistently capable of putting out fairly good pieces. I started the Larch Cardigan last February or early March in the final days of winter. Then it got warm and I promptly put it in a drawer in favor of more weather-appropriate pieces. When I unearthed this beauty to finish, I was excited. A nearly finished sweater. All I had to finish was the lovely shawl collar in 1×1 twisted rib. I ripped back the collar a bit to a spot that was recognizable. I reknit, this time taking careful notes since I knew our time together would be interrupted by my NaKniSweMo project.

After NaKniSweMo I merrily returned to Larch to knit, thinking I had full understanding of the instructions. I was nearly finished with this lovely collar, a 1×1 twisted rib (twisting both the knit and purl stitches=an arduous task), and then I counted my stitches. Why hadn’t I counted earlier?! Sheer confidence (or stupidity). I was about 55 stitches over what the instructions said I should have! I misread things. The instructions had one part that said “pick up 6 along right neck edge, then 6 along left neck edge, then repeat last two rows x times more” then “Pick up 4 stitches at end of each row x times,” and I doubled the picking up 4 stitches and the picking up 2 after that misunderstanding that a repeat was a single row, rather than both the right and left sides. ARGH!

So, I ripped back. Then started at a new place. Knitted again. Went over again because I was confident that I remembered correctly. I don’t have an explanation. I can do simple math. I promise. It just eluded me temporarily. Really, the instructions aren’t unclear. I think I have a different row gauge and I’m also sticking more stitches in than there are supposed to be because I have more rows to begin with. I think the most important thing to do now is to get the right number of rows in, so my collar doesn’t grow to crazy heights, and just do however many stitches at the end of each row that it takes to get there. Here I go again. I won’t let this get me down and I really want to finish. It’s getting very cold and the sweater has a lot of alpaca in it. Besides, I already have the yarn for this and this waiting…

Does anyone else make a fake seam when there is none? Larch is seamless, but I put in a purl stitch in the midst of the stockinette to look like a seam. I don’t know if it helps keep things in place, but I like it.

I also got a lovely yarn bowl in a recent holiday sale with local artists. I love the color.

Back to ripping…