Socktoberfest did not start with socks for me… it started with the completion of this sweater. It has been hanging around since April, and I finally had enough momentum to finish the yoke after returning to work on it in September. I could not put it aside any longer… and I am so glad I pushed through to complete it now!

Jacquard Pullover
Pattern: Rebecca #34, pattern #1
Yarns: Jo Sharp DK wool (brown and ivory), Ella Rae Classic (ivory), Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (pink), Cascade Lana d’Oro (blue), Knit Picks Andean Silk (green)
Needles: Size US 8 circulars (body) and DPNs (sleeves)
Started: April 22nd / Completed: October 4th

[All Jacquard Pulli photos here]

I started this during Project Spectrum as an all-encompassing knit project. The colors used in the Fair Isle pattern were choices from each element, and I liked the traditional, yet modern, style of the sweater. I bought the magazine at my LYS in January, and this sweater was the #1 reason why I picked it up. I toyed with the idea of getting new yarn, but once I looked at my stash, I thought that I may be able to do some real stashbusting with yarns that were already in the stash. Most of these yarns had been in there for over two years! . The colors came together so well, even with the slightly varying weights of yarn that I used (worsted and DK).

Back in April when I started this sweater, I decided to make the 38″ size, thinking that the stranding would cause it to be a little smaller anyway. Looking back, this is one of the only things I would have changed. The sweater is quite large for me in the bust and the armholes (almost two inches on each side), but fits well along the hips. If I had planned things a little better, I would have made the 34″ or the 36″ for the top banding, and the 38″ for the bottom, calculating the math and decreasing in the brown band in the middle. There was no way to predict back in April that I would be smaller (I have lost almost 30 lbs since then) and this is always a dilemma when knitting garments and losing weight. That being said, the fit is not awful but I would prefer a little more form in the midsection and bust line, and more decreases leading to the neckline. (You can see in the above photo how the collar sticks out a bit…) I considered doing sweater “surgery” and trying to adjust the lines inside with a sewing machine. Has anyone ever tried this?

You may recall that the sleeves also gave me a little problem – they seemed so short. I added an inch onto the cuff (picked up stitches and knit down) and it worked out perfectly once it was yoked together! This was the only issue I had with the Rebecca pattern. Other knitters have told me that Rebecca patterns often have little mistakes, but I really did not encounter that with this particular pullover. I have several other Rebecca mags and I plan to make several garments – their stuff is so chic, and incorporates some really fun elements like colorwork and cables.

I am so enamored with colorwork this year – and I don’t see the end of this obsession any time soon. This is my largest colorwork project to date (and my first with Fair Isle motifs). Just a few years ago, I never would have thought this possible – the idea of colorwork scared me, and now I can’t seem to get enough. I have another Icelandic pullover planned for this fall or winter – maybe even two. And socks, and maybe a another stranded hat too… it excites me to think of all of the possibilities!

We woke up early and headed to one of our favorite spots for autumnal photographs. The leaves have not started turning colors just yet, but the days are growing shorter and the crisp smell is in the air. I love this season! Kris was so kind to snap these photos for me as the dogs ran circles around us!

…and while the Pulli was blocking, I started the mates for both my Laila’s socks and my Noro socks… my logic was that if I cast on for both of them, neither would linger for too long. NOW, it really is Socktoberfest for me! More updates on this fun month-long celebration to come!

*…and just in case you skipped German I, Er ist fertig means it is ready! Some German still sticks with me after these few years!

I had high hopes of finishing my Jacquard Pulli before the end of September, and also the end of Project Spectrum.  It seemed like the perfect swan song… alas, I don’t think I can fit sixty rows of Fair Isle into now and tomorrow, but I may be able to make a small dent.  As it stands now, the sleeves and complete and it has been successfully yoked on to a 48″ circular needle.

Every time I knit a yoked sweater (this is my third) I wonder why I don’t make all my sweaters this way.  It is so intuitive.  It feels so right.  Maybe I was a yoked sweater in a previous life.  What I am trying to say is that I love it.  And if I get my way, there will be more and more yoked sweaters here in the future.

I am “pleased as punch” that these colors are working so well together.  If you recall, it was a late night stash dive last April that brought me to this color combination… and I am so happy that they work so well together!  I couldn’t have imagined a better grouping!  I had one solitary eggplant-shaded DK-weight skein that I tried to work in there, but I kept on coming back to this set.

Although they are not exactly the same weight, I have not run into gauge issues or related problems.  The dark brown (main color) and the white are Jo Sharp DK Wool, the green is Knit Picks Andean Silk, the Pink is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, and the blue is Cascade Lana d’Oro.

So, I have the Fair Isle yoke decreases to finish up… but can the sweater compete with Socktoberfest?  There may be room for both…

The Jacquard Pulli has once again fallen by the wayside as I ran into a little snag… Either I have the arms of an orangutan, or the pattern is just too short.  I think it is the latter. Rebecca patterns, as beautiful and innovative as they are, have a notorious reputation for errata.  With the advice of some Flickr comrades, I have decided to extend the cuff a bit, but also extend the brown color band at the top.  The key concern is matching the Fair Isle work with the body of the garment, and accounting for the stitch count in order for the colorwork yoke to begin.  It should be a pretty simple fix, and I am hoping that it will look acceptable too.  As you can see from the magazine photo, there is already a large color band above the colorwork on the sleeve; I will just be adding a little bit more. 

This sweater has been hanging around the stash in one capacity or another since the end of April, and I have set my sights on finishing it up by the end of this month.  It will be a lovely garment for fall and winter (I hope) and with only one sleeve remaining and the yoke, it shouldn’t be too much of a hassle.  The colorwork really zips along once I start working on it – especially with the aid of a good audiobook. I never have a shortage of those to choose from!

The Crotona Coat - renamed Moldova because of the yarn color – is moving along so nicely.  Thousands of seed stitches all coming together in a very wearable garment.  The yarn is knitting up well, and the coat is taking shape so quickly!  I realized that I had better blog about it once more so that I didn’t have a finished object to show you without any progress shots!

Only a sleeve and half remain, plus the finishing details of picking up the small collar stitches and adding the buttons.  It will need a light blocking too to even out some of the decreases and increases along the sides – seed stitch tends to bunch up a little when doing subtractions and additions.  It feels like I saved a lot of time with this coat by knitting it in the round – and it made so much since to do that instead of trying to seam it up later.  Once I got to the armhole and neckline decreases, I worked each part separately (back, left and right front) and after the three-quarter length raglan-style sleeves are complete, it will be quickly completed.  Mine is shorter than the version in the pattern, but still skims the hips and falls right above the thigh. 

…now I just have to decide which buttons would look best…

Could I have TWO finished garments in September?   it is quite possible!

After a good three months, I picked up the Jacquard Pulli again, itching for a little colorwork action.  With my audiobook* in the background, I completed most of the body of the pullover.  The armholes are bound off, and soon I will start the sleeves, to be yoked together with the body soon after.  I so enjoy the construction of yoked sweaters – they just seems so intuitive.

This pattern is from the German pattern magazine, Rebecca #34.  Instead of using the yarn called for in the pattern, I am using this pullover as the ultimate stashbuster: each of the yarns in the colorwork have been in my stash for at least 2 years.  It feels good to work with these yarns again!  You may recall that my colors were just paired together as I was digging around in my stash shelves, and I am happy with how they are working together in the pattern.  (Two of the yarns used to be other sweaters… before the big rip of 2006.) It is quite similar to the color scheme in the book, but different enough for my own personal stamp – “lolly-fying it”, if you will

I started this project during the “EARTH” element of Project Spectrum, but with the vibrant colors, it really is a perfect project for all of the colors.  As we are in the waning days of the AIR element (holey moley, can you believe it?) my mind is thinking ahead to all of the prospects for WATER – one of my favorites.

If I continue in my progress, this one pullover can span at least three of the elements… and I will have a nice warm wooly/alpaca sweater just in time for the sweltering August…

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*The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner.  I added some thoughts on GoodReads.  I really liked this one… and it definitely fired up the wanderlust.

You know how some people just have their knitting thing?  like complete and utter love of lace or cables?  like that is all they want to knit all the time?  well, I think I found mine.  It shouldn’t really come as a surprise considering how much I love the interplay of colors and the simpleness of stockinette.

Could you tell with all of the colorwork projects of late? 

I wanted to try colorwork for years, but I was nervous about the technique.  I delayed even trying it.  I still have a lot to learn, but I am really in love with the process and the results.  And for some reason, it really seems to work up quickly!  Perhaps it is because I can’t wait to see how the colors will interact on the next row?

The Jacquard Pulli was a test trial – I wanted to see if five disparate yarns from my stash could come together in a Fair Isle pullover.  I think I lucked out.

The colors are combining and creating a lovely spring-themed knit.  I am using the deep brown as the main color – a nod to Project Spectrum’s Earth element - and mixing in the pink, cream, greens and blues.  Each yarn here has lived in the stash for over a year, so this is truly a stashbusting project.  And how quickly she grows!  I started this project for Project Spectrum, as well as the Lord Stanley Stashbusting KAL on Ravelry.  So far, I have knit this much after watching two playoff hockey games. (Go Penguins!)  However, when the hockey gets intense, I have been known to put the colorwork down, for fear of messing up the charts… such was the case during last night’s nailbiter between Pittsburgh and New York! 

I have found it quite simple to keep the tension in the stranding.  My floats don’t pull too much, and with a light blocking, I don’t think there will be any puckering.  I am using yarns of slightly different weights (the pink is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, but I have always thought of it as more of a worsted weight; while the green – Knit Picks Andean Silk – and blue -Cascade Lana d’Oro – are a lighter worsted, bordering on DK-weight).   

SO, yes, I am quite enamoured with the colorwork… maybe it is just a phase, but I see this one sticking around for awhile.  Guess what’s on my shopping list for this weekend?

What’s you knitting thing?  is there a technique that you just can’t get enough of?