Friday Knitting Blog (04/27/2012)

Today in knitting blog land, we have a finished object. It's a teeny-tiny sweater for a baby girl who's currently still in utero (I really hope the sonogram was right). 

Below  are my Ravelry project notes, which I wrote when the knitting was done (almost 2 weeks ago). This was a very quick project, only 4 days. 

I used the top of the Summer Chills Cardigan, which I think is adorable, but I wanted to use a different lace pattern. I’ve done a few fishtail lace things, and I felt like something different. So, once I had divided for the sleeves and knit a couple of rows I increased 6 stitches to bring my count to 112. I then inserted 18-stitch feather and fan with a 2-stitch garter border at each edge. Did 9 repeats (4 rows each) of the feather and fan followed by 4 rows of garter and then bound off. For the sleeves, I followed the instructions and picked up for 40, and then spent a couple of rounds decreasing at the underarm center until I hit 36. Then did 5 pattern repeats of the same 18-stitch feather and fan (reversing rows 2 and 4 for working in the round), 2 rounds of garter, and then bound off. Did not run the crochet border around the cuffs or the bottom of the sweater, but ran a border of single crochet from along the front opening and round the neck, working in 3 loops for buttons.

I do know that if you don't knit, the paragraph above is essentially gibberish, but it's Friday knitting blog, so I figure that at least some of the people who read this will understand. I couldn't get a super clear picture of the buttons alone, but they are beyond cute; they are teddy bears that are holding teddy bears. My lovely daughter picked them out, and the sweater is for a the baby of a friend of hers. 

Other project info:
Pattern: Summer Chills Cardigan (modified)  
Yarn: NaturallyCaron.com Spa It's OK for this project and has a nice drape, but it's not a yarn I would use again. The plies kept loosening up as I was knitting, which made me slightly  nuts. It's also a DK weight, and this project called for worsted. It's even tinier than I had intended it to be. 

Needle: US 6, 4 mm. I used my new pretty Hiya-Hiya interchangables and loved them! I did the sleeves via magic loop technique, and the cable is so nice and flexible that I was able to do it with a 24-inch needle. That's super short for successful ML. 

Next  up: More Hats for Sailors. The first deadline of the year is next month, and I want to crank out a few more (I have 2 done so far and yarn for at least a couple more) before it's time to get them in the mail.