FO: Vogue Knitting Holiday 2003 - The Shawl Collar Jacket

I FINISHED IT! I sewed it together and it's done! YES! Throw another FO on the barbee!
This sweater has been 2 years in the making and I was finally motivated to seam the pieces together because it will come in handy next week in San Francisco and Los Angeles. I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in Charcoal and let me tell you...this bad boy is HEAVY!
Nope, can't buy 'em in the store like this anymore. Nothing like a nice snuggly handmade sweater to warm the cockles of your heart. *awwww*

Vogue Knitting Fall 2006: Fair Isle U-Neck Pullover Redux

Monday, August 28, 2006
So, I had to frog the ribbing again! It just didn't seem right....I kept knitting and knitting around and around this humungous circle and the thought occurred to me last night that I probably should try this on for size before I commit anymore time and effort to the 2" ribbing. Using my crazy math, I ended up casting on something like 372 sts. for a 62" hip. Yeah, I know...baby got back. LOL! Anywho! I slipped the circular needle over my head to try the thing on and guess what!? It was way too big. I think I could have fit 3 of me in this sweater. So, what did I do? I just pinched off part of the ribbing and counted how many stitches I really needed to cast on for the hips, which is 196 sts or 33" with a 6 sts gauge. *sigh* Anywho, the darn thing fits now and I don't care anymore because I'm gonna skinny down to fit into it one way or another dagnabit. LOL!

Sunday, August 27, 2006
Tell me if I'm crazy for thinking this but wouldn't it be possible to do this sweater in the round by doubling the number of cast-on stitches, marking the sides and going from there?
So, not only did I have to enlarge this pattern, I'm trying to do it in the round so I don't have to purl. :)
Of course, I've never done a sweater in the round, so what are the thing to keep in mind? pitfalls?

Vogue Knitting Fall 2006: The Modern English Collection

Saturday, August 12, 2006
Teri made me do it...at Knit Night last Tuesday, Teri made me swatch each of the fair isle charts. I'm glad she did because it gave me a chance to check out how the colors would look together. Teri and Rincaro were right! Fortunately, my fair isle swatch was spot on per the pattern.

To upsize this pattern, do the fair isle swatch, figure out your stitch gauge and multiply the swatch gauge times half your hip measurement to cast-on, i.e. 6 sts. x 20" (half of a 40" hip) = 120 sts. cast-on.

Here's what I have so far:

Friday, August 4, 2006

Only one hitch with this one, it only goes up to a 39" bust and 35" waist!

So, now I am challenged with how to enlarge this pattern.

The pattern calls for 23 sts. and 27 rows = 4" on size US 5 over the Fair Isle Pattern.
Lion Brand Wool-Ease gauge is 18 St sts. and 24 rows = 4" on size US 8 needles.

The pattern waist sizes are: 29 (31, 33, 35")
The initial cast-on calls for 98 (104, 110, 116), so if I do the math I see that there's a sequence of 6 sts. difference between each size.

I got a response from Rincaro on the Knittyboard and she suggested that multiply my test swatch gauge by half the number of inches around my hips and that's how many stitches I'll need to cast-on.

The Fair Isle U-Neck Pullover

The pattern calls for this to be knit up with Dale of Norway Helio, but I'm going to substitute Lion Brand Wool-Ease for destashing and ease of care in the following colors:

Wheat	Mushroom	Rose Heather
Forest Green Heather	Chestnut Heather	Mink Brown