Girl Who Knits

So I had this great idea for a FO post on my Phildar Zip Cardigan.  I am not sure if any of you out there watch America's Next Top Model--I'll admit it if you will.  If you have watched it you may have noticed that the photo shoots are a tad out there and often verge on the ridiculous.  I love it.  Last week all the girls were tasked with taking pictures that reflected different sides of their personalities.  So while Kara and I were taking pictures of my new cardi we thought, hey why not steal an idea from Tyra--it might be fun.  We thought, let's do the different sides of my personality which would then totally show off the sweater.  Sounds like a great idea right?

Problem #1: I have no model instinct.  Once we came up with the brilliant idea we stood there for minutes trying to pick a side of my personality. Finally Kara said, "Smart."  So I stood there for a minute, "how do I model smart?" 

Smart=thoughtful finger on chin

Problem #2: I don't commit.  Miss Tyra Banks commits.  That woman will act the fool and own it--which is I guess why she is Tyra Banks.  I, on the other hand, will give a seriously displeased face when asked to stick my tongue out and "be silly." 

Turns out I don't do silly, I just do awkward. 

Problem #3: Most people won't get how funny I am when they see my lame attempt to "model funny." 

Get it, double guns is funny..since it's not funny..that makes it funny.  Get it?

Problem #4: What does me showing people I am independent through my "modeled art" have to do with the new sweater I just knit?

Answer: nothing.  But by the time I realized this idea was pretty lame I had already taken the pictures. 

So on to the sweater.  I really quite like it.  I think it turned out to be well fitting and it is a great basic color, it is comfortable, wearable, and pretty.  There are many great things about this sweater.  Like the really long ribbing on the sleeve.  I love that.  And the ribbed bands around the neck--love that too.

However, this sweater was not without its hard knocks.  It is knit all in ribbing and reverse stockinette.  I was dumb and didn't study the best increase and decrease methods for reverse stockinette which resulted in some tiny holes and some areas that don't meet my standard of perfection.  But this is minimal and not enough to make me unhappy with the sweater.  I love all the ribbing on the sweater but as I have shared before, this makes for 12, count them, 12 pieces of sweater to seam together.  12. 

Seaming was by far the most difficult challenge I faced on this sweater.  I had never seamed reverse stockinette before and I had to redo it several times until I was satisfied with the finished product.  Then there was seaming all the different bands and collars and such.  It took me a couple weeks until I was satisfied with the seaming job.  But I am satisfied now which is all that matters.  In other words, extra time spent to do or re-do this right was totally worth it. 

The zipper...as many of you know I was dreading the zipper.  Turns out, all you have to do is answer your phone right when your friend is about to show you how to sew it and then she just magically does it for you.  So I can't take credit for the zipper.  But it turned out fabulously well.  She made the seam align with the first ribbed valley so it is hidden by the ribbing.  Looks awesome.

the stats:

Pattern: Phildar Zipper Cardigan

Source: Phildar Tendances, Spring 2005

Yarn: Phildar Licorne

Needles: US 2 & 3 straights

Mods: Like with most knits, I made it a couple of inches longer by increasing the straight rows in the waist area.

Notes: This really is a great knit.  One that I think I will enjoy for a lot of time to come.  Just if you knit it, be prepared.  12. seamed. pieces. 

You all have heard me talk about my sisters. My girls. One I knit with, the other I have knit for. We like to sing Karaoke Revolution and eat REALLY large bowls of Baskin Robbins ice cream (Peanut Butter-and-Chocolate and Gold Medal Ribbon to be exact.) I love my sisters.

Last weekend, little Bri got engaged. To a boy named Adam (note to self: must find out if Adam is okay with me writing his name and talking about him on my blog.  Update: not only is he cool with it, I even got permission to post a picture.  Point for Adam.) I am thrilled about this news. I like this Adam since I think he knows how lucky he is to have my sister love him. Bri is happy in that good wholesome way which makes me feel right about things.

Cute Bri and Adam 

I have been asked a lot how I am feeling and if I am okay with the news. Well, we are not living in Jane Austen times. I am okay with the younger sister getting married before her elders. Bri is no Lydia Bennet either. She is smart and knows who she is. She has a career she loves and a great perspective on life. She is ready. I think the only thing I will have a hard time with is that this event changes everything. It an ending. She is no longer only my Bri she is also some guy Adam's Bri. I have to share and I am not sure how I feel about that.

On the other hand, I am gaining another brother right? Maybe he will let me knit him a hat or something--that could be fun. So it is also a beginning.

Much like life, knitting also has it's beginnings and endings. (Nice segue right?) Soon to be ended is my Phildar Zip Cardigan as the zipper arrived in the mail Friday! As soon as Ann can get her sewing machine over here I will have a FO. I am so excited to show you this sweater--I think it is going to be one of my favorites.

As for beginnings...my knit picks needles arrived today too so work on the Dollar and a Half Cardigan can finally begin.

And of course, I mustn't forget Blithe. See what has begun...

(fyi-color less baby blue in real life--is is more like a nice deep gray blue)

One thing knitting has taught me...new beginnings can be a very good thing.

Dude.  Seaming is hard.  Well, I should say, normally I quite like seaming but in the case of the Phildar Zip Cardigan, seaming is a challenging, time consuming and thus painful process.  Allow me to explain why.

1. This sweater has 12 (yes 12) pieces to seam together. 
2. There are all kinds of ribbed bands you have to attach to non-ribbed edges that do not measure up perfectly.  So you have to make sure you allow the right amount of give in the right places so that the pieces seam together neatly while not creating bulges in places where there shouldn't be bulges.
3. The majority of the sweater is knit in reverse stockinette.  I have worked on perfecting seaming for stockinette garments--not reverse. 
4. Because of reasons #1-3, some knitters might have to resort to re-seaming parts of the sweater several times since they just can't get it right.
5. There are 12 pieces to seam. Ugh.

Did I mention I have struggled a bit with the seaming of this sweater?  I really thought I would be all done by now.  Silly, silly Erin.

But, I have come a long way.  See?

It almost looks put together right?

There has been a lot of trial and error with the seaming.  I have done and then taken out and re-done almost every seam so far.  Some of them I have seamed more than twice.  You might think this is a little extreme but let me show you what I mean.  There is a part of the sweater where you have to seam two ribbed bands together but you are connecting the purl valley of the rib.  The first time I did it I didn't know what I was doing which resulted in the seam looking like this.

Ugly seam:

After an epiphany last night, I re-did it and now the seam looks like this.

Pretty seam:

See how much better??!?  As I work on it more and get better at it I realize how bad my first attempts at seaming the sweater are and am compelled to re-do the parts that don't measure up.  I just want it to be as close to perfect as I can.  Is that so crazy?

In related news: I went hunting for a zipper that would work for this sweater on Saturday and came up empty handed.  Very discouraged, I called Knit-n-Tyme (the place where I purchased the kit) to ask them if they sell a zipper that would work.  The very nice woman on the phone asked me, "didn't one come in the kit?"  Um...no, it didn't, but doesn't it make perfect sense that it would?  Turns out the zipper was on backorder when I ordered the kit and I just didn't realize it was supposed to be part of the kit and so I didn't notice when it never got to me.  So she is sending me the right zipper this week which is lucky that she still has it in stock seeing how I ordered the kit over a year and a half ago.  Phew.  Now I just have to put the zipper on.  Ugh.  It better be easier to do than seaming this baby.  Somehow, with my sewing skills, I doubt it.

It has been a bit of a random week for me so I thought I should honor it with a totally random post.  Oh, oh, maybe I will itemize my random and unconnected thoughts.  That will be fun.  (I love itemizing things.  And white boards.  I warned you about the random.)

1. If you could be any knitter who would you...Eunny.  I would be Eunny in a heart beat.  I want to knit like her and design like her and have vision like her and be cool like her.  Have you seen the sweater she so temptingly gave us a sneak peak of?  I want it.  HAVE to have it.  Hear me know...I will knit this sweater. 
2. Wondering how my Biggest Loser competition is going?  Well the first month went really well.  I lost 7 pounds and came in 3rd of 22 at our mid-competition weigh-in.  The first two weeks of the second month?  One word for you: plateau.  It is so frustrating.  But for the final two weeks I am really going to kick it into high gear.  Working out 6x a week, really strict diet, no eating after 8--I must finish strong.  At this point it is all about the money.  And pride.  MM, EB, BR and JP...I am coming for you. 
3. Anyone out there seen MI-5 or as they call it in the UK, Spooks?  Kara and I watched the finale of season 2 last night.  Holy cow.  Within 5 minutes of finishing the episode, season 3 was moved to the top of our Netflix queue.  Seriously amazing show.  Plus a little Matthew MacFadyen action doesn't hurt. 
4. I am almost done knitting all the pieces of my Phildar Zip Cardigan.  Which means pretty soon I am going to have to face the zipper.  Oh you zipper...how you taunt me.  Thankfully my buddy Ann and seamstress extraordinaire is staying with me next week.  So my goal is to have it all knit and seemed by Monday.  Then at least I will have a teacher for the zipper insersion. (Or someone who will just do it for me if I whine long enough.)  It is exciting though, I should have an FO by end of next week.  At least I hope.
5. I bought it.  I am talking about the Blithe kit.  Thank you so much for all of your recommendations and support.  I love posts that bring out the lurkers too--it is always fun to be introduced to new blogs.  So what color did I go with?  Well, it happens to be the same color that got the most votes from my post.  I was torn between two colors in the end and a friend  (Thanks lil' Jeff!) helped me make the final decision by photoshop-ing the yarn colors in the sweater for me to visualize it.  You want to see the winner?  Here it is...

Yup, Steel Blue. I am a happy girl and looking forward to my first spring/summer knit.

Have a grand weekend everyone!

Kara and I have declared today "Knitting and a Saga" day.  This means we will knit and watch a saga together.  Could that sound any more fun?

I define a saga as any movie with more than one DVD.  And I love them.  Today we are watching Jewel in the Crown which is a pretty old mini-series that neither of us have seen.  But it is set in India and there are British people in it so I don't know how it can go wrong.  The saga is 13 episodes at 50 minutes each and so we may not get through it all today as we aren't getting started until around 4 or so but we sure will try. 

As for what I am knitting, I have started a new project.  I was looking for a new sweater to knit and couldn't settle on anything.  I just wasn't feeling a project enough to drop money on yarn and commit to it.  Then, in a moment of clarity, I realized that last Spring I bought the yarn and pattern for a project that I never started.  I loved the sweater but as soon as I saw that it required tiny needles I held off.  Of course, I have knit several sweaters since with really small needles and learned it is no big thing.  I like the tiny needled sweaters.  It is my thing.

So I cast on for this beauty:

Oh I like this sweater.  It is from Phildar Tendances, Spring 2005.  Phildar is really bad at naming their projects so this one is just Zip Cardigan.  I am actually using the same yarn (color and all) for mine and am LOVING the yarn.  This is how it is knitting up so far...

And yes, that is the handle of my camera I brilliantly got in the shot.

It might seem like I am taking a picture of the WS but the sweater is knit in reverse stockingette.  It throws me off a little as it seems counter-intuitive but I think in the end I will like it.  I am finished knitting the back and am casting on for both fronts today (I will knit them at same time.)  The only hesitation I have about this sweater is the zipper--specifically the fact that it needs to be sewn in.  I guess this is why I have friends...right Ann?

Next up is a finished Glee.  I promise.  Happy President's Day everybody!