Almost a year, almost a sweater

The Norah Gaughan Cabled Coat, which was featured in Vogue Knitting's 25th Anniversary Issues last year, was an ambitious project. I knew going into it that it would take me a long time. Wowee...it's been almost a whole year and the thing is still not done.

But take heart, fellow knitters. I am on what some refer to as a "home stretch." I don't really know what that means b/c I am not a sports enthusiast, but whatevs. It is very nearly complete.

What you see here is the first eight inches or so of the cabled collar. It says to knit two separate pieces to be seamed later. I try to avoid collar seams as much as humanly possible so I am just knitting one long piece. I'm obsessive-compulsive about certain things, but symmetrically-cabled collar pieces are not among them.

And then, of course, since I need yet another distraction, I went crazy over this:

It's from the Rowan Cocoon Collection. I used Cocoon last year to make the Helsinki Hat Scarf for Annie's. The yarn is scrum-diddly-umptious. So, now that it's available in colors other than earthen, I bought up some in green.

It looks a bit matted here but it's not...I think my po' photography skills are making it look sad and scrunched. But it's a beautiful jewel green and I foresee a winter full of green and blue knits. I'm a bit obsessed with both colors at the moment.

But now...going back to finish that crazy coat. I want to wear it this fall so I'm getting it done if it kills me.

Two Sleeves, Both Green

Le Sleeves of le Cabled Coat are complete:

That's a lot o' moss. Seriously. Don't let sleeves fool you. They take up a lot of yarn. I think the sleeves actually take up more yarn than the half-hexagon fronts. Now I have just one of those half-hexagons and the collar to knit up and then this baby is getting seamed, but good.

One of the things I love about knitting is the creation of what I see as living, breathing fabric. I use those words because this kind of fabric carries a little bit of human movement in each of its hundreds of stitches. The fabric looks and feels alive to me, as if I am Dr. Frankenstein and I have created something sentient out of nothing more than yarn and lightning. It's ALIIIIVE!!!!

Ahem.

I am also on an intense sweater kick. I love socks, I do. I love scarves, I do. I love hats and mittens and every little knit in between. But there is something so satisfying about making something that encircles one's torso. To that end, I realize I now have enough yarn stashed up to knit at least five sweaters. I also have a bunch of Noro Niji (Rav link) that I'm using to make a store sample.

But I could not turn away from this:

This here is four balls each of Karabella Vintage Cotton. Colors 304 Rose (top) and 330 Orange (bottom). They will become this.

The Roped Shell is knit in Filatura di Crosa Luxury, a fingering weight silk. While I like the idea and all, I'm not sure I will get much use out of this shell just yet. If I wear it a lot in cotton, I'll revisit the idea of silk.

And...that might be the end of new stash for a while for me. I am starting to feel burdened by the weight of my amassed yarn. I need to knit through some of it before I will feel comfortable adding to the bunch.

FO: Pagoda Asymmetrical Cardi

I heart the Malabrigo. I heart it. I've been busy at work and just got this cardi done under the gun for Project Spectrum's Fire theme.

Pagoda Cardi
Pattern: Asymmetrical Cardigan from Knitting Nature
Yarn: Seven skeins Malabrigo Worsted in color "Pagoda"
Needles: US 8 and US 9
Extras: Three wooden buttons from Annie and Co.

There weren't really any mods worth highlighting. I lengthened the ribbing on the bottom. That's about it. I originally thought I'd make it symmetrical, but then I thought it would lose its appeal. Now I think it's kind of fun how it gets lopsided while I wear it.

I tried to mimic the photos in the book, but it's cloudy out and I have no tripod. I did put on a dress underneath the sweater. But somehow, it just looks like I'm wearing a big fluffy cardi over a nightie. Durn.

I also love the subtle shading of the Malabrigo colors. This photo captures the true color:

My one regret is that I didn't knit the collar longer. Since the collar is knit up separately and then move into the button bands, I followed the instructions and didn't realize until I was sewing it up that I couldn't just go back and knit the collar some more, which I could have if I had picked up stitches and knit the collar out. But overall, the pattern was easy to follow and fairly easy memorize. By the time I'd finished the first three repeats, I no longer had to refer back to the chart.

The one problem I can see is that the arrows pointing to where in the chart you should begin your pieces are kind of...ambiguous. The arrows seem to point to the lines in between squares and this confused me greatly. Was I supposed to start with the square to the left or right of the arrow? In the end, I just kind of said, "What the hey." I guessed and it didn't turn out too crazy.

Since I didn't really know what square I'd started the fronts with, I had to adjust the cast-on stitches for the back neck. By that point, I knew exactly how many stitches I needed per repeat of the chart and I ended up taking out maybe ten or so stitches. Then I worked down to the correct number of stitches for the back and sort of fudged everything when it came to seaming.

I found pretty wood buttons at Annie's:

Folded up the cuffs for more practical wear. The sleeves come out super long (I made the medium size) and the whole cardi is pretty big. But it's cozy and nice and definitely warm.

I tested it out by sitting in my armchair with a good book. Verdict: Malabrigo and Norah Gaughan score an A+++.

Now on to finish my other giant Norah Gaughan project for Project Spectrum's Earth!

Prospero Año y Felicidad!

I did not knit a lot over Christmas. Too many cheesecakes to bake, too many cookies to frost, and too many movies to see. I finally saw The Simpsons Movie, which caused me to laugh so hard that I thought my vocal cords would go on strike. I saw The Painted Veil, which was a lovely movie despite the fact that Edward Norton's English accent is only passable at best. I also saw I Am Legend and have conflicting feelings towards it. It was fun and I definitely cowered a lot, but I've read synopses of the book it was based on and the original story seems so much more compelling that I'm surprised the movie says so little about what the title actually means. But that dog was so damn cute. I want German Shepherd puppies. I also saw...(drumroll please)...Sweeney Todd.
IloveditIloveditIloveditIlovedit! Johnny Depp is sexy, even as a mass murderer. Alan Rickman is sexy even as creep. Sacha Baron Cohen is sexy, even in skintight, electric blue pants. Timothy Spall is...not sexy, but he's still wickedly amusing. I did think it was odd that they removed all the ensemble singing, but overall the visual spectacle of everything just reels you in so that you don't notice how weak Helena Bonham Carter's voice actually is until you listen to her on the soundtrack. That's when her singing sounds so obviously lackluster. I have a feeling that Tim Burton was so entranced by her singing lullabies to their baby that he was deluded into thinking she had the voice of an angel. Ah, well, even with the nepotism she's still a good actress.

Here's a sampling of my Christmas booty:

The Sweeney Todd movie soundtrack (and now I have to go get the original cast recording because I lost it and I miss Angela Lansbury), a supercute snowman mug, Pixar's short films, a short story collection by Mavis Gallant, and two Hitchcock movies. There was some other stuff and I finally got myself a pair of Uggs (which I know are as ugly as their name implies, but my desire for them had less to do with fashion and more to do with comfort).

Also, I did knit a little bit. I finished my dad's scarf (which was promptly stolen by my mom because she says her neck is colder than his). So I must knit my father something else. I ended up not finishing the blanket (big surprise!) and bought my mother some cookbooks and mystery books.

But I did do this:

It's the back and godet of Norah Gaughan's Cabled Coat from the 25th Anniversary VK. I am in love. I am in love with the pattern and in love with the yarn. Why can't the world be made out of Berroco Pure Merino? I bought this yarn months ago specifically for this project and can't figure out why it took me so long to get here. I'm trying to knit through some of my stash and this seemed appropriate enough. At first, the pattern seems pretty intimidating, but once you work through some of it, the process is somewhat intuitive. There are definitely errata and the VK website only posts one mistake in the chart so when I finish I'll make a list of the things I noticed.

Fields of moss stitch are so soothing.

And the cable design reminds me of architectural details. I am having lots and lots o' fun.