Give

***Warning: camera happy person post.***

Another FO that, pathetically enough, was finished August 18th! I'm amazed that I haven't gotten around to posting about it until now. This sweater only took me about 2 weeks from cast-on to blocking and cleared up a whopping 800 grams of yarn out of the stash. I forgot how fast worsted yarn flies off the needles after Icarus, MS3 and months worth of socks.

I now present Rosedale United or Rosedale Redux as I call her. Redux because I completely rewrote the pattern down to a 35" bust, I modified the waist shaping, added length on the body, used a different rib stitch and learned the stretchy-est cast-on I've ever come across.

Amy Swenson’s Rosedale United (Fall 2003 Knitty) free pattern available here
Yarn: Noro Kuryeon in colour 207
Amount: 7.75 skeins
Left over: about 25 grams
Size: 36" bust measurement to fit a 35" bust.
Started: July 29, 2007
Finished: August 17, 2007

Since this sweater is knit from the bottom up in the round the cast-off edge ended up at my neck. Right about the time I finished the raglan decreases, I started to realize that the neck opening looked pretty small. Since I have been known to have difficulties fitting my hefty cranium through shirt necks, there was a small amount of panic.

Luckily, I found the stretchiest bind off I've ever seen here and the pending crisis was averted.

Since it's been a comfortable 8 months since my last attempt at any sort of tutorial, I figured I'd share the-bind-off-that-saved-the-day since someone is always looking for a stretchy (but not sloppy bind-off).

Best thing about this technique is that you don't have to worry about making your BO row stitches abnormally loose. It's already perfect, no need to compensate.

As with most bind-off techniques, you begin by knitting the first two stitches in the regular fashion.

Next, insert the left-hand needle as you would to SSK (just the K part not the SS).

Wrap the working yarn counterclockwise around the right-hand needle.

Pull the yarn through the two stitches and then drop the two stitches that have been worked off the left-hand needle.

Knit the next stitch on the left-hand needle and repeat from Step 2 until all of the stitches have been cast-off.

Break the working yarn and pull the tail through the last remaining stitch. Admire your work.

Stretch your work and notice how the bind-off does not restrict the stretch of your fabric at all.

Hopefully that is easy to understand. Thanks to a very productive and amazingly relaxing long weekend, I should have another FO for you later this week.

Not made of stone

Still no FO photos of Rosedale United. They've been taken but I don't foresee a spare minute to upload them in the next few days. There's also no significant progress to report on the Duster since I have some finishing (cue ominous music) to do before I can work on it again.

So instead....I thought I'd distract you with the fact that I started Autumn Rose. Before you judge, look at this.

How could anyone resist such a beautiful pairing of colours. Alright, I have another confession. I also have the yarn for this.

It's been in the stash for the last 8 months or so. I tentatively considered swatching for Venezia one day. After casting on 3 stitches, I became paralysed with fear. Fear of the fine gauge. Fear of the pattern. And fear of fair-isle. Who was I kidding, I knew nothing about fair-isle. I've only made one measly pair of stranded mittens where the floats were, shall we say, a little snug. Snug enough that a sweater knit with that sort of float would have zero stretch and may even stand up unassisted.

Originally, the plan was that I would knit Eunny's Deep-V Argyle Vest first. The two colours, the larger needles, the lack of sleeves all made it seem like a good warm up project. After being hit by some serious yarn fumes, I ended up here.

I've rationalized ignoring Venezia starting with Autumn Rose by convincing myself that it will be easier than Venezia. It has a huge scoop neck that minimizes the need for fabric that has any sort of give, and it only has 1 steek to cut, instead of the 4 on Venezia. Hopefully you won't tell me otherwise.

Alright, I'm terrified all over again where's that Duster?

Blur

My oh my, where has the time gone?!? And how is it August 17? Am I missing something here...

This week was Stitch n' Pitch. It was a blast! A surprising conclusion given my general avoidance of anything that involves sitting for more than three hours. The other half came along and brought (get this) HIS knitting. I have a couple of photos but they'll have to come off the camera later.

There's also a new sweater. Although this may look like just another Rosedale United, it has undergone significant modifications. I've sized it down from a 38" to a 36", changed the ribbing, went a little free form with the striping and sort of made up my own sleeves. This is basically the only project I've been knitting on the past two weeks. I thought I would have it done by now but as you can see the yoke is not quite up to snuff.

The colourway was a daring choice for me (the above photo is pretty disappointing when it comes to colour accuracy - my camera seems to have a conniption every time it sees red). I'm not generally known as a yellow, orange, green kind of gal and although I'm wavering a little now, I think I'll like the finished sweater.

And Nicole nominated me for a Rockin' Girl Blogger award (started by Roberta Ferguson). So the deal is that you; 1) give her credit, 2) put up the badge and 3) add 5 other rockin' girl bloggers to the list. Thanks Nicole!

Here is my list of nominees.

1) Liz, who always has amazing projects to show off.
2) Linz, who discusses interesting things.
3) Susan, who has a way with words.
4) Sian, who always has a new post to read.
5) Elaine, who just finished a gorgeous Icarus.

In a moment of weakness I bought this kit (scroll down). So what do you think, should I go for it after this current sweater is off the needles or should I cop out and start Norah Gaughan's Tilted Duster from the cover of the new Interweave (also exciting)?

Oh, and I FINALLY fixed the broken link from my last post, now you can go inspect that seam if you wish. Thanks for all your wonderful comments on my sweater.

Let's just say it's been a busy week.