I Knit a Sweater – The Cuttle Corner #29
Welcome to the twenty-ninth edition of The Cuttle Corner! I have finally finished knitting a sweater I’ve been working on for months, then immediately started another one!
If you missed last week’s post, you can take a look here.
Now, let’s get cozy!
What’s Going On
It’s been almost two months since we got our new dog, Wynnie. We don’t know that much about her background, so to find out a little bit more, we got her DNA tested.
This week, we got her results back! In addition to being 100% a good girl, she is 37% Australian Shepherd, 22% Chow Chow, 8% American Staffordshire Terrier, and a handful of other breeds in smaller percentages, including Husky, German Shepherd, and Chihuahua!
This combination fits with how she looks and her temperament. Who knew that’s the combination to get the perfect dog?
The biggest thing I found surprising was that the two breeds that make up the majority of her DNA are both long haired, and she has relatively short hair. It is a very thick coat, though.
The other good news was she doesn’t have any genetic red flags for potential health issues, so we should get to have her for a long time.
What I’m Working On
Knitting
Kildalton Cardigan
It’s DONE! The ends are woven in, the sweater is blocked, and it is ready to wear!
I started knitting the Kildalton Cardigan back in September, in the second edition of The Cuttle Corner. There were some weeks I made a lot of progress all at once, and some weeks I didn’t work on it at all. It was a lot of work, but it turned out exactly how I hoped it would!
It’s just the right amount of warmth and squish. I loved working with the Abundant Earth Fiber yarn, and the pattern was incredibly well written. It was so easy to follow and get a beautiful cardigan in the end. I will be wearing this sweater all the time!
New Sweater Started
Finding a Pattern
With my cardigan finished and (almost) no knitting projects to work on, it was time to start another knitting project. I had two skeins of lace weight yarn that I inherited that should be enough for a sweater.
I spent a lot of time on Ravelry looking for the right pattern for this yarn, but never found exactly what I had in mind. A lot of the lace weight sweater patterns were written with mohair in mind, or had a lot of lace details that I’m not in the mood to knit right now.
After asking The Claire if there was a book of choose your own adventure sweater knitting, I found out about Ann Budd. She has written several books that help knitters design their own sweaters, based on the gauge and construction the knitter wants to work with.
I checked my local library and was excited to find they had a copy of The Knitter’s Handy Book of Top-Down Sweaters available, so I packed up the kids, went to the library, and checked it out.
The key to using this book is knowing the gauge of your knitting. So after making a gauge swatch with my yarn, I found I had about 6 stitches per inch on size 4 needles. That makes a very light, drapey fabric, that will make a nice, lightweight sweater.
Casting On
I decided to make a simple yoked sweater, based on the instructions from this book. I’ll add a bit of interest at the collar with some eyelets. When I get to the main body of the sweater, I’m planning on adding a bit of ribbing on the sides for some subtle shaping.
With such a small knitting gauge, this sweater is going to take a while to knit, but it should be easy to grab and go whenever my hands need something to do.
Spinning
I have found time here and there for a bit of knitting. I’ve gone back to working on my Corriedale/Silk/Polwarth blend. The singles are almost finished, and then I’ll be able to ply the rest of the yarn.
When I started knitting my new sweater, I noticed the yarn has very similar colors to this fiber. I guess I’ve been in a purple and orange mood!
Until next time, keep cuttle-ing!
What are you working on? I’d love to hear about your projects in the comments below!
Gorgeous sweater!!!