Sunday, November 12, 2006

Two Sweaters a long time in the making...

Here we have it! Ruben, designed by the amazing Elsebeth Lavold, (Designer's Choice, The Sentimental Journey Colllection, Book Two) and knit in Rowan Calmer, color no.481 (which I think is called Coffee Bean). This was originally my Knitting Olympics Sweater, and as you can see it took a bit longer than 17 days!
This sweater may look like it fits me great--and it does--however this sweater was originally meant for Bryant. I measured Bryant's chest a couple times, measured all of his sweaters, and based on that info, decided to knit the small. Unfortunately, and I think partally due to my yarn choice, this sweater has no chance of fitting Bryant. Calmer is a cotton and acrylic/microfibre blend and it's far to clingy and stretchy for a guy to wear. If I had this to do again I would have knit the bigger size without question or knit this in the yarn called for (or any pure cotton yarn). Cotton is so much heavier...I think had I knit this exact sweater in this exact size with the yarn called for, it would have fit Bryant. Alternatively, had I added a whole additional repeat of the cable pattern before the armhole shaping, I think that would have worked too. Oh well, another sweater for me!

Here we have a great detail of the amazing cables on the front and down the arm. If you're familiar with this pattern, the back of mine only has two cables rather than three. Yeah...ops. I misread the pattern when I knit the back, which was the first piece that I did, but not a terrible mistake because it's perfectly centered.







Here's another sweater that I recently finished! (I'm a finishing fool lately).
Side note: why oh why can I not get pictures to center correctly with blogger!???



This sweater is the Fair Isle Cardigan from Vogue Knitting, originally published in 1951. You can find it in Vogue Knitting Vintage Collection: Classic Knits from the 1930s-1960s. Obviously I've taken out the fair isle (I just wanted a good solid and plain cardigan pattern to work from). This is knit with Rowan Yorkshire Tweed DK in Frolic, and was started about 2 years ago. At least two years ago...maybe more! The ladies of the Long Beach SnB will most likely recognize this project, can you believe it took me so long to finish?
Detail picture of the amazing Moving Mud glass buttons which inspired this sweater. For this cardigan, the buttons definitely came first.

Also, for fun, my sweet Sake bomb!

Have a great week everyone!

10 comments:

Debi said...

Your Ruben is stunning!! I love it in the Calmer, the stitch definition is amazing! I know you're sad it doesn't fit it's intended but it looks lovely on you!

Anonymous said...

Wow, the Ruben looks awesome, the cable-y pattern is so pretty and I love how it contrasts with the horizontal stripes at the shoulder. That would take me six months to do, if I even could.

VickeryKnits said...

Thank you Jen--but I bet you could do it! It was the hardest sweater I'd ever tried at the time and except for sizing issues it wasn't as challenging as I first thought it would be!

Anonymous said...

Wow, it's great to see your finished Ruben. And you were worried about the back? It looks gorgeous. Good job!

Anonymous said...

Hi Vickery, both sweaters are stunning. I love how the Rowan Tweed sweater came out, the buttons and the edgings look great.

Anonymous said...

Vickery,

Hi! I'm just completing the sleeves on my Ruben, but the bit about those sleeves joining in the BACK? I've never tried joining cables! Eeek! Did you just luck out that the cable repeat ended where you joined? I can't see in the pictures. Can you give me a hint or eleven?

Lisa

VickeryKnits said...

Hi Lisa,
You don't end up joining cables in the back (on the tops of the sleeves) you actualy end up joining only ribbing. Does that make sense? I can take another close-up picture of the join if that would be helpful to you. You finish the cables on the tops of the shoulders, and just working ribbing from the cables across the back.
I will say that it's very hard to seam ribbing withough making it look messy. If I had that one part to do over again I'd leave the stitches live and kitchner or use a three needle bind-off rather thank seaming. Hope this is helpful and Good Luck! I think as you knit it will become very clear to you.

jenna said...

I realize this is a very old post at this point, but I just found you through your comment on my blog. Both of these sweaters are amazing!! LOVE the cables on Ruben and LOVE the color of the cardigan! I bet you get a lot of wear out of both of them.

Anonymous said...

You're the best! After double-checking the directions, I see where the cable stops. The kitchner idea is a smart suggestion that I'll use. I'll check back when it's done. Thanks!
Lisa

Anonymous said...

The sweaters look so great VIc! The pink one is so cute and flattering, I remember you working on this one at the LB SnB. I miss you! -Jenn