Red Rosemorran

Back in February I think it was, The Scrumptious Collection, Vol 3 by Fyberspates* came out and, as there often is, a blog-tour with give-aways at each stop happened and I was lucky enough to win a copy**. It is a really beautiful book, both physically (page layouts) and conceptually (patterns) and my only problem was deciding what to cast on. I loved the Kenwyn hat and cowel, and needed a hat to match last winter's purchase of a dark teal (they call the colour "petrol" here) coat, but I saw there is a contest on the Fyberspate's rav group where the first person to complete any of the patterns in the book with the suggested yarn would win the yarn to knit any of the other patterns in the book. I had the yarn for Rosemorran in my stash and I wanted a summer cardigan for our changeable Scottish weather so I thought, Perfect! and in March I cast on.

Are you laughing yet? I'm laughing. I thought I could cast on a cardigan in March and finish in time to wear it over the summer? Hahahaha, no. I didn't work on it at all when I was in California for three weeks, and I occasionally knit other small things like a sheep for the Highland Wool Festival competition, but it was my main project and I just finished it last week, in October. Yeah, world's slowest knitter strikes again.

I made a few modifications, most notably using Custom Fit to get a cardigan that would fit me perfectly, without having to work out my own modifications to the pattern. Lazy, yes. Worth it, oh yeah. I took the basic shape from the pattern (long sleeves, crew neck, ribbing lengths for cuffs, hem, and collar, knit the stitch pattern, knit my tension square/guage swatch, washed and blocked it, then entered the size and weight along with the number of stitches and rows I needed for the pattern repeat and using my measurements, I got a custom pattern for a custom cardi. Custom Fit even estimated how much yarn I'd need (though I've not weighed the finished jumper to see how close it was and it has buttons now).

Seven months of knitting later, and I've got my jumper! There was a little problem with the buttons, namely I had eight of them and 10 button holes and when I went back to the shop where I bought them they were (gasp) sold out, but I'd used two on a cardigan Little Djinn has outgrown and I was able to find it in the retired clothing box, cut off the buttons, and add them to my jumper.

Is it perfect? No. I should have gone down a needle size on the ribbing to tighten it up. The shoulders aren't perfect - are they too wide? are the arm holes too big? Are they perfect but the weight of the jumper is pulling them down? I'm not sure. I may sew a ribbon on the inside of the button bands to add stability, and possibly under the shoulders as well. but it's beautiful and it follows my curves perfectly. So much better than I could have done on my own, even knowing intellectually how to "do the math" to adapt a sweater.

Oh, and the contest to knit the sweater first? Someone else knit it first, of course. Winning the book and having a wonderful cardigan will just have to satisfy me.

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*rav link because a quick google didn't turn up a page for the book itself and the listing on Fyberspates website isn't as good as the rav page.

** my winning strategy? I only entered once (I didn't want to accidentally win more than once), but I entered on a blog with a smaller following.

Knitting Needle Give-Away

My first give-away!*

For Christmas my then-fiancé-now-husband gave me a set of KnitPro intercheangeable wood needles. This giveaway is not for them but rather for some of the cheap needles I bought when I was first learning to knit and no longer need - and I want them out of my knitting box. In all honesty, I doubt I need half the needles I am keeping, outwith my interchangeables, but you never know when you're going to want a second circ for a Turkish CO or when I may wish to use DPNs rather than Magic Loop for a project. It could happen.

In the meantime, I have some needles with which I am willing to part:

Straight Pins:
Clover "Bamboo Premium", size 5.0mm (8US), 32cm(9in) long

DPNS:
Bryspun Bry-Flex (plastic), size 4.5mm (7US), 5in long, set of 5
Bryspun Bry-Flex (plastic), size 4.0mm (6US), 5in long, set of 5

Circulars:
Susan Bates (metal), 4.5mm (7US), 81cm (32") long
Susan Bates (metal), 5.5mm (9US), 81cm (32") long - no packaging
Clover "Bamboo Premium", size 4.5mm (7US), 41cm(16in) long - no packaging
Clover "Bamboo Premium", size 5.0mm (8US), 41cm(16in) long - 3 pairs (don't ask - I already gave away a fourth), packaging for one pair

That's it. Those are the needles with which, at this time, I wish to part. I have no idea how much it'd cost to post them so while I'll most likely cover it within mainland UK (especially if you'll take all of them off my hands), I make no promises. If no-one wants them by this time next Tuesday (12 July) I'm taking them to my local knitting night, and after that to a charity shop. If more than one person asks for any given pair of needles I will make an arbitrary decision, blah blah blah.

* Saying it like this makes it sound like I'm a cool blogger with lots of readers who regularly gives away nifty things to those readers. This is far, far from the truth.