Saturday, December 29, 2007

Purple Autumn Rose


Hi All,

This is my first post, although I've been reading the blog for a while. My pattern book and yarn arrived over Christmas. I'm attempting to do this in an alternative colour as rusts and golds are not really my colours. Now I'm just trying to get the balance right. Here is my first swatch. I think I'm going to change the black to a softer grey and the coral needs to be one of the purples.
I'm going to do a second swatch with what I think will be the colours that I will use in the garment.


Saturday, December 22, 2007

Got some of my yarn



I went to the LYS yesterday to pick up the yarn for Autumn Rose. They were out of several of the colors, but they have them on order, so I'll be picking them up next week. I sat and did my guage swatch at the store, and the guage was off, so I'll be going up a needle size. I'm going to be making the 39" size, planning to cast on just as soon I finish the sweater I'm working on now.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

New to this

Hi everyone,
I'm new to this sweater, but I'm really excited to be casting it on over the holidays. This is going to be my second fair isle sweater so I'm really excited to get it cast on. I'm making it as a gift for a friend who likes the pattern and says that she will wear the sweater. I'm not sure how much time it will take me to actually finish this as my knitting time is pretty limited, the first fair isle I've been working on since August, and I'm just wrapping up with the sleeves. Hopefully this one will be a bit faster due to the fact that I'll be starting over Christmas break and should get a good chunk done then. I'll be heading to my LYS this week to pick up the yarn and pattern for this since they have a kit.
I'm really excited to be able to join in this KAL, even though I'm coming late, because all of you have made such beautiful sweaters or progress on them, and you're obviously a very talented group. Thanks for having me; I'll post again when I've actually started this beautiful project.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Fini


My Autumn Rose is finished and overall I'm happy. Pattern notes and final specs in this blog post including a small pattern error for the size 39. Thanks for all the help from the KAL group! It was so nice to have a resource for my first fair isle project.

Arghhh

Two days ago, I was putting on my autumn rose pullover when I heard a scratch (again).

In fact I had already done a repair one the back of the cowl, and this time, it was in the front.

I think that I have knitted the last row in old gold to tight (in US0).

I will have to reknit the cowl. This time I will CO more stiches and I won't use the US0 for the last rows...
I hope the problem will be solved this way.
(It also may help for the puffing out of the shoulders in the front (blocking helped but it's not perfect...))

Monday, December 10, 2007

Started!


I started last week! Here is the ribbing - at least, 3/4ths of it. I'm ready to move into the body pattern now!

I think I've already run across an error. If you look at the book photos, there is only one row of Old Gold at the top of the ribbing, then you get the black row. In the directions they tell you to knit the setup row in Old Gold and then start the chart - this would give you two rows of Old Gold, which is clearly not what is in the photos. So I think the setup row counts as row 1 of the chart and I'm heading in that direction (I'm making the small size so the charted knitting starts with the medallions).

Friday, December 7, 2007

Home stretch


I am so excited to be coming towards the end of this project! I can't wait to cut the steek and see if it fits (one of the frustrating things about knitting this way...I usually try on my sweaters quite a bit as I go to customize fit). I've had a few questions and mistakes along the way but overall it has gone pretty well so far. More details at my blog: http://www.divaknitting.com/blog/2007/12/07/just-rosy

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Mods, mods, mods

One concern I have for this sweater is length. I prefer top down construction because it is rather easy to adjust for such things. Personally, I like my sweaters a little long in the body (no bared mid-riffs for me, please) and since I have a long torso, I frequently find most of my commercially made sweaters a a bit shorter than I would like. So my question for the KAL is this:

Could I do a provisional cast-on for the body then add the corrugated ribbing last in case I need to add length to the sweater? Specifically, would anyone notice if my stitches change direction?

Thanks.

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Casting on the steek stitches

I have reached the 10th increase round (size 39)of the body. Stitches for the steek are cast on at this point but I am a little confused because it seems like if I do the instructions as written the center of the neckline will be off??? (I am sure I am reading this wrong but I can't seem to figure out what I'm reading into it. Hopefully the wine isn't affecting my judgement.)

Could someone elaborate/reassure me on the instructions here? They are as follows: "begin working front neck shaping on same round as 10th inc round by slipping the center 31 sts of front to holder. Place marker on left hand needle, co10steek sts, place marker and continue chart as set."

To me it seems like the CO steek sts should be the center of the neck and if I CO AFTER the center 31 sts that would make them off center. I'm also unsure of how to treat the center sts on the holder? Am I to work in pattern across the 31 sts then place them on the holder? What do I do when I come to them on the next round?

I'm so glad you guys started this KAL. I'm hoping you can get me through my first fair isle project! It has been a real godsend so far!

Another one?

Hi,

My Autumn Rose is finished, and after wearing it a few days, I have to say that I love it. To me the yarn is not to itchy.

But I was so impatient to wear it, that I didn't take the time to block it.
I realise that the shoulders are puffing out in the front. I hope that blocking will help!

I had a lot of fun knitting violet and white mitts and hat adapting the autumn rose pattern.










As I have a lot of yarn left I thought I could knit another Autumn Rose pullover as a gift.
I was considering a violet variation, here is a swatch :


And here a reconstruction of what the pattern would look like :


Now the problem will be to find the good shades of violet in shetland spindrift.
I was considering Aubretia, Loganberry heather mix and Clover or Violet and Anemone.
It's hard to choose without seeing the yarn...
And I am not sure for the yellow row, cream could be a better choice.

Advices are wellcome!