I understand that most knitters have moved to Ravelry, but I hope it's okay to promote a good pattern here as well: I knit Trilo from Stolen Stitches (http://www.stolenstitches.com/2009/07/trilo/) and it was great!

The most important aspect is the back, I think:





The front:



As you can see, the armpit does pucker a little:





The collar is also so-so. But I think this is as good as a sideways-knit sweater can be. (Or my breasts are way too small. Which is not an option. Ha.) There must be a reason they usually knit sweaters otherwise.

Anyway, it was a great pattern to follow and a fun sweater to knit. Recommended. (For reference, my sweater is bit longer than the original.)

As for the yarn, I used mixed merino and opossum yarn a friend brought me from New Zealand. I later learnt that this is a rather sad case: the opossums are thought to be a pest, so they are probably first killed and only then their fur is used for making yarn. Well, of course I'd rather have the hair combed from baby opossums comfortably cuddled on somebody's lap, but this time, I already had the yarn and thought it better to make some use of it.

...or kolkhoznica? Well, never mind, because it really isn't. It's just that the floral pattern reminds me of slavic folk patterns on old ladies' headscarves:



I've been attemtping to sew for literally years, but this is, I believe, about the second wearable item I've made (the first one was a pretty plain skirt). I didn't follow a pattern, just, you know, cut some fabric and tweaked my way through it. A closer look:



It won't fall off of me or expose any private body parts, it is comfortable and looks fine. See, I'm psyched:



Given all that, I'm pretty sure it will shrink when I first wash it, melt when I first iron it or something like that. (I already managed to pull out a thread during the photo shoot.) So, let's have one more look at the random pleats and the mesmerizing flowers:

This is Stitch Diva's Silken Scabbard (http://www.stitchdiva.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=SDS-048) in wool and very homemade-looking (as opposed to handcrafted).

I decided to use some beautiful mustard-coloured yarn from a thrift store sweater. Half into the Scabbard, I saw that I was running out of yarn, so I thought I would throw in some stripes. Having finished the sweater, I found another huge ball of the mustard-coloured yarn. The moral: keep your stash organised!

The sweater also stretched a lot after blocking, because being the lazy person that I am, I didn't treat the "recycled" yarn at all, just ripped and reknit.

Well, I still like it.

So, one night I needed instant gratification.



I followed the instructions for crocheting and felting the hat (apart from some mistakes I made), but omitted the shape-your-hat-to-look-like-a-small-flower-pot part. Besides, I used, whaddayacallit, roving? instead of yarn.

Before felting it looked like that:

I want to knit pattern #44 from VK Fall 2007, Ruffled Jacket by James Coviello. Unfortunately, there seems to be a problem with the cable chart. A beautiful version of this jacket can be seen at http://www.treschicveronique.blogspot.com/ and she also links to the corrections she has posted on Ravelry. Unfortunately I have no access to Raverly and though it should be easy to figure out just looking at the finished cable, I can't wrap my mind around this right now.

So, has anybody figured out the right chart by themselves or would be kind enough to look it up at Ravelry for me?

P.S. I hope it's OK to post another persons blog here.

My first FO after a long, long pause: the (in)famous Cabled Riding Jacket from Loop-d-Loop by Teva Durham.

Sorry, the pictures are huge (even though Craftster has ever so wisely downsized them somewhat). I just can't figure this out right now...







I'm not sure if I'm going to wear this very often since it probably won't fit under any coat known to the humankind. But at least it's done. And the next knit will definitely be something requiring minimal finishing!

Warning everybody: this is a whining topic, inspired by my almost-finished Rusted Root t-shirt

How many knit items do you put on the shelf hot off the needles because they look so BAD on you? Do you spend hours, days, weeks knitting something only to discover that picking this pattern was not a good idea? Do you then bother to block them to see if it changes anything or not? Do you then give up, have a drink and start knitting something else, or do you dutifully try to fix things up? Do you manage to?

I know there are certain tips and tricks: try to copy the shape of your favourite garments, bulky yarn makes you look fat etc. You can even try some items on while still knitting them. But you can't see the future. Honestly, I didn't think Rusted Root would do that to me - it looked so nice and innocent. I wish I could try and see the fit BEFORE I start knitting. Oh, well, yeah, it would probably ruin some of the pleasure ...

See, I'm not talking about instant gratification - I only wish my disappointment was instant, not preceded by enormous hard work.

Argh.

I am going to make a dress out of some stretchy fabric - not sure if "tricot" is the right word, anyway, it's really comfortable, it's knit and somewhat resembles to T-shirt fabric but is thicker.

The thing is, I had envisioned the dress quite girly, with darts and a seam at the waist to attach a wide A-linish skirt etc. It only now came to me that if I've understood it right, lots of seams are no good for stretch fabrics and the stretch alone is supposed to give the shaping. But I don't want a simple, straight tube dress nor a wrap dress.

Any ideas ? Inspirational patterns ? Which do less harm, horizontal or vertical seams ? Or are the seams altogether okay if I use a serger ? Would I still be able to get away without a zipper ?

It was a free Bergere de France pattern that I modified a bit (such a neat word for all the pain) because the rollneck just didn't seem sophisticated enough next to all these cables.

The pattern (in French) is somewhere here http://www.bergeredefrance.fr/trico/trico.phtml?id_rubrique=2, called Pull empiècement rond.

Sadly, the blurry photos fail to depict my passionate feelings towards the sweater - how do people take pics of knitted items anyway ?



Some sort of close-up of the collar part (for which I just continued with the cables after they had been decreased somewhat):


EDIT:

Here is my attempt to translate the pattern. You may want to check all the numbers with the original pattern (there you can also see the diagram). I'm sorry for possible mistakes, since I'm tired and have never written a pattern in English, and I'm happy to correct everything you point out (for example, explanations for decreases and increases at sides seem very unclear right now). Feel free to ask anything.

THE CABLED SWEATER FROM BERGERE DE FRANCE
Sizes 1-2-3-4

Materials:
Yarn MAGIC (by Bergere de France),
10-11-12-13 skeins [REMARK: for turtleneck, add 1 skein],
5 mm and 5.5 mm needles,
5.5 mm circular needles,
cable needle,
14 mother of pearl buttons.

Stitch patterns used:
STOCKINETTE using 5 mm and 5.5 mm needles.

RIB PATTERN using 5 mm needles (worked over a multiple of  4 sts + 2):
1st row (right side of work): *k2, p2*, repeat from * to *, finish with k2.
2nd row and all even rows: purl.
Repeat these 2 rows.

CABLES using 5.5 mm needles (6 stitches):
1st row (right side of work): knit.
2nd row and all even rows: purl.
3rd row: sl 1 to cable needle and hold to front of work, k2, k1 from cable needle, k3.
5th row: k3, sl 2 to the cable needle and hold to back of work, k1, k2 from cable needle.
7th row: same as 3rd row [REMARK: So once you get it going, the actual pattern repeat is 4 rows. Which is far less intimidating.].

REVERSE STOCKINETTE using 5.5 mm needles.

Gauge:
For stockinette, 16 stitches and 22 rows using 5.5 mm needles equals 10 x 10 cm.
For cable pattern, 18 stitches and 22 rows equals 10 x 10 cm.

Directions:

BACK:
CO 72-78-84-92 sts, using 5 mm needles. Knit 2 rows stockinette and 4 rows rib pattern as follows:
T.1, T.3 and T.4: k3 instead of k2.
T.2: as explained [i.e, as explained in Rib pattern section above].
Continue in stockinette on 5.5 mm needles and beginning on 3rd row, decrease 1 stitch on each side at 3 stitches from the side every 6th row 6 times.
To dec 1 st at 3 sts from the side:
at right, k3, k2tog; at left, when you have 5 sts left, SKP [=slip 1, knit 1, pass slipped st over; REMARK: I SSK-d everywhere I was told to SKP, that is, slip 1, slip 1, knit into both stitches], k3.
Knit 5 rows in stockinette with 60-66-72-80 remaining sts; then, beginning on row 3, inc 1 st on each side at 3 sts from the side every 6th row 6 times.
71-78-84-92 sts remain.

RAGLAN:
When the work measures 35-36-36-37 cm (78-80-80-82 rows), BO every 2 rows on each side:
T.1: 2 sts once, 1 st once.
T.2: 3 sts once, 1 st 3 times.
T.3: 4 sts once, 1 st 5 times.
T. 4: 4 sts once, 2 sts 3 times, 1 st 3 times.
66 sts remain.

FRONT:
Like the back, but when the work measures 34-36-38-40 cm (74-80-84-88 rows), put on waste yarn 34 middle sts and then on both middle sides every other row 4 times 4 sts.

SLEEVES:
CO 38-40-42-44 sts on 5 mm needles. Knit 2 rows in stockinette and 4 rows in rib pattern as follows:
T.1 and T.3: as explained.
T.2 and T.4: k3 instead of k2.
Continue in stockinette on 5.5 mm needles, at the same time increasing at 2 sts from each side:
T.1: every 14 rows 1 st twice, every 12 rows 1 st 4 times.
T.2: every 12 rows 1 st 5 times, every 8 rows 1 st 5 times.
T.3: every 10 rows 1 st 4 times, every 8 rows 1 st 5 times.
T.4: every 8 rows 1 st 10 times.
50-54-60-64 sts left.
When the work measures 43 cm, decrease every 2 rows on each side:
T.1: 1 st twice.
T.2: 1 st 4 times.
T.3: 2 sts once, 1 st 5 times.
T.4: 2 sts twice, 1 st 5 times.
Put the remaining 46 sts on waste yarn.

YOKE:
Put on 5.5 mm circular needles 46 sts of one sleeve, 66 sts of the front, 46 sts of the other sleeve, 66 sts of the back (= 224 sts), and continue knitting in the round, at the same time on row 1 [REMARK: more like row 0, because this must be before cables start, right? At least that?s how I interpreted it.] decreasing 1 st on each side of each part and increasing evenly 4 sts at the front and at the back and 2 sts on both sleeves. Starting with left sleeve (insert a marker where the round begins; on row 1, the cables must be in the center of each part), knit as follows:
1st row: k15, *p5, 6 cable sts, p5, k41*, repeat from * to * 3 times, p5, 6 cable sts, p5, k26 (=228 sts).
2nd row and all even rows: Knit the sts as they present themselves [i.e, knit or purl].
3rd row: *k2tog, k13, p5, 6 cable sts, p5, k13, SKP, k2tog, k24, p5, 6 cable sts, p5, k24, SKP*, repeat from * to * (=220 sts).
5th row: k14, *p5, 6 cable sts, p5, k39 *, repeat from *to * 3 times, p5, 6 cable sts, p5, k25.
7th row: *k2tog, k12, p5, 6 cable sts, p5, k12, SKP, k2tog, k23, p5, 6 cable sts, p5, k23, SKP*, repeat from * to * (=212 sts).
9th row: k3, *p4, 6 cable sts, p2, p2tog, p1, 6 cable sts, p1, p2tog, p2, 6 cable sts, p4, k17 *, repeat from * to * 4 times, BUT at the end k14 instead of k 17 (=204 sts).
11th row: *k2tog, k1, p4, 6 cable sts, p4, 6 cable sts, p4, 6 cable sts, p4, k1, SKP, k2tog, k12, p4, 6 cable sts, p4, 6 cable sts, p4, 6 cable sts, p4, k12, SKP*, repeat from * to * (=196 sts).
13th and 15th row: Knit as the sts present themselves. Finish row 15 with k15 instead of k13 (beginning of the round moves 2 sts).
17th row: *p1, p2tog, p1, 6 cable sts, p1, p2tog, p1, 6 cable sts, p1, p2tog, p1, 6 cable sts, p1, p2tog, p1, 6 cable sts, p3, 6 cable sts *, repeat from * to * 4 times (=180 sts).
19th, 21st and 23rd row: *p3, 6 cable sts *, repeat from * to * 20 times.
25th row: *p2tog, p1, 6 cable sts *, repeat from * to * 20 times (=160 sts).
27th, 29th and 31st row: *p2, 6 cable sts *, repeat from * to * 20 times.
33rd row: *p2tog, 6 cable sts *, repeat from * to * 20 times.
35th and 37th row: *p1, 6 cable sts *, repeat from * to * 20 times. Finish row 37 with an additional p1 (beginning of the row moves 1 st).
39th row: *5 cable sts, SKP*, repeat from * to * 20 times (=120 sts).
41st row: cont with the cables.
43rd row: *sl 1 to cable needle, hold to front of work, k2tog, k1 from cable needle, k3 *, repeat from * to * 20 times (=100 sts).
45th row: *k2, sl2 to cable needle, hold to back of work, k1, k2tog from cable needle*, repeat from * to * 20 times (=80 sts).
[REMARK: Here begins my modification. Just continue with the cables that are now 4 sts wide and have no purl sts between them, until the collar reaches (almost) desired length, knit 2 rows, knit 4 rows of rib pattern, bind off.]
Knit 5 rows in stockinette, decreasing evenly on the 1st row:
T.1: 9 sts,
T.2: 6 sts,
T.3: 3 sts,
then loosely bind off the remaining 71-74-77-80 sts.

FINISHING:
Sew seams. Sew 14 buttons on yoke between the cables (see photograph).

I found some in my stash, bought when I was a young and innocent knitter ("Oh wow .. pretty yarn .. and bulky .. knits up fast !!! Who CARES what it's made of ?"). No, being slightly more experienced, I still have found no use for it. Sweater would be too heavy ( I know that now). Cotton is mostly used for summer clothing, but bulky summer garments .. ?

Actually I suspect it's not even real cotton (of course I've thrown away all yarn belts, probably because thats what the teacher back at school told never to do), but it acts and feels kind of cottony: consists of several very thin sewing thread like threads, no elasticity at all, heavy etc. What can you knit out of such yarn ?