Hello everybody!

My name is Theresia and I´m new in this knitalong. But I already knit the back of my cardigan:


Update: The yarn I use is Phildar. It looks really nice but it´s not really fun to knit with....

Blocking

Hi All,

I am just about finished my second sleeve and suppose that it would be wise if I would do some blocking before I put this cardigan together.

I have never blocked anything before so I was wondering if anyone had any tips for me before I attempt this.

Thanks.

starting over

I frogged the back of the cardi this evening, for two reasons: I think it will be too small. Now that it had some length (I was almost to the armhole shaping), I could see that it was too small. Secondly, reading about the "michilin man" effect worried me. Umm....puffiness around me...I don't need that. I wanted to try out the "fix" of using a needle 2 sizes smaller on the rev st st portions. Let's see if it works.

Shoulder Shaping in Lace

I would very much appreciate any help anyone can give me. I’ve just bound off the stitches for the armholes, and am ready to start decreasing in the lace pattern. Are you supposed to knit the first and last four stitches on the right side in stockinette, and then do the decreases on the wrong side? Or are the decreases supposed to happen on the right side? Also, do those four stitches include the selvedge edge stitch? I feel like this should be really obvious, but I just don't get it. Thanks!

Nearly halfway done

I'm knitting mine in knitpicks Andean Silk (Merino/silk/alpaca) and it's so soft and lovely. I love the way it's coming out so far!


The two fronts I'm knitting together to make sure they're the same size,


And I love the pretty cable!

On the Money

I only had time for a really quick photo this morning, but here's the finished product!

Pinkaboo Dollar

My Dollar and a Half cardigan is done, and I'm quite happy with it. Although I've made a number of tops before, this was my first cardi. Even though I reduced the sleeve length by only doing 2" of ribbing instead of 4", they're still quite long - down to my knuckles like in the pattern photos. When I blocked the body of the sweater, I pulled it out more widthwise (reducing the overall length), which I wouldn't do with the sleeves because I wouldn't want them any wider than they are. So they ended up being about the same length as the pattern, when I'd planned on them being a bit shorter. But it's actually okay - I can wear them as is, or turn up the cuffs at the ribbing if I want them a more standard length. I actually like the sleeves both ways.

Sorry I don't have a photo of me wearing it yet - my photographer is out of town until late tonight, but hopefully I'll have one on my blog within a couple of days.

I even found some buttons that are a perfect match - almost exactly the same color pink, with a lighter pink swirl in them, so they really match the yarn's highlights and shadows. They're 3/4" instead of 1" as called for in the pattern, but the buttonholes didn't really seem large enough for 1" buttons anyway.

Pattern: "Dollar and a Half Cardigan" from Interweave Knits Spring 2007, designed by Véronik Avery

Size: 36-1/4"

Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in "Pinkaboo", 6 skeins (I had about 1.6 ounces left of the last skein.)

Needles: US 7

Modifications: Made two cable fronts, with the cables mirrored, and knitted only 2" of ribbing on the sleeve cuffs instead of 4". The sleeves stretched a lot, so I could probably have reduced the total length by 4" instead of only 2". Also, when I picked up the stitches for the neckband, I picked up about 2 stitches for every 3 rows, which ended up being the same stitch count as the pattern indicates to pick up for the smaller size. So I just followed the pattern for that size instead, and it worked out just right.

Tips: The increases and decreases in the lace were tricky, but it helped to realize that there should never be a YO right next to the first or last stitch in a row. I found it very useful to keep a list of what round the decreases should be on, and the number of stitches I should have after each decrease. When decreases for the lace fall on one of the PSSO rows, the easiest way to deal with it is to knit that row normally, and omit the last YO on the next row.

I Love It, Y'all

Stats: Lion Brand CottonEase in Snow, 8 balls. Size 9 Denise needles. Mods: shortened sleeves by 4 inches, that's all. Took me six weeks to complete, after ripping out 2/3 of the back and reknitting.

There is a bit of the Michelin Man effect on the sleeves (plus they are WHITE) but it's not enough to keep me from wearing it. I probably would needle size down for the reverse stockinette sections if I made it again. Otherwise, it fits me very well. I made the 41" bust size, but it came out about 45" around, due to my gauge being off (this is what I wanted since I knew 41" was too small for me).

This is the first pattern I've ever knitted from Interweave (besides face cloths), so I feel like I've justified my sub for another year, and it's inspiring to look at besides.

I thought I would pass along a tip that my mother told me for basting in your sleeves. This is the first sweater I've knit with set-in sleeves in a long time, so I tried using a circular needle to baste the sleeve in. Here's a photo:

All you do is weave your circular through the sleeve and body loosely a few stitches away from the seam edge. Nothing to it. I used to use pins or safety pins and they were a real PITB. This is so fast and easy and my sleeve went in perfectly the first time.

Helpful Chart

Hello All -

I'm a reasonably new knitter - only been doing it for about a year now, and this is my second sweater. So suffice it to say it is somewhat of a challege for me. As a way to help me keep track of the lace pattern and everything else, I made this chart. By just working down vertical rows and making little check marks you will follow the pattern. And it is great for keeping track of increases and decreases: I've just been marking "1st - 2 - 3 - 4, etc"

Anyway, I have this as a .pdf, but I am not sure how to post it. If anyone wants a copy of the chart, and can tell me how I can put the .pdf file on the blog, I'd be happy to. It makes sense in my mind... and I think it could be helpful to others.

lizking

Hello!

Hello all! I just wanted to make a quick post to say hi, since I just started my sweater, and have been following this KAL for a while. I ordered my yarn before I left on a short vacation, and it was there when I got home Saturday! I've cast on for the back, and knit about 1.75 inches of the ribbing. I want to get to the lace pattern, I swear this ribbing is taking strangely long. I'm liking the yarn I picked too; since I don't like cotton I went with a wool yarn. I picked Wool of the Andes in Maple Syrup, and it's a nice warm reddish brown. A little itchy, but I've used Wool of the Andes before, and it tends to soften pretty well after a good soak in wool wash.

Anyway, I just wanted to introduce myself! Well, I guess I didn't really introduce myself up there, just said hi, so real quick: My name is Shannon, I'm almost 20, I've been knitting for two years, and I can't imagine a time without knitting now. It is a huge part of my life, and it makes me very happy, especially to find more people who feel the same.

I'm a little slow.....

I've been enjoying this pattern immensely but have had dozens of projects in the works so haven't had much time to devote to it. I dislike solids, as anyone who knows me will attest to, so I chose to make mine out of Araucania's Nature Wool which is a hand dyed semi-solid (duh! as you can see!). The orange is really deeper and richer than my camera portrays and I'm loving it. I have 4 people making this pattern at the shop and all of them are doing well, although I agree that there will be some puffiness in the reverse stockinette bands but I suspect that will reduce with wear. We have also implemented a number of variations as all of you have already discovered and it is fun to see how these variations are developing. I hope to get a lot more done this coming week and will post my progress. I am loving all the enthusiasm that everyone is posting on this KAL. Keep 'em coming!

Not Reverse Stockinette

Hey All...

I know several people have wondered how this pattern would look if they did regular (instead of reverse) stockinette for the flat panels. Well check out this photo... Yes, I have to admit that it was an accident. I never intended to do it this way. But nevertheless, there it is, and I intend to keep it.

In other news, I have been using the needle-changing-to-avoid-bumps method to great affect. The thing is flat as a pancake, and I have not even blocked it yet!!!! (If anything, the LACE panels are slightly raised because of the larger needle size, I guess.)

I'm using the Soft Linen in brown called for in the pattern, available from my LYS, www.knitorious.com, in St. Louis, MO. Call Sandy, she'll ship.

So that's my story.

Lizking

Finally DONE! Sleeves: one is striped, one is lace & cable. It actually fits quite well.

Something went right! :-)

Buck-Fifty's worth on the Dollar and a Half cardigan!

I have completed the BACK, FRONTS, and SLEEVES (sleeves shown at left) All pieces been blocked, and the shoulders are seamed. I am just waiting for the sleeves to become bone dry. Phew. That said...I feel like a road-weary warrior. This sweater has been an indescribable pain...starting with that puckery/puffy/bulging thing that occurs within the rev st st "stripe". But I FOUND A REMEDY! You have to decrease your needle size by TWO SIZES when knitting the 12-row rev st st stripe...and you need to size down on the last row (12th row is a pattern row 7) of the "lace stripe"! If you do this, you will have virtually no pucker/puff/bulge issues!! FYI: For those of you who are "masters of blocking": this pucker/puff/bulge WILL NOT disappear even with your most agressive blocking techniques. A bit of rippling will remain.

I have a personal knitting website www.knittedartwork.com on which I have dedicated a full page to this nightmare of a pattern. Photos included. I have knit hundreds of cardigans and pullovers in my 36 years of knitting...and I will say, this was the most un-fun, annoying pattern I have ever had the displeasure of knitting. I have never frogged and re-knit any garment so many times! BUT, I was invested in it...TIME AND MONEY...and I was determined to get it right. Yes, I am a little OCD. I used a 50/50 angora-wool blend...CASCADE Cloud 9...$$$$$....so...I could not scrap the thing! Somedays, I just put it aside in defeat... and began again the next day. (I knit 8 hours per day, M-F...so for me to leave a project for a day is really putting it into "time out"!) Everyday I considered "divorcing" it! I also had to shorten the sleeves...grrr...so this also presented a "math challenge". also: one sleeve is the "stripes", the other sleeve is cable&lace like the Right Front. The "striped sleeves" are not as flattering on the arm as I had hoped, hence, the with the two sleeves being different like the two fronts...the WIDE LINE effect is broken up. The little gal in the model sweater would look great in a flour sack! Not yours truly.

Of course, as you all know, the model sweater (photo) places the lace & cable on the RIGHT FRONT...but the directions have it placed as a LEFT FRONT...so if you want your sweater to look like the model...you have to reverse the shapings. Grrr. I emailed Interweave Knits...they responded that corrections have now been made, and will be posted on the CORRECTIONS page on their website. Visit www.interweaveknits.com and click on BACK ISSUES>Corrections. The Corrections for Spring 2007 issue were not yet listed as of yesterday. Perhaps sooner than later? Keep checking back. I am curious to see if they address the BIGGER ISSUE of the puckering and bulging that occurs within the rev st st "stripe"! A fellow knitter is doing the sweater in the yarn recommended and shown on the model sweater...and she also had to use a smaller needle for the rev st st...TWO SIZES smaller just like me!
So, the bulge is not an issue that just ocurrs if a substitute yarn is used! (THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE is not supposed to be a knitting problem, is it?) We have a Knit-Along for this Buck-Fifty cardigan at the www.knittinghelp.com Forum, the "Dollar and a Half" is found in Knit-Alongs category. You might find it a little helpful, too. I found this Knit-Along in a Post that one of our KH Forum knitalong sisters made! Well, that is it for now. I will be posting new photos of my Buck-Fifty...after it is finally finished. (Buttonbands, buttons, side & sleeve seaming)

PS: I did a mock-seaming before blocking those sleeves: seamed the shoulders...and seamed in one sleeve and did a "try-on" for sleeve length, armhole "fit"...it looked pretty good! But, that said... If I could do it over....I wouldn't even start. I like a challenge...but this was a war.

I think the pattern was very poorly written, and the "mystery directions" were very unkind.
So much was left "up in the air"... So much is "unsaid"...surely the designer had to address pucker issues like the rest of us! Why didn't she say so?

I loved the "design"...but not enough to do it again. Would not recommend this pattern to anyone, newbie nor veteran knitter. I still "toy" with the idea of frogging the armhole shapings AGAIN...but then I regain my senses. :-) Leave well enough alone!

Well, by for now! Happy Knitting! Yeah, right.

Newbie!

Hi everyone! I'm still waiting for my yarn to come in the mail, but I've been looking forward to knitting the $1.50 Cardigan ever since I first saw the picture in IK. I'm going to be using Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in the color Columbine Blossom (sort of a grey-blue-purple).

I've been reading what the rest of you have written, and I've already learned a lot. I'm sorry the sleeves are too long for so many people, but I'm excited to hear that because my arms are really long, and I usually have to add about 2" to any given sleeve pattern. Looks like I'll be okay on this one.

Also, is anyone working the body as one single piece rather than seperate fronts and back? It seems like it would be easier, since there would be far less seaming. That's what I'm planning on doing, and I just wondered if anyone had any thoughts.

Anyway, I'll post more once I've gotten started. I can't wait!

Coming up a stitch short...

So I've run into a small problem. I'm working on the back, and (I swear this didn't happen during swatching) after I finish a complete lace section (that is, rows 1-6, 3-6, 3, 7) I purl a row, count, and come up with 98 stitches instead of 99. I fix it either in the purls or in the first purl row of the next lace section by not purling 2 together around the middle (p1, yo, p2tog).

Is anyone else having this problem, or is it just me?

Slow, Slow, Slow

Here are the sleeves, 14" worth so far. I think I knit an extra repeat of the lace pattern right above the sleeves, but I'm pretending not to notice. I was in the car and didn't have the sweater back with me to double check how many rows it was supposed to be. I'm concerned about running out of yarn, and that the sleeves will be too long (as per the others' FOs), so these will be shortened quite a bit.

I think it was a bad idea to learn how to crochet in the middle of a big project like a sweater. I am usually a one-project-at-a-time kinda person, so I feel like I'm juggling. I plan to finish the sleeves this week and start the fronts. . .

back is done

now the front will follow. i think i will knit the left one (without the cable) first because the increasing of the armholes worked fine and so i can follow the way i did it on the back.

I finally finished the fronts of Dollar, but not without great angst. The decreases in the lace drove me crazy. I knit, unknit, reknit, and re-unknit until I was ready to scream. Numerous times I'd decrease a stitch, only to discover a few rows later that I now had 2 more stitches in that section than before the decrease.

Part of the trouble was that I was knitting both fronts at the same time. That worked great up until I started doing the decreases. Then it got really complicated trying to keep track of the increases on both sides of both pieces (and decreasing on the right side of one, and the wrong side of the other), plus keeping track of the cable pattern. I finally gave up and put one side on a stitch holder, and worked each side separately. That went much better. Unless you're a really good knitter, I'd highly recommend doing that, even if you want to knit both sides together up to where the decreases start.

One thing that finally clicked for me and made things easier was that when decreasing on row 3 or 5 of the lace pattern (the rows with the PSSO), the way to do it is to just follow the pattern for that row without any changes. Instead, you'll really make the decrease on the next row by omitting the last YO in the pattern. Veronik mentions that in her tutorial, but I really didn't "get" what she meant from reading her instructions. You will occasionally end up with 4 stockinette stitches together at the neck edge for a row or two, but it works out OK.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good:

$1.50 is knit, seamed, and almost finished. ALMOST made it for the Project Spectrum 2.0 gray deadline, even. And the body even fits--wonder of wonders.

The Bad:

Although $1.50 is knit, seamed, and almost finished, the sleeves are about 8 inches longer than they ought to be. (What is it with me and sleeves? I am cursed!) I suspected this would be the case when I was knitting them, but was trusting the recommended measurements of the pattern, which turned out to be completely untrustworthy. Should I frog them from the bottom (which I'm afraid will make them too "fat" but will keep me from having to reseam), or should I just take them out, back them up and shorten them from the top?

The Ugly:

Also, doesn't this

sortof remind you of this?

--Chef Messy

My $1.50

I started my dollar and a half on March 8 and finished it March 30. I had to wait until Tuesday to go to Joann's for buttons. I had no idea I would finish it in time for Easter.

I used Knitpicks CotLin in Royal Plum. It blocked nicely but could probably use a little steaming too. My sleeves are long too but I think that's what was intended based on the photos in IK. I did both fronts the same. I like the asymmetrical look but I didn't know if it would stand the test of time and I didn't want to spend all this time knitting and not be able to wear it in a year;) I debated whether I wanted to do both fronts in the cable or the lace/ rev St st. As you can see I decided on the latter.

It was really fun to knit but I'm glad it's over. You can see more on my blog.

Not much farther

I reknit the back. Cable time. Everyone's sweaters are looking good (and to those starting: I do highly recommend the 2x2 tubular cast-on. And remember that the fronts are switched in the photos.)


My, that's puckery.

starting the back!

whoohoo me! started this at the harlot tonight!



so i'm scared of the reverse stockinette and need to make a decision soon about it... i really don't want a michelin man look and i don't want a super high maintenance sweater that needs to be uber blocked all the time... any one else?

Stalled

Argh the cable front is killlling me.... Its such slow going.

Just a little pic to let you all know i'm still alive.

I'm doing the cable repeat every 20 rows instead of 16, to make up for my row gauge being out. I cant wait to finish this sucker!

(Oh, and the cable front is smaller, until i kinda stretch it out to how it would be blocked and then its ok :D)

swatching!

hello all!

i'm swatching to start my cardi, i can't wait to start it! i haven't taken a pic yet but will shortly. i'm using debbie bliss cathay. i think i got gauge on size 6 needles. it's so hard though, i wish the gauge wasn't in the lace pattern. oh well.

how is everyone casting on? using the tubular cast on or just a regular cast on? the instructions i have for a tubular cast on are set up for a 1x1 rib, can you do a tubular cast on for a 2x2 rib? this is my first sweater for myself and i want it to look nice. thanks!