Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Completed: Knitted Crop Cable Cardigan from Vogue Knitting Magazine

Yohoo! Long time no see everyone... Been really slacking around these days and I only wanna just sit on the couch and knit at the moment. At least I did finished a cute cardigan from Vogue Knitting Magazine Fall 2013 edition.
 
I choose the second cardigan pattern as it looks a lot easier with just 3 cables and is short sleeved. It's my first time working with cables and I am glad that 99% turned out well. The remaining 1 % is due to some mistakes I made in the midst of knitting causing increases in the number of stitches from dunno where n a small loop hole at the back. Well, I just close one eye and continue to finish with it instead of undoing the many rows of stitches.... Lucky I am not a perfectionist, some little flaws is totally ok with me.
 
 
Pattern used: No 2 Cropped Cardigan from Vogue Knitting 2013 Fall edition
Yarn used: 1 skein of Red Heart Super Saver Solids in Cream
Others: 1 transparent button from a upcycled old blouse.
Needle size: I used 4.5mm and 3.75mm circular needles for it instead of the stated 5mm needles as I dun have it in my stash yet. The gauge is still almost the same as stated.
Cost: $2.99 usd per skein from BX
(Yes! It's really cheap and I even have remnants from the skein!)
Duration to finish this cardigan: 5 days.
 
I got my remote control for the camera from amazon. It really makes self shooting much more easier and clearer! Happily snapping away....
 
 
This pattern is really straight forward and easy to follow and I like the way it is knitted from the top down and requires very little seaming. I got a bit confused at first with the cable portions, but I eventually got the hang of it.
 
Experimenting with different poses, forgive my vainness... Being a housewife now means I rarely got the time and reason to put on make up and become a vain pot. So whenever I got a chance, I try to make the most out of it. LOL!

 
Although I used a cheapo yarn for this cardigan, I like how the end product turns up. It's really thick and cozy. Of course, it will never be able to compare with how expensive wools feel like. But I am rather broke, so I dun have the heart to invest in expensive wools to play with yet.

I did a bit of online research on blocking of the knits and tried to block the cardigan. I soaked the whole cardigan in luke warm water for 30 mins and lay them out on a towel shaping it and dry it. But the front edges still tends to curve in wards and not straight and nice like the magazine pic. Any other suggestions on how to solve this problem?

The only seaming required is the underarms seams. Easy peasy and so much more convenient.

The button I salvaged from a old blouse.

The back cabling portion which creates a pleat like pattern. And u can also see the little hole on the right raglan sleeves portion.
 
That's it for now:) I am in the midst of knitting a simple rectangular shrug using the same yarn. I brought 2 skeins for this pattern initially and after finishing this, I still have 1 and 1/4 skein left. So might as well use them for a easy shrug:)
 
Thanks for reading!
Ashley
 
 

Sunday, August 18, 2013

Missing in action...

Sorry for the late updates, as mentioned before, my friends from SG is coming to visit us for a short holiday vacation. And the past 10 days we had drove more than 1000 miles in our trusty cheap cheap fort win star. Will slowly do up a travel blogpost on our road trip to SAn Diego and the amazing sea world. 
No sewing is done at all, so sorry for that, cos when we reach home from all the traveling, I am just too tired to lift my bum off the couch to do any sewing. But I did make full use all the driving time and knitted a little vest for my boys in preparation of the coming cooler season. 
Big brother modeling the vest. He just had a new haircut by daddy. Love his sideburns, look like those Nippon boys, so handsome!
Pattern used: Sirdar
Yarn used: 2 balls of sirdar snuggly baby crofter and some remnant of white snuggly dk
Buttons from Walmart.
Total cost of this vest: around $12sgd. The yarns are brought in sg. And when I went online to check out on the pricings of sirdar yarns here, I am shocked to realize that they are more exp here than in sg... Isn't UK nearer to States than Sg? Wierd...
I actually messed up on this simple vest by stupidly following the bodice instructions for the sweater version instead of the vest version. Ending up with a weird longer than should be bodice length. and I only noticed the mistakes after I have completed the back n front pieces, n with only 2 balls of this yarn, I can't change to a sweater version thus I had to use a remnant white yarn to finish the button up border. 
Nevertheless, I really like the color block effect. It makes the vest more trendy and cute. And it fits both my boys so well. 
And little brother modeling the same vest. 
Sirdar patterns are really easy to follow and I love their snuggly yarns soft texture. I still had some sirdar dk yarns in my tiny stash. Hmm, what should I knit up next? And I promise to get my bum moving to clear some sewing UFOs in queue ASAP...



Thanks for stopping by;)
Ashley