FO: Toasty Cabled Vest
I’ve had a cold for over 2 weeks now. It comes in waves where I feel better and then I’m in bed for a whole day again. The up side of this is that I’ve spent a lot of time resting, knitting and crocheting. The down side is that the photos of me with the FOs look pretty awful.
Remember the Crimson Ridge Cowl? There is a reason why the photo of me is blurry. I felt pretty damn awful and my skin was dry, reddish and blargh! Unfortunately, I feel the same today. So please excuse the pale skin, puffy eyes and reddish nose. I’m putting on a smirk for the camera (well, attempted to) because I’m so dang proud of my Toasty Cabled Vest!
Knitting Pattern: Knitted DROPS top with short sleeves with cables and rib
Yarn: Patons Micromax 16 ply (Free yarn from a friend who was destashing! Yay!)
Needles: 8mm
More @ Ravelry
This vest was surprisingly easy to knit. Knitted in the round so there’s barely any seaming. The pattern had clear instructions and measurements. Love the chunky cables and boy, did this fly off my needles! I knitted most of it over the weekend and was lounging around in it last night while watching Saturday Night Fever on tv. It’s truly a too-sick-to-get-off-the-sofa kind of project.
Even with my sore head, I managed to graft the shoulder seams together using the Kitchener Stitch. The arrow and dotted line in the above picture show where the grafting happened. It’s pretty good I think, especially since it’s the first time I grafted non-stockinette stitches. I followed the clear instructions from TECHknitting in the latest Spring issue of Interweave Knits. It’s worth getting the mag for that one article if you haven’t bought it already.
Now for the bestest bit. I put on the vest for the first time and Richard said, “Wow! I love the cables! Would you knit me a cabled vest too?”
Ahhh… music to my ears!
My Creative Space
My creative space has been filled with …
… arm lengths of knitted i-cord,
(tutorial coming soon)
… shades of lofty violet cotton going round and round,
(my “forever” blanket wip)
… and the click clack of excited knitting needles.
(a cabled vest for me)
Life’s good. 
Pop over to Kootoyoo to see all the other creative spaces playing this week.
Knitted a man’s sweater in 13 days!
I’ve done it! I knitted a man’s sweater in less than 2 weeks! Woohooo! *happy dance*
The 2010 Winter Olympics was a fabulous knitting companion. All the excitement and disappointment, the trials and tribulations, the love and passion – all of which poured into this gorgeous sweater.
Why I LOVE this:
- Great looking yarn that kept me motivated to knit the sweater. It was fun watching the stripes form automagically.
- Bulky wool and alpaca blend yarn means this sweater is very warm and squishy. It makes Richard even more huggable when he’s wearing it.
- The sweater fits him perfectly which makes him a very happy man.
- Elizabeth Zimmerman is a genius to work out such a customisable sweater formula. I’ve learned so much from the aptly-named ‘Knitting Without Tears’ book. But it really isn’t a beginner book. I needed my knitting experience to fudge along the way as directed by EZ.
- A confidence-boosting project. To knit with such a time constraint using a formula rather than an actual pattern has really shown how far my knitting has come. My passion for knitting is further ignited and I can’t wait to start my next knitting project.
I also learned to knit two sleeves at a time. I used the magic loop method and cast on like I was knitting two socks at a time. This tutorial by Knitting Giraffe helped me get started. I love knitting the sleeves together. I think it’s quicker as I don’t have to keep track of rows and count stitches twice.
Knitting pattern: Seamless Hybrid (Shirt-yoke version) by Elizabeth Zimmerman’s ‘Knitting Without Tears’ book
Yarn: Patons Jet
Needles: 5.5mm
More @ Ravelry
So what do I get for knitting in this year’s Ravelympics? A medal of course! 
Click on this button to see all the sweater projects in the Sweaterboard Cross
Now I’m off to watch the last few events before the Winter Olympics 2010 closing ceremony. See ya later!
Related post:
Ravelympics: Ready, Steady, Swatch!
New Pattern: Perry the Pear
My obsession with super-sized cuddly fruits continue! Many of you have left comments saying you can’t crochet but would like to make one of my Amigurumi Pears. So I’ve come up with a knitted version just for you.
Perry the pear is huggable, cute and has a big heart. I have him sitting around the house – on the bed, on the sofa but most of the time he’s right here on my desk. Whenever I get frustrated and need to turn my frown upside-down, Perry is there to greet me with his loving smile. A cuddle a day sure brightens my day!
I knitted the pear with soft bulky weight acrylic yarn, which makes Perry a quick and affordable plush toy to make. He is a fun one-skein, weekend project and your kids would love you for it. I dare say the grown-ups would love him just as much too!
If you’d like to make your own pear plushie, please visit my Perry the Pear pattern page.
Furry Colleague + Weekend Special
I’m trying to get some work done today. I have the house to myself. I turned off all my usual distractions. It was going great until Olly turned up. That was the best I could do to get him away from me. At least he wasn’t lying on the keyboard or my hand or the mouse or all of those at the same time! Argghhh…
Thankfully, he’s moved to his box now and I can get back to work.
So I’ve got something special to share with you. It’s a little treat for Ravelry members who like knitting and cuddly things. But this offer is only going to last a couple of days so you better hurry! 
♥ CLICK HERE FOR YOUR SPECIAL WEEKEND TREAT ♥
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