Balthazar Vest

I finished the vest this morning before work. All I had to do was weave in a bunch of ends. I'll try to post a photo of me wearing the vest tomorrow. In reading reviews of Twinkle's Big City Knits, I was forewarned that the patterns had lots of mistakes that were not even addressed in the published errata. I didn't run across that many errors in the Best Friend Cardigan, but there were plenty of errors in this vest pattern. There is no real instruction regarding the eyelet detail aside from how to create the eyelets. There is also lack of instruction for the short row shaping on the cap sleeves. I was able to figure the knittng out, but not before I had to frog several times on the body and armholes. I would not recommend this pattern for a beginner.

BFF

I finished the Best Friend Cardigan last night while I watched the Oscars. I wanted to wear it today, but it would have been too warm. As you can see, this is a very fitted pattern, but not uncomfortably so. I usually hate reverse stockinette stitch, but in this chunky yarn, it doesn't look too bad. I ended up buying the Twinkle's Big City Knits book, and my next project will be the Balthazar Vest, again in Rowan Big Wool in Acer, which is a warm brown shade.




I completed the stuffed pig on Saturday afternoon. It turned out much cuter than I thought it would. It was hard to visualize what it would look like just from the pieces. It was fun to stuff it, and then after adding each component (ears, tail, eyes, etc.), it started looking more and more real. It was a pleasant surprise!

I [heart] Chunky Yarn

I forgot how fun and fast knitting with chunky yarn is. I finished the body of the Best Friend Cardigan last night. I actually had finished this two nights ago, but ripped out the first attempt because the gauge seemed off even though my swatch was right on. It turns out that I was knitting too many rows between turning the cables. The sleeves are supposed to be knit up in reverse stockinette stitch, but I may try something different, like garter stitch, instead. I really like the subtle shaping at the waist. I'll have to look for some good buttons this weekend.

Knitting Update

I finished the upper body of the stuffed pig last night. It's a little smaller than I thought it would be, but after looking at it, I don't think I'd want it to be much bigger. I cast on for the underside and hope to get that completed sometime during the weekend. I hope it will be cute!

I hadn't yet decided on my next knitting project, but I'd been eyeing this sweater, the Best Friend Cardigan, from Wenlan Chia. The pattern appeared in her first book Twinkle's Big City Knits, however, I got it for free here, via bits & bobbins. The only down side to making this sweater was the cost of any super chunky yarn. Granted, I only needed five skeins, but that would be at least $75. But after receiving an email from a LYS that was having a sale on Rowan Big Wool, I took that as a sign and bought five skeins in a color called Zing. This project should knit up pretty quickly considering it's knit up on size 19 needles!