Grace Knit Along!
Who's ready to cast on this Friday? Me, hopefully :)
I'm knitting like mad to finish my Flowing Lines sweater for Outfit 2 - just one and a bit sleeves to go. I'm hoping that I'll get a chance to sit down and get that first sleeve finished today because I'm housebound with a poorly Nelly and a rather excitable Tess who's thrilled she has one of the kids home on a school day.
Speaking of Outfit 2 (before I fill you in on all the knit along business) it seems to be nearly done! That's in spite of February being short and me stumbling over the sewing. I told you about my wrangles with the top - finally, after another broken twin needle, it's done. I'm not sure why the needles kept breaking on me. User error no doubt. Things improved when I sewed at a snail's pace.
Yesterday I finished up the trousers. I ended up dyeing the fabric a brick orange colour (I'll show you soon) and the Clover pattern came together pretty quickly. But, like they say, pride comes before a fall. Feeling rather happy with myself, I thought I'd have a quick try on in front of the mirror. I slipped on the top, yanked up the trousers (which I'm told by a very straight-talking 9 year old are "too tight"... hmmm) and as I pulled up the perfectly inserted invisible zip, it broke. My reaction wasn't too pretty and the kids may have been exposed to some very unsavoury language... Then, after successfully putting the slider back on, I realised the teeth were actually broken, so had to take the whole thing out. More unsavoury language.
It's fixed now but my new zip isn't perfect by a long shot. I perhaps should have waited until I wasn't cross. But, on the plus side, I got to use my new invisible zipper foot twice and it's fab.
I'm knitting like mad to finish my Flowing Lines sweater for Outfit 2 - just one and a bit sleeves to go. I'm hoping that I'll get a chance to sit down and get that first sleeve finished today because I'm housebound with a poorly Nelly and a rather excitable Tess who's thrilled she has one of the kids home on a school day.
Speaking of Outfit 2 (before I fill you in on all the knit along business) it seems to be nearly done! That's in spite of February being short and me stumbling over the sewing. I told you about my wrangles with the top - finally, after another broken twin needle, it's done. I'm not sure why the needles kept breaking on me. User error no doubt. Things improved when I sewed at a snail's pace.
Yesterday I finished up the trousers. I ended up dyeing the fabric a brick orange colour (I'll show you soon) and the Clover pattern came together pretty quickly. But, like they say, pride comes before a fall. Feeling rather happy with myself, I thought I'd have a quick try on in front of the mirror. I slipped on the top, yanked up the trousers (which I'm told by a very straight-talking 9 year old are "too tight"... hmmm) and as I pulled up the perfectly inserted invisible zip, it broke. My reaction wasn't too pretty and the kids may have been exposed to some very unsavoury language... Then, after successfully putting the slider back on, I realised the teeth were actually broken, so had to take the whole thing out. More unsavoury language.
It's fixed now but my new zip isn't perfect by a long shot. I perhaps should have waited until I wasn't cross. But, on the plus side, I got to use my new invisible zipper foot twice and it's fab.
Righto. The Knit Along. Are you in?
For those of you who are new, we're knitting Jane Richmond's lovely cardigan Grace from her Island collection. It's a fingering (4ply) top down raglan. Do join us!
I am not a stickler for rules of any sort ;) but, the general plan is to cast on this Friday 1 March. In practice, any time you're ready would be fine :) Now, since my Grace cardigan is part of Outfit 3 of my Handmade Wardrobe, I'm aiming to finish mine by the end of March. You might choose to do things with your life aside from knitting, and so be it, I'm not expecting anyone else to finish by then (although if you want to, cool). How about you try to finish by 15 April? That's six weeks in total and takes in the Easter Break.
Because I like to have fun, I've organised a wee prize. Everyone that casts on and gets knitting will be in the draw to win something at the end. So far, the prize consists of yarn donated by my lovely LYS, The Sheep Shop, A voucher for Jane Richmond's patterns to the value of $15 donated by the very lovely Jane herself and a project bag, yet to be sewn, by moi. Fun huh?!
For the meantime, so that I can find you all (and we can find each other) it'd be great if you could start a Ravelry project for your Grace Cardigan and tag it trulygrace. If you don't have a Ravelry account, now's a good time to start one ;) It's free!
We're already chatting over here about the kal - and there's some lovely yarn being swatched. So come join in!!!
Have I forgotten anything? Do tell me if I have :)
Want to know what yarn I'm using? Well, it's a silky soft silvery/grey yarn, hand dyed by The Knitting Goddess. The yarn is the same baby alpaca, silk, cashmere blend as my Audrey cardigan, so I know it's going to be light, super soft and cosy warm. Yum.