Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Its still too hot!

I really had wanted this to be done earlier, so that I could enjoy the cool fall weather in it, but I was sweating taking pictures of this ... and its almost NOVEMBER!
CPH
At least the leaves are still pretty. And I'm not complaining about the weather, it was beautiful today, but I love the cool cripsness of fall and it just hasn't really happened yet!
Central Park Hoodie - Done!
(Ilse and I seriously thinking about jumping in to cool off)
OK, the sweater, here are the details:
Pattern: Central Park Hoodie by Heather Lodinsky, in the Fall, 2006 Knitscene magazine
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers, a green-blue gray, about 4.5 skeins
Needles: US 8s

Verdict:
CPH
hmmm...I guess I look a little stern there, not as happy as I should be looking because I really like the finished sweater and I really enjoyed this knitting. I pretty much followed the pattern exactly, and it worked out just fine, but if I were to do it again I would probably knit it in the round (body and arms). There was a lot of seaming, which I didn't enjoy (mainly, because I suck at it!). Luckily, I got some help from the Ravelry Central Park Hoodie KAL. Darn, I don't mean to be negative - I liked this project! It was fun to knit, went fairly quickly, and the pattern was well written. I love the components: the cables, the hood, that its a cardigan. And it fits (the ultimate sign of a good pattern)! Well, a modification, it fits now - it was a little snug right off the needles, so I soaked it in some soak (I'm a fan of Aquae), then pinned it to the floor (I have carpet now, making blocking much easier!) (and with a clean garbage bag underneath to prevent mildewey eueew) according to the measurements in the pattern and voila:
Central Park Hoodie
Now it fits!

Modifications:
Central Park Hoodie Hood
The main/only modification was that I didn't seam the hood, I grafted (My favorite Kitchner Stitch link) it. I'm not great at grafting either, as you can tell, but I am getting better! And, this definitely looks neater than a big seam, right?

OK, now confession. I can't pay attention. I had issues with one of the arms and had to rip it out because I wasn't following the increases. And the cables. Remember my back cable mistake early in the project? Well, I didn't fix it and it ended up OK because the hood covered up the nastiness nicely:
You can't see the mistake!
But, then I went and did it again, in a noticeable area: the arm. Yes, the same arm that I had already ripped out once. And I was about 20 rows up by the time I noticed this:
A second cable mistake on CPH!
Of course, this had to be fixed ... but ripping?
Nope. Someone linked me to this tip from the Yarn Harlot, and I think that the quick and dirty worked out pretty well:
Fixed
You can tell, but this became less noticeable after washing. And its not a mis-crossed cable now. But I can see how this could bother a person. It just didn't bother me enough to justify ripping out the arm a second time.

One more thing, because buttons really are hard to find and it took me a bit to find these:
CPH
Buttons from JoAnn's. Blah, I know, but I got lucky and they were 40% off, randomly, so it was $5.35 for 6 buttons and peanut M+Ms (I don't do that often, I had missed lunch due to all of that seaming!). And, I liked these.

I can't wait to wear this ... I think its going to be in the LOWER 60s later this week, maybe it will be overcast t00 and I really will need a warm sweater! If not, I am sure winter is coming soon enough, I just hope that there is a little bit of autumn in the meantime.

Phew - I hope that you made it to here, and that all of the pictures loaded OK. Thanks for reading!

3 comments:

Sway Knits said...

I love it! The color is really flattering! And I think your solution with the mis-crossed cable was the smartest way to go. I hate ripping. I hope the weather cools down some really soon!

Christy said...

It looks great! It will be so cozy once the weather cools off some. And good thinking on the grafting; I definitely think it is the way to go for hoods.

Prachi said...

What beautiful pictures of your CPH! It fits you very well. Your knitting is gorgeous - I love the koolhaas-with-grapes, and the colourful mitts. And I've been eyeing that Marseilles sweater too, it should look very good in bright red.