the sweater: Ribby Cardi
the yarn: Cotton Ease in Stone
the previous entries: 1, 2, 3

I’ve finished the all-in-one-piece body of my second Ribby Cardi and I’ve begun a sleeve. I’m knitting the sleeves in the round on two circulars, which is definitely taking more time than knitting them flat but I’m looking forward to not having to seam it. I’ve been considering getting DPNs to do the sleeves but lately I’ve been experimenting with the concept of not buying new things and seeing how well I can get along with the stuff I have. The answer so far is that I can get along just fine, no suffering involved. So I think I’ll live without making another purchase. Gosh, though, it’s like being on a diet.

Knitting the body didn’t take as long as I exptected, but I’m knitting a size smaller and a bit shorter than the last one.

Instead of binding off along the top I’m leaving the stitches live to knit the collar upwards. The back part of the neck is straight across but the neckline is curved a bit and I didn’t realize that these gaps would be left. I’ve been assured by a friend that I can pick up the inbetween stitches.

I’ve ordered an orange, 2-way separating zipper from Zipper Stop as well as a Peridot (light green) zipper for the next sweater. I’m planning on buying some glittery orange pendants from Glamscience to hang off the zippers, and idea I got from her use of them as zipper pulls on her pouches.

I’m considering making this collar a funnel neck length – closer to six inches. I tried on a sweatshirt at Old Navy with a funnel neck and really liked it, I hope it works when it’s made in yarn.

As the weather is getting colder here I’m finding the Cotton Ease isn’t quite warm enough, so I’m looking forward to making the next one in my chocolate brown Berroco Comfort for (I hope) added warmth and snuggliness. I’m also curious to find out if the Comfort yarn will pill terribly or not. After that I think I’ll try something using some Cotton Fleece yarn as I keep hearing reports that people who normally find wool too scratchy can wear this yarn with no trouble.

I’m happy with the Cotton Ease yarn, it was cheap enough to use to tackle my first and second sweater and pretty great as far as working with cotton yarns go. It doesn’t seem to be stretching lengthwise or pilling badly, and I use it as my default jacket/extra layer so I’ve been wearing it quite a lot. While the Cotton Ease colors have improved from the original incarnation of the yarn, I do wish the colors were better. My charcoal Cotton Ease sweater appears to be faded black yarn, and the Stone color I’m using now is a very yellowish gray which I’m afraid will always look a little dingy. The other Cotton Ease colors don’t interest me, or wouldn’t suit my skin tone.

In other news Scott’s cute little video camera arrived and we think it might be a little wonky. Until we find out I’m going to hold off on trying to use it. But, I’m that much closer to making up some tubular cast on and bind off tutorials with videos.