There has also been some knitting going on.

I‘ve been doing quite a bit of sewing lately. It feels good to be back at the machine again. Of course, I’m also still knitting.

My big project has been a lot of soothing stockinette knitting for a plain ol’ raglan cardigan I’m making for myself. Nothing fancy, just your basic warm sweater made from Cascade 220. The sleeves are already knit – so no SSS to worry about. I’m just about to the part where I’m going to use EZ’s books to show me how to attach the sleeves to the body and knit up the yoke. After that – I’m going to be experiencing my first steek cutting – well, at least on a project this size.

The sweater was supposed to have been knit back and forth with a purl side – but by the time I finished the bottom band knitting, I had decided i didn’t want to have to worry about purling. So, I just added a few stitches for the steek (hopefully enough, I’m kind of starting to worry about that right now, but oh well!!) and kept knitting in the round.

I’ll add a button-band of some sort and a neck treatment when I decide exactly what I want.  Likely, it will just be more of the same 2 x 2 rib…but I could get adventurous by that point, one never knows.

It’s based loosely on the raglan cardigan in The Knitter’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns: Basic Designs in Multiple Sizes & Gauges – by Ann Budd (which appears to have been nicely updated if I’m not mistaken).  Except, as I said, I’m also using Elizabeth Zimmermann’s help as soon as I get to the yoke & sleeve attaching part.   I seem to understand her coaching better than others – although Ann Budd does  have a similar style as EZ in her instructions.  I like that.

This has been a great take-along project.  My friend Terri (sadly blogless) made me the quilted tote that I almost never leave home without – and this has been the project stuffed inside for the past few months.  At first, when I was knitting the sleeves, I’d take my knitting out (even at the convention we attended the end of May) and someone would ask “what are you making?”  To which I’d reply “a sleeve.” Now, that I’m on the sweater part, my answer (“a sweater”) seems to make more sense.  At least I don’t get quite as many puzzled looks as I did when I was knitting the sleeves.

Knit on!

Tagged as: Raglan Cardigan, sweater knitting