ramona cardigan

There’s something about knitting a cardigan or sweater that is just intensely gratifying and comforting. Maybe it’s working with wool in general, maybe it’s the fact that so SO many hours of work go into it and maybe it’s sheer amazement that you made something so intricate and it actually turned out looking good.

Either way, I am seriously in love with knitting cardigans this year and the Ramona cardigan in particular. I wanted a basic, neutral cardi that would go with everything and the classic shape of the Ramona pattern seemed a good fit.

The yarn is Cascade Ecological Wool in a color mix of oatmeal and cream which gives it a nice subtly marbled look. The Cascade yarn is another new favorite, it was a dream to work with and the whole cardigan only took 1.5 skeins.

The pattern is pretty straightforward and came together easily. I added a bit of length but it still is just a tiny bit short and I especially wish the sleeves were longer. I haven’t decided yet whether to frog and redo the last bit of sleeve but I probably will.

The buttons were a tough decision, I actually spent an hour picking them out, deciding in the end on some rather unusual wood buttons that go well with the oatmeal of the yarn. To add a tiny bit of color I sewed the second last one on with red thread instead of white.

I’ve already worn the cardigan a lot since it was finished. I’m constantly trying to downsize my wardrobe to a few favorite pieces that go well together and this cardigan will definitely be a staple. Plus real wool is just incredibly warm, always a good thing for me as I am cold pretty much all the time in winter.

Already planning my next cardigan! Does it ever stop, the wanting… (ok, ok, enough with the ‘Outlander‘ references already…). For more info on pattern and yarn, visit my Ravelry project page.

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transitioning into fall

It happens every year. As soon as the leaves start to turn and the days get shorter I feel the need to hibernate. Getting up early is harder when it’s cold and dark and staying awake in the evenings becomes a thing of impossibility.

Still, I manage to get a few rows of knitting and reading in most nights before heading to bed bleary eyed.

I’m making slow but steady progress on another cardigan for fall, the Ramona. The classical shape is beautiful and I hope it will be another staple in my wardrobe. With a bit of cardigan experience under my belt I am also itching to try some more advanced knitting, like cables or colorwork next. Oh, and a shawl with some yarn I bought in Scotland. So many projects, so little time.

Other news and inspiration:

• I am getting my act together and blogging some photoshoots from the last few months on my photo blog. Jessi’s summer portrait photoshoot and Mats’ family photoshoot are up.
• I am on Twitter (about 10 years late to the game?). Still trying to figure it all out but I’m wondering why I ever deleted my old account years ago. Come and join me?!
• What if we decided to live a healthy life … to love our body rather than to punish it? Great article on how guilt gets in the way of health.
• How would you describe yourself in five words? Just another way of getting us to reflect on who we are and where we are in life. I will try to do this every year. For now my five words are: creative, photographer, determined, reader, dreamer

Are you feeling the changing of the seasons too? Any knitting projects to inspire me and add to my neverending queue? (I just had to look up how to spell ‘queue’). What are your five words you describe yourself with?

the secret to even knitting

Ever wondered why your back and forth knitting was so uneven? I know I did for years…

Maybe this is something only I struggled with but I could never get it right and it was getting incredibly frustrating. Knitting in the round (as with socks) the knitting would look lovely and even but whenever I had to knit back and forth (alternating knit and purl rows) the knitting would be loose and ugly.

With the new cardigan I started it it was becoming a real problem.

The wrong side was even worse.

I needed to start fresh anyway so I decided to try and vary my knitting technique. I wanted to see if I could find out what was causing the problem. I had tried this before without success but now it finally worked! It turned out that the problem was my purl stitches and the solution was ridiculously easy:

With every single purl stitch I need to give it a little tug right at the end after slipping the stitch from the needle. So, make my purl stitch, slip it from the needle and tug to tighten. I can’t believe it took me so long to find this out! It immediately turned my knitting from the hot mess above into this:

Amazing, right? Again, I might be the only one with this problem but finding the solution made me dance for joy with a silly grin on my face so I had to share!

It gave me a huge motivation boost too so I have been knitting away like crazy for the last few days.

Did you ever have this problem? Or find your own solution to a knitting issue?