Black Cotton Knitted Pullover

Well, well, well... another pullover finished!
I am really really happy with this jumper, I could wear it every day. 

After knitting three wool pullovers and realizing I do not live in Sweden, neither I work in the open, I decided to use thick cotton for my next winter knitted pullover. Cotton is not so warm as wool, but not so delicate neither. You can wash it in the washing machine with the rest of your clothes (only you better dry it flat), you can wear it directly over your skin, because it is not itchy at all, as we all know. All the wool I have tried is itchy to wear it directly on your skin. Cotton is not very warm, but when it is as thick as this, it is enough for a day indoors in my whereabouts. 

 

To find a thick enough cotton was not an easy task. I wanted it thick for the extra warmth and also because I wanted it to be black, and my knitting advisor told me that knitting black yarn is not easy for one's eyes. So I got myself a pair of silver metallic 5.5 circular needles, and went on to it. 

As it turned out, it was a very nice and pleasant project to make. The only cotton matching my criteria was Happy Shiny Cotton by Wool and the Gang. I was patient to wait for a good sale on their site, and BOOM!, it was mine for 56 Euros, hahaha!!!

Another advantage of this cotton is that it is very fast to knit, but it still looks delicate and drapes well.
I like to learn a new trick in every knitting project, and this time I decided to give Ann Budd's Top-Down Sweaters Book a try. As with the previous one, it was perfect. I could follow the charts painlessly, and the final fit, as you can see, is spot on.

So, very happy with my knew black thick cotton pullover. I will use again Ann Budd's book, and WATG's cotton again, I hope!

Here My Ravelry project.

Irregular Stripped Knitted Pullover

 Last winter I bought this sorted colours merino wool yarn in my nearest town, Lleida, at the Katia store. Unfortunately, they were closing it for good, and there was a 50% sale. They did not have 10 skeins of any colour, so I bought 2 deep red, 2 dusk pink, 2 green, 3 off white and 3 dark blue. I had seen an irregular stripped pullover in some add in the web, and I though it would be fun to reproduce it with different colours. 

Last january, when it was time to start the project, I could not find the add for the life of me, so I had to invent it! The only part I remebered was the white-blue even stripes at the top, so for the rest, I was changing colours whenever I felt  like it. That irregularity was much fun, everytime I changed colour I was happy and so the project went on very fast, hehe...

I followed the pattern of my other stripped merino wool pullover, (which I created following the grids in Ann Budd's The knitter Handy Book of Sweater Patterns) because I think it was perfect. I knitted on the round with cabled needles, a method I totaaaaaally love, becasue we do not have to purl, and becasue you get a seamless sweater at the end, which is perfect. 

For the sleeves, I reproduced the same stripes pattern, and then united it all to knit the yoke on the round. 
 When I finished knitting, I spent some time knotting and concealing the tails of all the colour changing, but thosw knots were only in one torno side and inside sleeves. 
I must confess I hate blocking sweaters. I do it, and it came out good, but it is a very scary moment when you take your 5-month-work out of the water totally mishaped. I am a new knitter, and I have never washed any of my sweaters yet, but I am quite scared of what will happen when a put them under water again.

I totally and absoultely love this pattern, and I think Ann Budd's book is a MUST for any knitter.

Here my Ravelry entry.

Knitted Spring-Fall Top

 Katia is a knitting yarn brand from Barcelona. They publish a magazine with patterns for their yarns, and this is the second project I make from the one Katia magazine I own. 

Originally, it was a dress, but I decided to shorten it into a jumper. I had to make a zillion calculations to transform it into a shorter version, with a big mistake included: the decreasings at the bottom are too close, and then I had to leave a straight bit at the waist. I realized the mistake when I reached the waist, and I decided not to undo 20 cm of circular jersey... I am not sure if  don't regret that now... The result is a weird shaping at the hips, but nothing too obvious that can't be repaired with some ironing... and not folding the top in the obvious way, which accentuates the problem...

Other than that, the jumper is gorgeous... I used a cotton degradé yarn with 4.5 circular needles. 

It has some lace work at the bottom, the top and the sleeves, one of the reasons I chose this project for.

With the lace and 3/4 sleeves, this is a jumper for spring or fall time.. which are quite long inland Catalonia where I live. I hope to wear it often!

 

Ravelry

Pink and Purple Stripped Wool Knitted Jersey!

I am so proud to present this new knitted jumper!
I am a new knitter, this is only my third project, and although I imagine all projects are special, this is special for me because it means me mastering the technique like a boss!
In the previous jumper, I was learning and struggling till the end. I had to undo many times long and short bits of knitted material, I even accepted many mistakes as part of the project.

 Not in this one.
This is perfect, no flaws, no mistakes. This is me mastering the knitting stitch and the creation of a pattern copying another jumper I had, tight to my body. As in the previous one, I followed the Knitter's Handy Book of Sweaters to replicate a raglan sleeve model. 

 I used the circular needles as the book suggests, so I now have a completely seamless jumper. I think it is the best way to knit a jumper, for the comfort circular needles offer and for the result.

 I took the sleeves with me in my summer travels to Portugal, Czechia and Cadaqués, and knitted in planes (that helps me in my fear to fly a big deal) and trains, beaches and hotels.
I used Katia's 100% merino wool like in the previous one. It's gorgeous to work with and wear. I won't be the last.

As I knitted along, I read Zimmermann's Knitting Without Tears, and I realized Budd's book is indebted to our saint patron of the knitters, Elizabeth Zimmermann, who invented, or at least popularized, the seamless sweaters knitted with circular needles, the technique of closing stitches in the underarm area, among many other things. It is a very interesting book to better understand patterns and freestyling.

The idea and design of the stripes was mine. I made them quite wide, 5 cm, or 16 rows long.
I also included some waist shaping, with decreases and increases that coordinate with the striping (every 8 rows).

I had some tribulations with the neck. The first version was too close and tight, so I undid it all and started anew some cm before. The second version was more becoming but since I simply bound off stitches at the last row, it became too tight too, so I undid it again and finished with a sewn bind off as E. Zimmerman, or Budd recommend.
I recorded all the details of the pattern in Ravely

I still do not master blocking, let us be sincere. I submerge the finished jumper in lukewarm water with some drops of soft soap, rinse and take the excess of water with a towel. Then I put it over a foam mat, with pins stuck marking the shape the original jumper had, and I spent two hours trying to shape it back into there. It is huge after taking it off the towel, and I have to proceed with infinite patience to clap and poke and gently try to absorb the excess into shape. It took a whole day to completely dry, but after so much struggle, the result is perfect. I have been told wool clothes have to be washed only once a year, and also that the piece will keep its blocked shape for 7 or 8 wash-ups, but I think it is going to become huge again next time I wash it. We'll see!