see mi knit

So, a few days ago, I was reading one of my favorite fashion blogs (Catwalk Queen) and they posted about some French store that had these really cute cashmere bangles:

Guess how much they are?  135 Euros!!!  That's $180 for you folks at home.

Now, good for you if you have that kind of money to burn, but my dears, what is a girl to do when she has no money and lots of leftover yarn?

Why, you get your needles out and make yourself a (couple of) Swatch Bangles!

Named so because it's literally made of a knit swatch and a bangle.  Oh and the good sense you were born with.

I'm so pleased with the results that I went beyond the call of duty and put together a pictorial so that you can save yourself $180 too.

------

Materials:
Yarn - doesn't matter what kind as long as it's not too bulky (can't fit your hand in the bangle otherwise)  My gray bangle is Knit Picks merino style which is a DK weight.
Needles - whatever your yarn of choice recommends for gauge.
Bangles - I got mine years ago from Forever 21
Needle

Instructions:
1.  Measure your bangle this way:

This will be the width of your swatch.

2.  Pick a stitch, any stitch and start swatching!  My gray bangle is a Moss stitch and my white one is something called Crocus Bud.  I got my projected width usually by my second try.  It doesn't have to be perfectly exact, since luckily yarn is usually stretchy when knitted up.

3.  Knit until the length fits around the bangle and the two ends meet comfortably:

4. Bind off. Cut the end but leave yourself PLENTY of extra yarn. You will be using this to seam. I left about 24" and that was plenty.

5.  Seam the cast on end to the bound off end.

6.  Fit this bracelet looking thing around the bangle and start seaming the sides like so:

7.  Continue seaming the two sides together all around the bangle:

8.  Weave in the yarn a bit and then cut it off.  Rearrange the swatch so that the long seam is on the inside of the bangle. 

I am not the best with seaming so I couldn't make the end seams invisible, but I'm sure those who take more care than I do can pull it off.  I bet some sort of involvement of DPNs would do the trick, but frankly the seam is just not noticeable enough for me to care. ;)

Thoughts:
I love that it used up leftover yarn, it was a quick knit, and I didn't have to worry about being too neat or precise.  I like both the textured stitch as well as the lacy one, which allows the red of the bangle to show through.   A plain stitch with variegated yarn would be great too I think. I first started out with some Manos but it was pooling so I just switched to a single color yarn.  Sock yarn's an interesting possibility, but that might go against the whole "Make two in two days" lure of the project.

I think a cable stitch or a rib stitch like the one that's for sale would also be cute, but I ran out of bangles.  Which brings me to the best bit: If I get tired of these I can just cut the swatch off and make a new one!

Gentleman's sock in Lozenge Pattern!

Pattern:  From Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Jitterbug in Plum
Needles: Susan Bates US 1

Great pattern, great yarn. I will definitely be knitting more socks from this book.  The yarn was scrumptious to knit with and is lovely knitted up, but wow the yardage is a nailbiter!  I usually never ever worry about running out of yarn, but with this pair I was seriously wishing my electric scale could plug into UK outlets.

My not so cropped sweater is coming along smoothly.  Speaking of nailbiting, after some rough estimation it looks like my 10 skeins will be just about right. Just about.  *Crossing my fingers*

The latest gameplan for the Rebecca cropped sweater (I need a name!) is to modify it to be something like this:

That's "Britannia" by Berroco.  So for my sweater, I'll cable all the way down to about the waist, while also extending the placket, and then have ribbing for about 4 inches at the hip.  I'm also planning on making the body slightly longer so that there's a bit of extra material before the border.  I've looked at the (free!) pattern for Britannia and they don't do any shaping along the body, it just relies on the placket opening up. My only concern is that Britannia uses a completely different yarn, one that Marisa has used before, and she tells me it's very "drapey".  The Cashsoft Aran isn't exactly drapey but I'm crossing my fingers that the end product will look as nice as I imagine it in my head.

In other news, the Gentleman's Lozenge sock is now an FO! They are on the bunny blockers right now so hopefully I'll get some pics this weekend (crossing my fingers the brief sunshine today lasts).

For my next "big" project, I hemmed and hawed a bit, even though I have a massive queue going in Ravelry, nothing really spoke to me.  I finally dug out some old magazines and this sweater in Rebecca 29 caught my eye. I had always wanted to make it but had forgotten about it:

The thing is, I do not want to make it so cropped!  What should I do?
The options are:

• Continue the 1x1 ribbing all the way down - oh my god, the thought of 1x1 ribbing from boob to hip makes me want to cry.  But I feel like I wouldn't have to worry about shaping as much because the ribbing would flow better with hip and waist curves?  Anyone know?
• Continue the cable pattern down to waist and do a 1x1 rib border - I envision this to be a bit fitted, so I'm worried that if I do cabling I'll have to mess about with shaping.  This may not be too bad because the join between the front and back is with some rib stitching and it may simply be a matter of increasing/decreasing these stitches.
• Something else - I don't know what other options there are. Stockinette, I think, would be all wrong.

I'm loving the yarn I'm using, RYC Cashsoft Aran.  Not too wooly, soft but not "floppy" if that makes sense.

That's a closeup for one of two sleeves I'm doing at the same time.  It's a nice pattern, easy to memorize... that is, it's easy after I figured out what the f&*# was going on!  I drove myself crazy for about a week with 4 false starts and after a zen moment in the car ride home, clarity hit me like Buddha in a UFC ring. 

It turns out that 1) I don't know how to read a friggin chart which is only exacerbated by 2) my inability to do math.  Knitting is a humbling experience.

This has got to be some kind of record, me saying that I'll be posting FO pictures soon and then actually doing it.

Here is the unveiling of the Mogul Sweater!

The official specs -
Pattern: Schoeller Stahl Woman's Cardigan
Yarn: Schoeller Stahl Merino Stretch, 9 skeins
Needles: US 8s and 10s, Addi Turbos

Modifications:
A lot of modifications as you can see from the original pattern pic.  Basically, the sleeves are shorter, the collar's longer, and I made button bands instead of inserting a zipper.  Love the buttons!

Thoughts: I generally like this sweater a lot.  The yarn is very snuggly and not itchy at all. That said, I don't want to knit with stretchy yarn anytime soon.  I adore all the patterns out there with say, Calmer, but I just had a really hard time with tension with this project and in the end, I think one of my biggest problems with the odd measurements is because of the extreme sproinginess of the yarn.  Also, I just barely had enough yarn for everything (a wisp of a handful left) and that's also probably because I knit too loose.  But overall, I'm happy with the modifications I made and happy with the end product.

Next up, Michelldon!

Pattern: Sheldon on Knitty
Yarn: Leftover randoms of Peruvian Highland Wool and Berocco Ultra Alpaca
Needles: US 6 Clover dpns, US 5 crochet hook

Modifications:
Googly eyes instead of black ones. Also instead of an icord attachment (talk about fiddly!!!) for the shell top to the shell bottom, I simply attached the two pieces using the crochet hook. I don't even know what the name of the stitch I used was, just a single hook between a loop in the shell and a loop on the botton part.

Thoughts:
Cute! Fast! Economical!
That said, I dunno about toys and all their bits. I was about to go nuts after the third leg.

Hellooooo world!

What a different weekend this was from last weekend.  Totally relaxing, with a little baking, shopping, and... knitting!!  It was a great weekend for FOs. Here's a sneak peak via the camera phone until I can get real model shots:

Yup, that's the "Mogul Cardigan" all finished and modified almost beyond recognition. 

Just how modified? Here's the actual cardigan:

The sleeves came out WAYYY short (even though knit to the correct length) and I couldn't be arsed with a zipper.  Besides I LOVE the buttons, can't wait to take a pic of them close up.  Oh yeah, the collar was also a bit fudged because the mock turtleneck collar didn't seem like i would work with buttons.

I love the end product (I'm wearing it today) but the pattern was really poorly written.  Definitely the finishing up instructions were for a different sweater, it was just obviously wrong.

Oh, and the little buddy in my hand?  You probably guessed, that's a Sheldon, appropriately renamed "Michelldon" 'cause it's flying over to the states to give my friend Michelle a "Cheerio"!  I don't think she reads this blog so it's safely staying a surprise.   Anyhoos, such a quick knit, but I don't think I'll be doing stuffed animals again too soon. All the bits were too fiddly for me.  I also couldn't find normal black eyes so had to settle for googly ones, but that's ok, he's still adorable.  Anyway, will leave the details for the official FO shots coming up soon... ehhh hopefully soon!