2/24/10: My Finished Liesl

Ahem. I. Am. Done. :)

My Liesl is finally finished after hibernating off and on for about a year. It was finished Saturday night and blocked Sunday. It fits well and I think it looks so pretty! I did go ahead and crochet around the armholes because there were a few loose loops that needed to be tended to. I can't wait for warmer weather to come along!

So here it is. . .

And here is a closeup of one of the armholes that I crocheted around using single crochet.

2/19/10: Almost Done with My Liesl

I'm keeping true to my earlier post by spending a good deal of time this week knitting my Liesl, a lace cardigan designed by Ysolda Teague. At this moment I am about 5-6" away from being done. I'm working on the lower body and since there is no change in pattern (no decreasing and whatnot) I am coming along speedily. I think I should be done by this coming Tuesday! :) I can't wait!

OK, now for some notes. . .

1. Problem separating sleeves - I ran into a problem when separating the sleeves from the body section. I had to bind off some stitches for the armhole on the first row and on the succeeding row I needed to cast on stitches whilst knitting. I haven't cast-on whilst knitting much before so I wasn't sure what cast-on method I should use. I just quickly skimmed through my knitting reference book and chose the twisted loop cast-on. This was not a good choice as I soon found out. For when I needed to knit the following row I found it impossible to knit into the tight cast-on loops. Thinking that I was doing something totally wrong, I posted my question on a Ravelry forum devoted to all things Ysolda Teague. The second response I got pinpointed my problem: I should not have used the twisted loop method, but instead should have went with the knitted cast-on. I ripped my work to the problem area and did the recommended knitted cast-on. It worked splendidly! I had no problem knitting into the cast-on loops! Yay!

2. Lifelines to the Rescue - Lace patterns can be tricky. So when I cast-on Liesl I knew from the start that I needed to have a back up and it came in the shape of lifelines. Lifelines are smooth, thin yarns that are threaded through the stitches that are on the needle to help you rip work back without the worry of laddering and ripping too far. I use a long, blunted yarn needle and size 5 crochet thread in a contrasting color (orange for this project) for my lifelines. And I usually place the lifeline right before I need to do some major pattern change, such as separating sleeves. Yeah, that one came in handy!

OK, the photo above is of what I've done so far. You can see the two armholes I made and about 2 inches of body below them.

Close up of one of the armholes. I have rather loose knitting so the armhole looks kind of loopy in areas. I'm planning on doing a round of single crochet around the armhole just to make it more finished looking.

Just as I said before, lace knitting can be tricky. That is why I like to keep stitch markers every 20 stitches. I use normal safety pins for markers.

Here is a close up of the shrug. See that line of orange? That's one of my lifelines.

2/12/10: Sweater Vow

Ah, Liesl. A beautiful sweater designed by a young Scottish designer named Ysolda Teague. She is one of my favorite designers and Liesl is one of her best designs. So I buy the pattern from Ravelry.com, buy the oh-so-soft Cascade Luna yarn at a yarn shop, and start knitting. That was about one year ago and I can't seem to find the sweater in my closet. Instead I find it in a plastic drawer in the sewing room with needles still holding a multitude of stitches. Yeah, I'm still working on it.

I love the pattern and everything there is to it, but there it lies unfinished. Why? Because I'm making the sweater for myself, and if it is for me, it takes 10 x longer.

That is why I decided to write a post on it. If I feel that I would have to write a similar post in another year, well, that would just be too humiliating! So in order to get my Liesl juices flowing, I will say right here that I will finish Ysolda's sweater for Spring. There, I said it.

I wrote a few notes about my knitting so far, so here they are:

January 11, 2009: Bought pattern.
Mid-February 2009: Bought yarn from New Ewe Yarn Shoppe in Michigan. Was a birthday gift from my parents. :) The staff at the shop were so very helpful! I don’t know where I would have been without their help. This yarn is so soft and I have found that it is a dream to work with because it doesn’t split at all.
April 7, 2009: After a tedious time of deciding what needle to use (I tried size 7 all the way to size 11), I finally came to using size 10, even though my gauge doesn’t match the pattern’s gauge. (My gauge: 3.5” for one 12 stitch rep / pattern’s gauge: 4” for one 12 stitch rep.) That is OK with me because I will just use my smaller gauge with the next larger size. I’ve used this method before when knitting my Veste Everest.
So what version am I doing? I chose to do the “pink” version (one being worn by the girl in the red dress). It has a high neckline and cap sleeves.
So how is it coming? I must be honest by saying that it is rather difficult to understand the chart instructions. This would be my first time using lace charts so I have to go slow and take my time to learn these new symbols. It will come to me in time. And I am having trouble trying to follow the pattern without schematics. I know this pattern was designed in such a way as to allow the knitter to personalize it by trying it on often, but I still miss my schematics. :) It’s hard to break a habit, I guess.
November 23, 2009: I placed this project aside for many months now and I’m completely mortified by it! It always seems like I never finish a project if it is for myself; I never see the necessity of it. But my family has been pushing me so I’ll do it to make them happy! :) Now it is going to be difficult to find where I left off, that teaches me not to leave a pattern mid-way. Wish me good luck!

Update, February 12, 2009: One year since I started. Will try to finish this sweater for Spring.