Tag Archive | Apogean sweater

Sweater Sunday!

Oh sure, I could have saved this for next Friday, but I was too excited to share: I finished my rainbow sweater!! This is the Apogean sweater in Manos del Uruguay Alegria in the color Locura Fluo.

I’m so happy with how it turned out! The fit is perfect, I love the v-neck, and I love the wild and crazy colors! This is probably my best effort at sweater-knitting; it’s nice when you can see your experience making a difference. I really liked this pattern too. It was simple and easy to follow, and even though at first I wasn’t sure about how the neckline was done, now I think it’s fantastic. I do wish she’d given more guidance about how many stitches to pick up around the neckline instead of just “pick up the stitches around the neck and knit” but I’m gonna say I nailed it. I could definitely see myself making another version of this pattern.

Now I have a sweater, a scarf, and a cowl in this colorway, and I’ve got socks on my needles in a yarn that’s very close. But I have two skeins of this yarn left — what should I do with it?? Maybe a hat! And fingerless gloves!

Oh yeah, I also have something else new to share:

This is Bella. She’s a Dodge Challenger in a color called Hellraisin that’s prettier and more sparkly in person. She’s also zippy and super fun to drive, and has all kinds of modern features my older car didn’t have. I think this is what’s called making lemonade out of lemons.

Happy Sunday, friends.

Hello? taps mic Is this thing on?

Jul22

It’s been a minute since I’ve been around these parts, hasn’t it? Not sure where my blogging mojo went — maybe I started wondering what the point of it is. I mean, I share my knitting on Instagram and with my knitting groups, is there a good reason to do this too? Anyone? Or maybe that’s my brain picking on me.

Overall I’ve been doing really well the last couple of months, as far as my emotional state goes anyway. I’ve felt a little lighter, happier, able to feel hopeful and optimistic. But the last few days have been rough. Our renovation crew has been back this week and I think I’d forgotten what the stress of that does — having guys in and out, dealing with Jack barking, making sure the husband and I are both happy with the work done, and then also dealing with work and family stuff. Adding to that is that we’ve decided to sell a house we’ve been renting for a few years, so we’ve been dealing with projects to get that property ready to sell. Oh yeah, and since that rental house is empty, we thought we’d use this time to get the floors refinished at our current house, since we can stay at the rental for a few days. No biggie … except for packing up and moving out everything on the first floor! Yesterday I got up to discover that Jack had started on yet another hot spot and that was just the straw that made my brain go kablooie.

So. Bah. Sorry, no shiny happy Bonny today, but I’ll share some good progress, how about that? Jack is fine. He got the fur trimmed and a dose of meds, plus some extra anti-itch meds for potential future use. The back of the house is done and ready for painters, who will come next week. The interior window trim will also be finished by the painters, so they can stain it the right color. The portable storage containers arrive Saturday so we can start loading up the furniture and boxes. The rental house is painted and has a cleaned-up lawn, and the contractor was supposed to be there this week to start the interior painting and odd jobs. With any luck, all the projects will be done and the rental house listed to sell within the next three weeks. I can make it three more weeks!

The funnest progress of all is my sweater project: I finished the body! Turns out fun yarn is the trick to enjoy doing miles of stockinette, at least for me. I’m delighted with the look and the fit and I hope I can speed through the sleeves. I’ll definitely have a new sweater to wear when fall comes around!

The yarn is Manos del Uruguay Alegria in Locura Fluo, and the pattern is Apogean. So far it’s very simple and easy to follow, just how I like it.

Happy Thursday, friends.

WIP Wednesday: Apogean

May26

Along with socks, I’ve been plugging along on my Apogean sweater, the one with the Manos del Uruguay Locura Fluo. I’m sill in the thick of the long stockinette body, just going round and round. After my last post, I got some suggestions to try helical knitting to help with pooling and that’s been both fun and helpful. Though my first effort at googling helical knitting didn’t lead me down the right path, Kath set me straight and shared a great video about how to do helical knitting with two strands (which she also calls the jogless join) and guys, it’s so cool!

The last inch or so is with the helical knitting, and as you can see, I’m still getting some pooling so I’m not sure it’s made a huge difference, but I love the look so I’m just going to roll with it. I have also discovered the secret to happily knitting a lot of stockinette: really fun yarn. I can’t believe I’ve done this much already and am excited to do more!

Happy Wednesday, friends.

Sunday Solitude

May16

I am alone. Literally alone. I’m petsitting for the sister and got here last night and it’s just me and one dog and one cat. And guys? It’s kind of delicious. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love my people and my dogs, but I also love to be alone, and that’s been awfully hard to come by the last year. Even when we’re all in different parts of the house doing our own things, it’s not the same as having the house all to yourself. Do you know what I mean? You can sleep in the middle of the bed, eat what you want, and watch what you want without anyone rolling their eyes when you watch season one of Grey’s Anatomy for the umpteenth time. It’s good, that’s all I’m saying. And the pets have been very welcoming. I’d forgotten the singular pleasure of having a purring cat lie on you.

As you may have guessed, I did spend some time with Meredith and the gang last night, and worked on my Manos Locura Fluo sweater with the pooling problem. I thought I was going to try helical knitting, which would probably work except I realized I’d need to be knitting with at least three strands for that to make a difference. Before I went that route, I decided to keep going as I had been, just alternating two balls without trying to alter gauge. I figured it was worth it to see how it looked before abandoning that option. And I don’t think it’s too bad!

It’s an indoor photo with low light, so it’s not ideal, but you can see that the pooling isn’t so different than the yoke section to be jarring. Before I go any further, though, I’m going to slip the stitches onto waste yarn so I can try it on and make sure the fit is good. What do you think, keep going?

Happy Sunday, friends.

A new project!

Apr26

Today is my knitting anniversary! Eight years ago today, I finished my first knitting project, a mug cozy with a button. My knitting SIL taught me to knit, and this project taught me the knit stitch, decreasing, increasing, and a simple button hole. If I remember right, this was an inexpensive wool/acrylic mix, and I borrowed some bamboo straight needles from my SIL because I didn’t have any yet. That didn’t last long, though!

Knitting and I have been very happy together for the last eight years!

I’m not sure what motivated me, but I cast on a new project this weekend. I’ve been collecting Manos del Uruguay in the color Locura Fluo for a while now, planning to make a super bright, fun sweater. I started the gauge swatch months ago and then it went into hibernation for ages. Happily the gauge swatch, which was my second, gave me the right gauge, so I was able to cast on right away. I want the yarn to be the main focus so I chose a simple pullover called Apogean. I’ll do a long sleeve version but I haven’t decided if I’ll do a solid color, like gray, for the ribbing.

I’m almost to the part when I get to join in the round, and then it will just be lots and lots of colorful stockinette! I think I might enjoy it with this yarn.

Happy Monday, friends!