Saturday, September 5, 2009

Embossed coral goodness!

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Printed Silk Cardigan by Connie Chang Chinchio

  • Brooks Farm Yarn Solo Silk 50% wool, 50% silk (400 yards / 113 g per skein), ~2.41 skeins, color "SW" (coral)

  • US 3 (3.25 mm) Addi Turbo Circular Needle
  • US 2 (2.75 mm) KnitPicks Circular Needle (for neckline and upper button band ribbing)


Hi again! Here's another in my series of sporadic postings :)

I started law school at UC Berkeley a few weeks ago, so my knitting and blogging time remains limited. However, I have a decently long bus ride (45-50 minutes each way) to and from school every day, so when I'm not madly trying to finish up reading before class or having to stand (clinging to a bar for dear life - lets just say the bus drivers get away things I would never accept as a passenger in a car) because it's so crowded, I have some nice, built-in knitting time :)

I had been wanting to knit this pattern for a while and got the yarn for it over a year ago at Maryland Sheep and Wool, but finally went ahead and took the plunge.

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The Solo Silk is truly lovely stuff - smooth and soft, with a beautiful sheen and great depth of color. It has amazing yardage, hence I only used a little less than two and a half skeins. Of note, the dye did bleed when I soaked my sweater before blocking. However, comparing my leftover (unwashed) yarn to the sweater, I don't notice a decrease in saturation at all. Overall, I'm very satisfied with it.

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My ongoing wacky gauge issues (I generally knit pretty loosely) and my desire to have a more fitted sweater (smaller than the smallest pattern size) led me to make some adjustments to stitch counts, etc., but otherwise I knit it essentially as written, with two exceptions. The first is that I didn't do the bust increases within the patterned portion, and the second is that I waited to start the neckline shaping for an extra inch and a half, so that my neckline scooped less deeply than the original. I also added a single crochet edging to the lower border of the sweater after sewing up, because that edge was curling like crazy. It seems to have done the trick - post washing and blocking the edge lays pretty flat :)

Here is a characteristic blocking shot with anti-cat devices (i.e. excessive, frequently placed T-pins, which weren't really needed to facilitate blocking per se, at least in the absence of cats) in place to prevent feline trespass:

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(You can see that Bug appears to be considering whether it might be worth it to learn to sleep on a bed of nails, as it were. Really... who would want to sleep on a padded chair seat with a damp bed of silky wool so close at hand? It would be nice, at least, to massage with ones toes...)

Some close-ups:

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I purchased the vintage glass buttons at Britex in San Francisco. My husband read about it online, and thought I might like to go there to check out their extensive button selection (organized by color!) in addition to the four floors of fabrics, trimmings, and even a small yarn selection. He was right :) Definitely worth a field trip!

Here's a slightly closer view:

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I think the only thing I would do differently if I were to make this sweater again is to use an even smaller needle for the ribbing at the neckline. It would be nice if the neck opening was a little tighter, but works as is just fine.

Thanks for the great pattern, Connie :)
(Actually, she has a lot of great patterns - and I fully intend to knit more of them in the future!)

Have a wonderful labor day weekend!

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

So beautiful. This sweater is a work of art. Love the neckline mod! And also, congrats on law school!

Misty said...

Wow, congratulations on your finish! Your sweater is gorgeous!

Pam said...

A really beautiful sweater. And congrats on starting law school.

inoriz said...

Lovely! :)

Tammy said...

I get so excited when I see a new post from you. Your work is always so exquisite!

Sarah said...

Spectacular! The silk in the yarn is a perfect fit for the stitch pattern, and the finished sweater has such lovely drape. Wear it with pride!

Laural said...

Oh wow! That is beautiful!!!

kgirlknits said...

gorgeous knit - the silk really makes the pattern pop, and it fits beautifully :)

June said...

Congratulations about law school - lots of hard work, but hopefully fun, too!

The cardigan is lovely. I LOLed with the excessive pin shot, reminded me of that horror movie guy with the face covered in pins.

Kara said...

So lovely!

Erin said...

It is really quite beautiful. I love the color and it fits you perfectly. Love.

Meredith said...

Gorgeous work! I love the color.

Rima said...

Wooohoo. Loving the color. It is a beauty!

Anonymous said...

What a gorgeous sweater! (Of course, everything you knit is gorgeous, I'm pretty sure!) I love your cat-proof blocking system, very clever. I'm not sure it would work with my boys, since they tend to want to chew on the knit, rather than lay on it.

Good luck with law school!

Lisa Stepi said...

That is gorgeous - love the color!

missalicefaye said...

Lovely! And I hope law school is going well!

Oiyi said...

It's gorgeous! You did such a wonderful job on it. I have two skeins of that yarn in purple, but I haven't made anything with it yet.

Eklectika! said...

I love how it came out - this sweater is on my list as well...just need to pick a yarn!

spajonas said...

it's beautiful!!