I Heart Magic Loop

copyright: Wendy Gene

For the past month, I have been working on a sweater  for myself using my stash of Cascade Ecological.   I kid you not, this stash yarn has been cast on for at least 9 different projects, and every time, I've not liked the results.  And did I mention that I have 4 skeins of it in two different colours? 

Cascade Ecological has a coarse texture and the colours are slightly washed out.   I am picky and I find it does not lend itself to being the most adaptable.   So why do I have so much of it?  Well, it's a fantastic value.  The yardage is generous and the price point is affordable.  There have been many a time when I've made a trip to may favourite wool shop (The Bee Hive located in Victoria, BC) only to find out that a project, like a wrap, will cost me $92 in materials.   So, I originally purchased the yarn as a substitution for a pricier choice.

One night, while I was supposed to being doing something important, I spent an hour searching through Ravelry, looking for projects made using this type of yarn.  Lucky me, I found a post by Ravelry member BLUEDOGWOOLIES who made Isabell Kraemer's "Caramel" blanket cardigan using Cascade Ecological (shown in picture above).

The result so far is phenomenal.  The pattern involves top-down construction on long circular needles.  For the body, I have completed the neck to my waist.  I've slipped in on a number of times, and it fits like a glove.  The original pattern calls for a double knit weight yarn, but since Cascade Ecological is bulky, the knitting is coming along quickly on fewer stitches.  Out of boredom, I decided to start one of the sleeves before finishing the body.

I may be an experienced knitter, but I find knitting with double points in the round incredibly frustrating.  My yarn always gets tangled and caught, the tension is never quite right, and inevitably, one of my kids always pulls a needle out of a project that I am working on.  I only use double points because I have to. 

After knitting 5 inches of the sleeve, I noticed that my gauge on double point needles was tighter than my gauge on the circulars that I used for the body. Argghhhh!  As a perfectionist knitter, that was not acceptable.  Then I remembered my friend Charmaine mentioning a technique the used for knitting socks - she called it the magic loop method.  So off to YouTube I went, and after watching a three minute video, I was set. 

I love the magic loop method.  Essentially, it allows you to knit small, circular circumferences using a circular needle with a 32" cord.  I don't know if I'll ever use my double point needles again. 

Sweet Scottie Dog Cardie

Every now and then, I drop into my favourite wool shop, The Bee Hive, located in Victoria, BC.  I'll spend an hour perusing, imagining the possibilities, and going through their binders of patterns.  I love Scottie dog motifs so when I came across Sirdar Pattern 1894, I knew that I had to make the sweater.  I decided to make it for my nephew Ethan's first birthday.  This little sweater ended up being one of my favourite knitting projects of 2011.

I used Sirdar Snuggly acrylic yarn in a turquoise blue and added a black trim.  In the original pattern, there is a black decorative stripe around the button band.  However, I finished the sweater while I was vacationing in Ontario and forgot to bring my skein of black yarn with me.  Looking at the finished sweater, I actually like the plain button band better and would skip the stripe if I were to make this sweater again.

Rather than using intarsia to add the Scottie dog, I hand stitched the motif using an embroidery needle.  I have attempted intarsia numerous times but it always ends up in a big mess.  What irks me the most is the way the wrong side ends up looking.  It's a disastrous mess.  Clearly, I must be doing something wrong.  Plus finishing all the ends is a pain!  Please tell me there's a better way! I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that I love knitting but I hate finishing.

I came very close to keeping the sweater for my son, Mackenzie (shown in the pictures modeling the sweater).  Mack looked so cute wearing it but I vowed to make him one as well.  That is on the "to knit" list.  Maybe I'll make my boys matching sweaters.  How cute would that be?