Writers Fest Ends

Several weeks after the festival itself ended, my Ottawa Writers Fest sweater has reached completion. I added the collar and extended the sleeves about an inch from the provisional cast on before seaming. Then I sewed on four buttons (two yet to come - Fabricland only had four in stock). Tada!

Click the photo for another view.

And here's one that's a better picture of me than the sweater.

I'm very happy with this sweater. I feel virtuous for having used stash yarn, and gratified that I finished it so quickly. I'm happy with the fit, and the yarn makes it a comfy cozy article.

And since this sweater is done, you can probably guess what I've been doing with my free time ...

Celebrating Sleevember! *

Debbie Bliss Colour Blocks cardie is underway! This will definitely be a winter-long project. I'm still trying to get the hang of keeping the yarn balls from twisting up into a glob at the back, but I'm fairly happy with the intarsia progress. The DB Merino DK is sticky enough that I'm not having problems with gaps at the colour changes.

I've also finished a sleeve from the Heirloom Aran sweater. Awww, my first saddle shoulder.

And here's a gratuitous shot of the first socks I ever made, from Nancy Bush's Folk Socks book. I happened to be wearing them during the Writers' Fest sweater photoshoot.

**With apologies to Michelle at another knitting blog, who's observing Glovember instead.

Relax Progress

My Writers Fest jacket in GGH Relax is getting close to completion. After sewing a test seam on my swatch, I decided to go with the sewing machine for assembly. I found it much quicker and easier than sewing with yarn by hand, and because of the fluffiness of this yarn, you can't tell the difference.

I particularly had fun sewing the sleeves into the armholes. No really, I did! Look how neatly the two fit together:

I'm fairly happy with the way this jacket is coming together, except for a little drooping at the side seams around the waist, which I think is a result of the rather extreme waist shaping. I'm going to finish it and get the buttons on before I decide what to do about that.

Here's the sweater sewn together, waiting for a collar and some sleeve extensions.

Doesn't it look warm and cuddly? A very good replacement for polar fleece, I think!

Writers Fest Jacket

I've been posting to this knitting blog in my head for about two years now: it's about time for other people to see it too.

Last week I camped out at the Ottawa International Writers Festival, a week-long event at the National Library, only a few blocks from my house. That meant six straight nights of readings and conversations with authors, and it also meant mondo knitting time.

I prepared a few weeks in advance, swatching and starting a simple, almost dull project that would accompany me to the Festival. I settled on this Rust Jacket from Rebecca. I bought the GGH Relax from Elann last September, in a dark grey colour. The jacket is all garter stitch, and with a big gauge (4 sts/inch) and lots of knitting time, I sailed through the pieces in no time.

The Festival started on Thursday night, and I had the back done Friday, the left front on Sunday, the right front Monday, and most of the first sleeve on Tuesday. I'm working on the last sleeve now.

The blue yarn at the end of the sleeve is my provisional cast-on. I decided to knit the sleeves a bit short, sew the whole thing together, and then lengthen the sleeves to the right measurements. A bit more work, but it was too much anxiety to figure out the proper sleeve length beforehand.

Relax is a fluffy mix of wool, alpaca, nylon, and acrylic. Very drapey. Right now I'm trying to decide how to seam it. The yarn itself is boucle and would be hard to pull through. I'm tempted just to run the pieces through my sewing machine, but I'm not sure whether that will make the seams stiff enough. I see some experimentation in my future.