the blue blog archives: blue, wonderful you

I'm very pleased how this sweater came out, especially considering the mathematical mess-ups I had all the way through. I didn't have enough yarn to do the original pattern (from Phildar catalog #377) with big bell sleeves or the huge turtleneck. So I nixed them, knitted the sleeves straight and added a short collar. Then I suspect that my row gauge must have been off, since the armholes came out too short. Plus, Phildar ladies must have some seriously skinny arms, because those sleeves were tight! A bit of ripping and a few more stitches added here and there and it's a perfectly snug fit. Thank goodness the Giboulees yarn has some stretch. And because the yarn is a thick/thin bumpy yarn, the sweater is also very airy. It really is great for spring.

posted by alison at 12:03 am | in phildar folly

Comments

Gosh, your sweater looks great. I'm so jealous that you're always cranking out these great sweaters, meanwhile I am still languishing away on the sleeves of my two Phildars. Great job as usual!

Posted by: Angela at March 8, 2004 12:22 AM

very cool sweater... love the color!

Posted by: Stacy at March 8, 2004 12:46 AM

ooh, that looks gorgeous. Even without the collar and bell sleeves it looks sylish and so comfortable. Good job on all the maths and ripping, it was worth it in the end.

Posted by: kerrie at March 8, 2004 4:04 AM

Blue is you! Fits you like a glove, lady. Love it. Great pics of you, too!

Posted by: Kerstin at March 8, 2004 6:45 AM

I prefer the sweater without the bell sleeves. You look terrific in it.

Posted by: Linda at March 8, 2004 7:23 AM

beautiful job on that sweater, as usual!

Posted by: monica at March 8, 2004 7:30 AM

All that math and no frogging? : )
Count me in on the Spring fling--I'm gonna do the Flashy sweater in Knitty.

Posted by: Dava at March 8, 2004 7:41 AM

lookin good lady! hopefully i will have my first finished sweater (well, cardigan) to show off this week!

Posted by: vanessa at March 8, 2004 7:42 AM

Your sweater looks great on you! I'm putting a small package for you in the mail today, so be on the look-out for fun secret pal treats.

Posted by: secret pal at March 8, 2004 8:42 AM

Veddy nice! Veddy, veddy nice! :-)

Posted by: Marg at March 8, 2004 8:52 AM

You look FAB! That sweater design looks so wonderful on you! And the color?? A perfect fit! I'm clapping. reeally!
Oh, and the link snafu to your blog is fixed. I realized the mistake right away but couldn't get in to fix it. I came home from work to fix it because it was bothering me! I'm serious!
I missed knitsmiths too. Hopefully next week will work out! :)
thankyouthankyouthankyou.
Oh, have I thanked you? I hope we have matching koigu!!
;)

Posted by: Sandy at March 8, 2004 9:25 AM

Wow, that looks great--blue is a pretty color on you!

Posted by: Leigh at March 8, 2004 9:49 AM

Beautiful! Great job on making adjustments so the yarn and the pattern all come together in such a fabulous way. Okay, so tell the truth...do you knit in your sleep? Hee! You get so much accomplished.

Posted by: Bliss at March 8, 2004 9:56 AM

Looks like a great, fun sweater! Happy "Progressing Towards the End of Winter"!

Posted by: Theresa at March 8, 2004 10:13 AM

Great sweater, as usual, Alison! Sign me up for the spring-fling. I'm starting spring/summer dresses for my twin girls using Summer Tweed. Gotta free up some needles first! LOL

Posted by: Karen Heinig at March 8, 2004 10:27 AM

I'm ready for the spring fling! Sign me up! LOVE the button :) I am so glad you liked the stripes enough to use them that way. Your sweater looks fabulous, I love the close fit-- when oh when am I going to have the courage to knit small? I'll figure out later what I'm going to knit for the fling. Can't wait!

Posted by: khipu Carrie at March 8, 2004 10:31 AM

Whew-comments are working for me now. Must have been something on my end :)
Anyway, beautiful sweater and great color for you!

I'm thinking of what to make to join you in your spring-fling....I'll let you know!

Posted by: Annie at March 8, 2004 10:49 AM

Please add me to this Knit-along. Its my first! I'm going to make a cotton tank in a bright and cheery color. Love the blue sweater.

Posted by: Meredith at March 8, 2004 11:30 AM

The blue sweater looks great. How much yarn did you end up having left over?

Posted by: Suzanne at March 8, 2004 11:41 AM

Gosh that's an amazing fit for doing all the maths yourself! You must be really pleased, and it looks fab too - love the yarn.

Posted by: jen at March 8, 2004 11:54 AM

That's beautiful. I love the shape the sweater has, it looks great on you.

I have big upper arms, they're the body part I like least. Generally things that fit me everywhere else tend to be too tight on my upper arms, so I guess I'm going to have to get proficient at altering armholes and sleeve caps myself.

Posted by: Maggie at March 8, 2004 12:19 PM

Alison your sweater is super flattering. I like it alot... I thought you did know about the Spring Knit-Up since you posted the following on my page on March 2..."The knit-up is a great idea, by the way. Wish I was that conscientious, but alas I am not! Have fun!" and you didn't put the Spring Fling up until March 7. I guess it's too late to change now...Oh well. Have Fun!

Posted by: Georgia at March 8, 2004 12:39 PM

Oops, meant to say you posted that comment on March 5...

Posted by: georgia at March 8, 2004 12:46 PM

Very sassy indeed! Fits nicely after all the rejiggering! I agree that the Phildar patterns have a snugger fit to the armholes and sleeves. I think that's just how they do it there. I'm sure their arms are the same size as ours...

Posted by: Silvia at March 8, 2004 1:39 PM

Sweater looks great! I love that shade of blue.

Please add me to your list of spring flingers. I want to knit a tank for my daughter.

Posted by: Kathleen at March 8, 2004 4:03 PM

You look so fab in that blue sweater! I am in awe of how you fiddled and faddled to make it fit you so perfectly.

Posted by: Amy at March 8, 2004 5:00 PM

You did a great job with the modifications. I admire your patience with reworking the project. Love the color. Very nice on you.

Posted by: Melissa at March 8, 2004 5:27 PM

Wow! Alison! You did a great job! That sweater is just fantastic! Congrats!

Posted by: Deborah at March 8, 2004 6:27 PM

GREAT job on that sweater! The fit is *perfect!* Woohoo!
***
I only just found your bit about smooch and the picot hem... You should've seen me this morning. I *finally* came to figure it out through utter trial and error ... I wish I would've read your summary first! It's just all written wrong, you know. Grrr! Anyway - I've ripped out my 8 rows anyway cuz I just ain't gonna fit right. SO like me, hee hee. :) Cheers.

Posted by: Alysia at March 8, 2004 7:53 PM

Alysia, I wish I'd thought to remind you to check out all our old comments on Smooch problems and fixes. Sorry! Hope that a look at it now will help you further on, though.

Thanks so much everyone for all your comments on my blue sweater. I love, love, love it (with the high leg kick and everything) and am deliriously happy that it turned out successful after being jinxed.

And I'm really excited that so many of you are joining in on the fling!

Just to clarify that we're flinging and not slinging (like that one Kerstin?), I'll explain about the coincidence of mine and Georgia's knitalongs. I'd been thinking about some kind of spring knitalong since early last week when we were enjoying that gorgeous weather (can you believe it snowed today!) and I was knitting all those pretty flowsies on the Daisy sweater. I did stop by Georgia's blog at the end of the week in my regular attempt to catch up on the progress of my fellow-knitalongers. But I read so many blogs that I can't read everything in each blog or even remember everything I do read (check out Maggie's site where I left two comments to the same post about 15 minutes apart - doh!). I do try to comment when something catches my eye. And Georgia's admirable idea of knitting up some of your stash did catch my eye. It struck me as such a good idea, it was TOO good for me - what, me knit from my stash? next you'll want me to go on a yarn diet! ;) But I honestly didn't catch that it was a SPRING knit-up. Totally my bad. So all you good stash knitter-upers, feel free to join our crazy, throw-winter-knits-to-the-wind fling here when you get tired of being good! And for you flingers who've got virtuous stash projects in mind, think about joining Georgia & co. as well.

As always (and I mean it), happy knitting!

Posted by: alison at March 8, 2004 8:28 PM

It's true, Alison, you're definitely not a slinger! Given that there are are 380+ sites on this ring, I think there's room for 10 more spring flings, spring cleanings, spring into actions, and spring a ding a lings (ha, we know who'd host that one!) to go around. Me? I'm looking for the spring sale. Anyone having one? ;)

Posted by: Kerstin at March 9, 2004 6:16 AM

Great sweater!

I have been working on my no-sweat pants and want to make it official. Can you count me in for the pant-along and the spring fling too?

Keep up the awesome work! Your blog is inspiring, as always.

Posted by: Froggy at March 9, 2004 7:20 AM

Kerstin, all us spring flingers will just have to go to The Fiber Loft sale! :0)

Posted by: alison at March 9, 2004 7:43 AM

Fab-u-lous! Gorgeous sweater - - great fit, too.

Posted by: Mindy at March 9, 2004 9:14 AM

Blue is a wonderful sweater and you look SMASHING in it! Goooooooooooooo Ms. Alison!

Posted by: Becky at March 9, 2004 10:44 AM

Nice job!

Posted by: Alexandra at March 11, 2004 2:34 PM