february is for cashmere



Hourglass sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts in cashmere/cotton blend yarn
reclaimed from an old Banana Republic sweater in a february fixit marathon

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Super sockapalooza socks I've seen so far:

Finished: Suzie's pretty pink socks, Jenn's awesome blue stripey socks, Grauwal's fabulous fair-isle socks, and Timothy's first sock ever!

In progress: Cece's pretty purple sock, Angela's blue/beige stripes, Kate's swirly, frilly sock, Margene's red hot salsa sock, two, count 'em two pairs of Friday Harbor socks (by Nancy Bush) underway - Sandy's and Deb's -, and more Nancy Bush - Erika's Travelling socks.

And although they're not sockapalooza socks, Kim's argyle socks (scroll down to Jan 21 - it's worth it!) and Jenn's nipper ripple socks are just too cool for me not to mention.

And no, I still haven't decided on yarn or pattern for my sock pal. Too many choices out there!

Note: anyone without a blog, I'd be happy to post pictures of your socks in progress! Just send me an image by email.

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Same goes for February fixers - send me pics of your ripping/reknitting and I can post them in tuesday knitalong updates.

For those of you who are ready to rip, a few links about washing your yarn to get the kinks out.
Theresa's page on reusing yarn
joyknit's quick how to
some pics from my own frogging saga

And you can recycle yarn from store-bought sweaters too, you know:
How to Unravel a Sweater
Yarn Tomato takes apart a Gap sweater
Knitty Gritty's Sweater Redesign episode

In fact, I just found these in my closet that could be fun to cannibalize! A gigantic Banana Republic cashmere blend sweater and a stretched out Tweeds sweater in 100% silk - not bad! And since both have survived several years of wadded-up neglect in the closet, I think the yarn is pretty sturdy. It's worth a try, right?

Are we ready?! (I know Laura is, 'cause she's already done!)

Update: The link to Theresa's page on recycling yarn has been updated. All the images should work now. It's the tutorial I followed to help me rip and reuse yarn for the first time. It's all you'll need to know to get started!

A to do list.

Sockapalooza pal socks. Thanks everyone for your support about the Koigu. I'll do a bit of swatching and see how the pattern looks in the yarn. If it looks really good, I'm going back to buy two more skeins for me!

January sweater. Maybe I can finish it in February, so I can start on....

February shrug. I'm thinking that in February, I might have time to make a pretty little shrug. Mindy's shrug pattern looks perfect for keeping my chilly arms and shoulders warm (Jenn just finished one in that incredible Softy yarn). I've got some Peruvian wool that Shannon had left over from her fabulous neckwarmer that I think would work well.

Pop redesign. I WILL finish pop this month. And all you February fixers are really inspiring me to get this one done!

Rosebud redo. Just a little shortening in arms and she'll be all better.

Yarn harvesting. A little ripping to relax the soul. I've got the two old storebought sweaters to rip and then greensleeves for sure. I'm considering ripping elizabeth and turning her into a Clapotis. What'cha think?

Fry-Up. Stacey has cooked up the silliest knitalong ever (next to those crazy sweatpants we all made last year). I gotta make this one - it's just too wacky! But I don't want a purse (let's not even discuss the hat) and will have to substitute some of the breakfast items. This one still needs more planning and yarn to get going.

Hubby's xmas socks. That Morehouse Merino yarn is still waiting to be turned into socks.

Jodie's socks. Found some fabulous sock yarn at Knitting Zone for my mom's friend who wants more handmade socks, including this supermerino. Pretty, pretty.

That should be enough to keep me busy until the spring thaw!

The front of january is all finished! Looooove that neckline.

And I tried the keyhole opening on pop one more time. I managed to come up with a version with a one piece front. It looks much better on than before. But I'm still not convinced that this is not the right neckline for my striped version of this sweater. The opening throws off the pretty lines of the stripes too much. So back to the drawing board again.

And thanks to Jenanne, I was able to rip out the neck on that Banana Republic ribbed sweater afterall. She was absolutely correct that I was unravelling in the wrong direction. It's actually very clear in the link about unravelling sweaters that the neck should be separated from the body first and then ripped from there back to the edge. Doh! So I picked and snipped and finally ripped that neck out. The boys even helped wind the yarn into hanks.*

* (They actually turned their attention away from "Lazy Town" as soon as they saw the swift come out. And if you're a mom of a NickJr.-watching toddler you understand what kind of power "Lazy Town" has over kids and can appreciate my shock when they literally turned their backs on it to play with the swift.)

I can't wait to use this cashmere!

that's two sleeves and the neck's worth

Before I rip out the rest of my old Banana Republic sweater, I took note of the gauge and actual measurements of the original sweater (as suggested by Kristi's very helpful page on recycling yarn from old sweaters). The boys were happy to oblige when I needed an object for scale.

biiiiig sweater

It is so big, I'm really hoping to have enough yarn to knit an entire sweater. But choosing a pattern for this special yarn is proving just as hard as choosing a pattern and yarn for my sock pal was. Since it's cashmere, I was kinda thinking something classic, simple (no cables or fancy details), and maybe a little vintage. Any suggestsions?

I've decided on a pattern to use for the cashmere yarn recently reclaimed from my old Banana Republic sweater!

After swatching, I peeked at all the great pattern suggestions you made last week (I was so tempted by that new vintage cardigan in IK!). But then I randomly opened a few mags that I had lying around (I so need to organize my pattern stash!). While shuffling stuff around, I found the hourglass pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. The look is casual and yet classy and the gauge is spot on! And there's a knitalong for it. Cool!

Since I've only ripped the sleeves of my sweater so far, I've started with a sleeve. (No, I'm not doing the sleeve in the round like the pattern calls for. I was too impatient to go out and look for smaller circular needles!)

You can't imagine how soft this is. It's going to be a real pleasure to wear.

I'm trying not to knit up my hourglass sweater too quickly so I can savor the cashmere as long as possible. It's been hard stopping myself from just casting on the body and flying forward because the recycled cashmere is knitting up very easily and feels wonderful on the needles. This week I succeeded in only finishing the first sleeve (up to the beginning of the armhole where it will be joined to the body).

look, the sleeves are hourglass shaped as well

I couldn't help myself and I started the second sleeve too. Hint: it's looking just like the one above.

Two hourglass sleeves done! Oh, how I love the subtle shaping on these sleeves.

I started the body, but am concerned about how it's coming out. Others had said that their hourglass sweaters were running a little large, and there's a big gap between the two smallest sizes, so I decided to cast on a number of stitches between the two sizes. Well, what I've got fits me like a glove, but I'm thinking that the whole hourglass shaping needs more ease to really look lovely. What do you think?

Hourglass progress?

I ripped the body out entirely and cast on again including the eight stitches I'd left out before. I haven't quite made it to where I was before, which is why my formerly perfect ball of cashmere is still being strangled by the frogged yarn. I was just discussing with Shannon the other day (as both of us were knitting from wads hanging off of center-pull balls) that the center-pull ball is a wonderful thing, unless you make a mistake. It's very unforgiving!

The new version of the body isn't really looking too different than in the last picture. It is most definitely looser, but still doesn't look big or drapey. It hugs my curves rather than stretches out across my widest parts. After seeing Diana's finished hourglass, I think it'll be a nice look. So onward to the increases and the yoke!

My recycled cashmere hourglass sweater is done and I hate it. Okay, April Fools is over, I love it!

April Fool's! Of course I love it.

How could I not love it? Isn't that sooooo much better than the original giant tunic-y thing?! That original sweater was so big that I managed to knit the body of the new sweater up to the armholes and in the round with only 3/4 of the yarn from the back of the original! That means I've got lots of yarn left over. I do believe I'll have to make a cashmere scarf and beret set this fall.

But back to this sweater. After my first sizing error, I stuck with the pattern numbers and it came out fitting great. There's enough ease, but it's still nice and form-fitting (instead of becoming uber-drapey like uhhhh, Klaralund - wink, wink). I also kept the body and sleeve length as given in the pattern and they worked out too. (Whew - I was worried about those sleeves!) I did however add two extra decrease rows to the top, to trim down the wide boatneck and give myself some bra strap coverage. So pattern, good (check the pattern errata though before you make one).

And the yarn, very good. It's a 65/35 cashmere/cotton blend that I recycled from an at least 10 year old Banana Republic sweater. It suffered a bit in the ripping (although I carefully ripped the entire sweater by hand instead of using the ball winder), making the yarn a little less tightly plied. And, of course, my hand knitting is nowhere near as even as the machine knitting of the original. But all this gives it a natural and casual sort of look, which I really like. Like the often irregularly dyed and sometimes slubby cash iroha that the pattern originally called for, it makes the sweater lovely and feminine without seeming so dressy and delicate that I couldn't ever wear it (can you tell I'm having a problem with some of the less casual patterns that some companies have been coming out with lately?). No, this one is just right: it's soft as can be, feels very comfortable directly against the skin and is cozy warm and fun to wear.