Woe Again!!!!

So I had to put the sweater down for pretty much the past month to get X-mas knitting done, but I picked it up again yesterday.

All I had left to do was finish the sleeves, See:



So now a little over a month later I pick it up to finish up the sleeves and hopefully have an FO by the end of this weekend.

But...

I tried the sweater on and now it's too big! It fit fine a month ago. The funny thing is the chest fit's fine, the length is still fine, but the sleeves are HUGE around on me and the Ralagan is HUGE. I know I lost some weight but this is insane.

So now I'm left with the decision to start over from scratch to fix the ralagan, rip the sleeves out and have a sweater that just doesn't fit quite right (unless I put 15 pounds on). Or accept that ralagans were never meant for DD's.

Suggestions?

Just an update of a kind...

I feel so very behind on this. I'm still working on the raglan increases. I feel once I'm working on the torso, it'll go quicker. I hope so, at least.

Things keep working against me, though: shoulder problems, busy job, other projects, etc etc.

So, yeah. I imagine I will be the very last one done.

One Sleeve done and torso redone!!!

So... it's not a perfect fit, but maybe with the collar and a wash it'll tighten up a bit. I didn't truly follow the recommended length on the sleeve but I like it.

How's everyone else doing?

Torso Update

So... I got all the way down to binding off and turned it inside out and realized that where the rounds meet... is square in front... so they're doing this little weird business where the colors aren't totally matching up... I'm going to have to look at the pattern... was I supposed to rm when it said pm on the connection part after the raglans are done? Was the pm on the side somewhere or somewhere less obvious?

Woe!

So my family and I moved two weekends ago, but I managed to knit a swatch, and cast on and get started. Alas, no reliable DSL at home yet or I could show pictures of the following tale of woe.

The pattern only goes up to a 46 inch bust, and since I'm a 47 I was ready to add a few stiches here and there, make the ralagan seam a little longer, etc. to compensate. So my swatch measures out way too tight on 7's, go up to 8's and it's pretty good with the brown. Right on, I say. I cast on and start knitting away. I noticed that my ralagan shaping was looking pretty darn tight and wasn't measuring up the way it should have. I pull out my trusty measuring tape and whadda ya know, my gauge is way off, like 25 stitches over 4 inches instead of 19. Woah. So that sucker was frogged like nobodies business. Went up to 9 needles and the gauge was still off 21.5 stitches with the green. But I can't go up any higher unless I want a lacy sweater.... So I redid the math, cast on and started over. I finally started the torso last night and felt pretty vindicated. I'm thinking either my yarn is funky, the pattern's gauge is funky or there's a little yarn gnome magically making my yarn do funky things, either way there's some supreme funkiness going on here. I had originally wanted to make the long sleeve version, but with all the changes I had to do I think I'm going to run out of yarn. I guess I could order more and pray that it'll look right.

Thankfully I'm used to having to tweak patterns to fit my chest or I would have pulled my hair out.

Status Update --- I HAVE TORSO!!!!!!!

I went home to New Mexico last weekend so I left work early and went to my LYS... I'm going the cotton route. I'll post yarn porn this weekend... (am at work)

Last night we had a Grey's Anatomy party and I took Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas and... knitting. I had some issues following directions... especially with the cast ons.... I'm such a man that way... but SUCCESS!!! I have 4 torso rows!!!

getting excited!!!

Finally! A Start!

Yesterday, between classes, I ran into my mailman (almost literally) and he had a surprise for me!! Yay! I got my yarn!

My lovely colors are: Avocado, Spruce, Mulled Wine, Fern, Carrot, and Pumpkin.

And a full collection shot. Obviously, avocado is the main color. I've knit with it before and love this color to pieces.

And that would be my other cat (the wee one), Basil. He's playing with my pattern, needles, etc.

I gave the sweater a start last night, though I'm only 11 rows in. I don't have class until 4:00 today (hooray!), so I'll be able to spend some quality time with the WIP. This will be my first sweater, so beware, I may be posting tons of questions and things.

(Don't I look excited?)

Cheers!

Finished!

Wow, what a whirlwind of a project. This was the first time I ever made a top down top and it was fabulous fun and super easy. The hardest part really was doing the neckline and that was more tedious than difficult. It fits just as I wanted it even though I was way off on gauge and it'll probably be the knit that I will wear the most. Pictures will come whenever the weather improves and I can go outside for a shoot.