10/14 - I got really excited about the new Coastal Knits book coming out. Since I got paid today, I was able to squeeze in on the last day of the special pre-order package! I’ve been stocking up on this Malabrigo yarn. There’a few different sweater patterns I’ve been eyeballing and I have a mental match up of yarn to pattern and I just couldn’t decided what I wanted to make out of this blue. As soon as I saw the pre-order for this one, I knew it would be perfect for this yarn. I downloaded the pdf of the pattern from the Coastal Knits website and cast on!

10/15 - Went in to Colorful Yarns to get more of the 5 skeins I’ve had on hold. I showed them what I was working on and apparently they already have hard copies of the book! It’s a gorgeous book, I flipped through it at the store. I bought the 4th one and have one more now to get. I may or may not need it, depending on the yardage from my gauge. I decided to go with the 40” pattern since 36” is a little to small. I know I ALWAYS knit too tight and so I just used the needles called for in the pattern, knowing it will be smaller. I knit a few inches down and the gauge is sort of off, but with the difference I want in size, it seems to be just about right. I’ll have to keep measuring it up to myself and try it on once I get the armholes done.

10/19 - Went back to Colorful Yarns and traded in the other skein I got over the weekend for the last one I had on hold of the Malabrigo. I’m getting too scattered in my stashing. I don’t want to spend $50 a time on yarn but I want to make a bunch of different sweaters and keep getting just one or two skeins at a time. It’s not really working so I’m forcing myself to just do one at a time. So I’m making myself get ALL the yarn I need for this one

10/24 - 6” knit down under the sleeve!

10/30 - I am ready to start the ribbing! I don’t think this is going to take all 5 skeins. I just started on the third one and I have less than 20 rows to go to the bottom. I also tried it on and it fits! The arm holes are just the right size (not too big like every single other sweater I’ve EVER made) and the length looks about right to start the ribbing. I LOVE the color of this yarn and it’s so soft and squishy! I can’t wait to get it done and wear it!

11/3 - Finally making some progress down the sleeves (done the first decrease and worked down about 4-5” so far).

12/8 - I knit down farther from where I was in that last entry above, I was about half way down the sleeve (at least I thought I was) so I decided to try it on. The sleeves were too tight. It wasn’t so much that they were too tight, it was just that the knitting stretched out so you could see the white shirt underneath. It probably wouldn’t be that big a deal if the yarn was a lighter color or if I could wear a darker shirt, but I just didn’t like it. I even scrunched the sleeve higher up on my arm so it wasn’t pulled out as much but I still wasn’t happy with it. I ripped it out completely and added more stitches. There are now 54 stitches around the arm and I only did decreases every 6” or so, not as many as the pattern called for. It seems to fit better. I also noticed that if you knit in the round, it stretches more than if you knit flat because the purl rows twist the stitches every other row. So every other row I’m knitting through the back and it seems to help with keeping the fabric together a little bit better. Has anyone else noticed that issue or had problems? I’d be interested in anyone’s comments because I think I may just be super anal but it really stretched out a LOT more when knit every row in the round.

12/26 - Got lots of knitting done with all the time off for the holiday! I also bought a SUPER cute sweater that totally reminds me of this one. It’s maroon but the yarn is tonal and it kind of fits like this one. So since I’ve knit the first arm and most of the second, I’m going to bang this one out.

12/31 - I finished up the second sleeve, tried it on and it fits! Yeah! No weird stretchy arms because I knit plenty of repeats so that I don’t have to pull on the sleeves. I can leave them loose up on my arm so it doesn’t stretch. And yes, I’m anal and I knit through the back of every other row to do an experiment to see it it’s true stockinette in the round is different than flat and … . wait for it… YES it IS DIFFERENT! In the round it reminds me of how twisted rib looks, the knit stitches are all open and not V looking. I’m happy with how the arms turned out. Almost done!

1/2/12 - I picked up all the stitches (all thousand of them - longest, row, EVER) and did about 10 rows over the New Year’s weekend of the edged ribbing. I’m running low on the 4th skein and I’m HOPING I can (no, I WILL) squeeze the last of it out and not use only the first 3 yards of the last skein so I can take it back, cause I’m broke. :(

1/4 - I didn’t make it. I added a few extra rows to the collar/front part rows and I just didn’t have enough without the last skein. So I wound it up and started knitting! Good god theses are LONG ROWS!!!

1/5 - I knitted all the rows while watching the Hangover 2. Absolutely freaking hilarious movie, it’s just as funny as the first, which is also hilarious!!! It’s easy to knit boring things when you’re watching a good movie.

1/7 - So I decided to use the sewn bind off on all ten million stitches. I thread 10 feet of yarn and started binding off. After about 20 minutes, I looked down and realized I had gotten about 5 inches. I wanted to start crying. It was so funny, Shawn looked over and said “wow, you’re doing good, is that all you have left?” and I said, “No, that’s all I’ve done, THIS (holding up 3 feet of edge) is how much I have left!” and he did his “Huh!” which means “You’re screwed - have fun with that!”

1/8 -More binding off. Bleh.

1/9 - I only had about 6 inches left and I REALLY wanted to wear it today so I sat down and tore through the rest of it before work. It made me kind of late but it doesn’t matter because I’m losing my job in two weeks. :( Thank goodness they’re being nice about it! Anyways, I finished and I wore it to work and it’s very pretty and nice to wear!!!

6/13 - FOLLOW UP!
I don’t like this cardigan. I don’t know why, I just don’t. It may be the shape or the length, I just don’t know. And it sucks because it’s a nice sweater! Poop. So I decided to pull it off the shelf where it had become the kitty bed for tiny Pupek Purl & try to salvage it because it’s a total waste of time & money to not wear it. I blocked it in the sink. Man, the water turned BRIGHT BLUE!!! When I pulled it out it quadrupled in size, seriously. I smashed it dry between two towels, tried it on & it was down to my knees! No kidding!!! The sleeves were super duper long too. I thought I ruined it but I popped in the dry on warm for a few & when I pulled it out it shrank up a little. I put it back in the dryer for another 15 minutes or so but haven’t taken it out. I may rip back the sleeves a little (I waited to weave in the ends til after blocking for that very reason) but need to see what it’s like now that it’s dry! Note, this yarn is VERY fuzzified & pilly. It’s got the fuzzy beginning of pills after just one hand wash! Not cool…

10/31 - Post Follow Up
The yarn did shrink back down to normal size. I have never seen yarn grow like that before, it was very scary! I guess I was just being weird because I do like this again now. I’ve worn it & it’s a nice cardigan. I think the problem is I don’t have the right stuff to wear it with. It is a little on the short side so I’ve been thinking about ripping out the ribbing & knitting it longer since I do have more yarn.