06-01-2016

Cast on yesterday an i-cord as planned, with the red Beiroa.

10-01-2016

Instead of crossing stitches as the ithilien brocade stitch pattern requires (for the trellis), I decided to use increases and decreases on the sides of the trellis, like in this pattern: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fair-isle-rapids
It is easier and the result looks much better, at least with the yarns I'm using. Whenever there are 2 st being crossed, I use a combination of the increase/decrease and crossing one st over. It didn’t look better.
Knitting ithilien brocade pattern as instructed.

I want to add some waist shaping and found this calculator: http://www.knittingdaily.com/waist-shaping-calculator/
I’ve put in the measurements and got a very detailed set of instructions, but I only going to take these into account:

waist stitches needed: 140
Work dec row/round every ___ rows/rounds: 5
Work even at waist for ___ rows/rounds: 18
Work increase row/round every rows/rounds: 4

So I’m aiming for 140 st at the waist. Considering that 32 out of those are the lace border, I’ll have to get to 108. I’m currently working with 134 st (without lace border), so I must decrease 24 st (it has to be a multiple of 4). That is, 6 decrease rows. In 17 cm. Every 7th row is a decrease row.
Then I’ll work even for 18 rows and then I’ll increase again every 6th row.
Stitch markers will be placed at the 25th st from beginning and before end of row.

11-02-2016

Well, I’m not very happy with this project. That means I’ll have to restart it, this time with the Beiroa held double. I really want the Ithilien pattern to have a more consistent structure. So here I go, start all over again. That’s the price of being a perfeccionist.
For the i-cord cast on and the leaves pattern: using 4 mm needles to compensate for the heavier fabric/larger gauge.

04-03-2016

Again not happy with the result.
It seems to be too narrow at the shoulders.
I don’ like the i-cord cast-on, it’s too tight, I’m not expecting that this will go away with blocking. Maybe with n. 5 mm needles? Maybe just knitting 5-10 rows of stockinette stitch will produce the same effect (roll up)?
I don't like the wonky fabric that the ithilien pattern causes (maybe it's the way I'm knitting it?).
And I’ll have way too many yarn left over, and I don’t like that, it’s a shame, such a soft, pretty yarn.
But: I found the perfect tutorial for knitting set-in sleeves from the top, right here: http://bygumbygolly.com/2013/10/how-to-knit-seamless-set-...

So, I guess I’ll start it all over again, a 3rd time. There’s no hurry, I can wait for the perfect project. And I’ll do it a little longer than the pattern suggests. No cropped vest for me, please.

14-03-2016

Started for the 3rd time.
No i-cord cast-on. Just 4 rows of stockinette stitch, which I then picked up to form a tube. Looks like a reversed i-cord. I like it.
Knitting a size between M and L, with 164 stitches + 4 edge stitches.

30-05-2016

Well, the vest is practically done. Did a 3 needle bind off to attach the shoulders to the body.
Working on the leaf motif now. I don’t like the way the i-cord results, so I’m going to take a look at this method: http://giftofknitting.com/how-to-knit-a-perfect-edge-fini...
I used the 2 st border.
And I’ll have to buy another skin of Alfeire IF I want to make it a cardigan.

22-08-2016

Bought a fourth skein of Alfeire, I want it to be a cardigan after all. But: I think I don’t have enough Beiroa to finish it. Bah! So I’ll just have to buy another skein of Beiroa :P
Oh the stash….

29-09-2016

Picked it up again today (already have another skein of Beiroa, just in case). Lets see if I can finish this before the baby arrives :)

03-10-2016

Picking up 58 st for the sleeve caps (I want the upper arm circunference to be 31 cm, the gauge is 18,5 st/10 cm knitting back and forth, hence the 58 st). Purling the first 2 rows in red beiroa (held double), then changing to Alfeire again.

After the sleeve caps are done, I’ll be knitting (actually purling) in the round, so I’ll have to check the gauge again.
16,5 st = 10 cm
24 rows = 10 cm
Arm length = 53 cm

Correcting st count on the upper arm to 52 st by decreasing 2 st every 3rd row 3 times.

Tapering sleeves: at the end I want to have 20 cm/34 st. Decreasing 2 st every 5 cm 9 times.

07-10-2016

The new skein of Beiroa is slightly thicker (or more evenly spun?) than the previous. So I’m not going to use it held double.
I can’t make the sleeves all in Alfeire. And I’m not buying another skein. So I’ll use Beiroa and I’ll knit some garter stitch rounds and sew the leaf lace pattern unto the end of the sleeve. Let’s see how it turns out ;)

10-10-2016

For the lace pattern cuffs: every other motif had 3 short rows, to make them “flare” just a little bit. Cast one 2 extra st, one at the begining and one at the end.

12-10-2016

Finished sewing, weaving in ends and blocked. It’s a lovely cardigan, I’m so happy I didn’t settle for the results when I didn’t like them.