Knit Picks Palette Fair Isle Sampler Cardigan and it's chart

Knit Picks Palette fair isle sampler cardigan and chart
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

Having finished the Sunburst Sweater, I played around with it a bit before I started in on this one. It's going pretty fast (about one stripe pattern per day). I started it last Saturday and have mostly been knitting it on the bus on the way to school and outside on the lawn at school between classes. I suppose I should have been in the library studying, but the weather was so nice it just didn't scream "Come inside and do statistics problems!"

This is done in the traditional fair isle fashion with a steek for the front which will eventually be cut to make it a cardigan. As soon as I get to armpit depth, I'll be inserting steeks for the armholes. I'm pretty sure I'm going to crochet the steeks. I experimented with different steek styles when I was teaching a cardigan class in the Spring of 2004. The crochet steeks were nice and neat and easy to do without hauling out the sewing machine. I do already have the machine out as I was making sand bags for my yoga teacher's studio. But that's another project.

I do like the yarn a lot and the sampler pack is quite nice with all the colors they have. The price can't be beat either. I will definitely make some more things form this yarn.

I'll take pictures of the crocheted steeks when i get to them.

Sunburst sweater Finished

Sunburst sweater front
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

Then I figured out that it's darn hard to get a picture of this one. Much of the interesting stuff is on the back. I had my husband take several pictures of me wearing it, but I just couldn't get what I wanted. I finally took a picture of the back of the sweater with him wearing it (proving what a good sport he is). It's still not exactly what I wanted but oh well. I'm hoping to get a some good pictures of my mom in it when I give it to her. It's a mother's day present, but I'm going out to visit at the end of June, so I though I'd wait and give it in person.

I thought I wasn't going to like the drop stitch bottoms of the sleeves, but it turns out that I do. It makes the sleeves bell out and lightens them up quite a bit. I still haven't knit the i-cord ties, but I was thinking about a button/loop for the inside and then the ties for the outside.

Sunburst Sweater done in time for Mother's Day

Sunburst sweater
Originally uploaded by Loretta.

The knitting went really fast. It was a little hard to figure out how to block and I'm still tweaking around with it. Although I'm not a big fan of drop stitch patterns, The dropped stitches at the bottoms of the sleeves (picture forthcoming), add a nice lightness. I hope my mom will like it.