Recently in Cheesylove Category

I'm willing to bet there are more people reading this post who don't know I have a Cheesylove in progress. I casted on for this project almost two years ago.

See, the problem is, I miscalculated how much stretch I would lose in the two-color part. And unfortunately, I need lots of stretch in that area.

So, cheesylove went from this to this...

I'm trying to decide if I'm going to knit the two-color part with a bigger needle or if I'm going to increase a few stitches (actually, 12 stitches -- that's one repeat).

Any suggestions?

Bigger than a breadbox

I got a new toy. A Portable Light Tent. Fun!

One not so small problem. It's huge. HUGE. Here it is taking over in my kitchen.

Granted, it's a small kitchen. But take note -- it's bigger than the stove. I guess I never really thought about how big 36 inches really is.

The Cheesylove pic I took above was in the light tent. It's pretty good but I need a couple more hinge lights to make it work well. Still, it's not bad. Click on the pic to see it larger. You can actually make out the ribbing. In fact, you can even see a few Isabella hairs. Damn cat.

Despite its size the tent folds up compactly -- into a carry case the size of a jumper cable bag. It can easily fit in a coat closet or under the couch/bed. The vendor had smaller sizes too if you're interested but not ready to commit to something this big.

Tubular Bind Off

After reading through yesterday's comments I decided to put together a slide show on how to do a tubular bind-off. It's going to take me a few days to get the pics together but I will post a how-to for you all.

I redid the front of Cheesylove this weekend. Technically, I redid it twice before I got it right. It's about 3 inches shorter from the armhole to the top than it was last week.

  

I'm much happier with the way this looks now. The problem was actually how quickly the neckline decreased. I was doing a decrease every RS row. But, in order to be happy with its shape I ended up decreasing EVERY row. If my calculations are right this will allow it to just skim the edges of my bra straps - exactly where I want it to hit.

I like the way the V opens up on the neck too. I was afraid it would look like it was being stretched open but I don't think that's the case. I slipped the edge stitches on the neckline every WS row and I think that helped. The edges curve under and make a nice edge without the need for ribbing.

I still can't say enough about the Cotton Fleece. This yarn is a dream to work with. The label says it shouldn't be machine dried but I think next time I'll wash and dry a swatch to see how much shrinkage I get. This way I could add some length to the sweater. I think this would work OK. It has 20% wool so I'm slightly concerned the wool would do weird things when machine washed and dried. But I guess I'll find out when I swatch.

Last week, Eklectika suggested that Cheesylove would make a nice tank. And I agree. I've been tempted a few times to make this into a tank but I'm going to stick with the original plan. However, I can definitely see another version of this sweater made up as a tank in the future.

BTW, if you didn't follow the link to Eklectika's site please go do it now. She's been dealing with this nasty dye lot curse for a few months and needs some TLC. Go give her a big hug and send her happy knitting thoughts.

I picked up Cheesylove yesterday and I just couldn't put her down. I swear fair isle is like crack for knitters. Once you start you need more and more. I finished the fair isle band and one side of the neckline:

In case you don't remember, I'm making modifications to the top of the sweater. My version has raglan sleeves, and they're going to be shorter. I still haven't decided if I want to do short sleeves or 3/4 length.

I'm very happy with the way the ribbed raglan decreases came out. I read through many patterns before deciding on how to do them. In the armhole, I kept a K2 P1 K2 edge. So, whenever I decreased I did so under the innermost K2. Meaning, decrease rows went like this: K2 P1 K1, SSK, knit to last 6 sts, K2tog K1 P1 K2. This preserved a K2 P1 K2 edge throughout the armhole. I plan to do the same decreases on the sleeves.

On the body, I made the center 2 sts a K2. So, when it came time to split for the V neck, I had 1 knit stitch on either side of the neck. I did the same basic decreases as for the armholes, but with only one K on the end. Since I do not need to seam the neckline like I do the armhole, I slipped the neckline stitch on every WS side for a nice rolled edge. The neck looks like it will lay nice and flat without any need for finishing.

Oh, I think I made the neck/armhole an inch or two too long. But I'm going to finish up the body (or at least one side) and do a sleeve before I rip out. Even if I have to rip it won't be much more to reknit - those last 10 rows go so quicklyl

One other thing I don't think I've mentioned before. I slightly modified how the body is set up at the bottom. The instructions say to start with a K2 P1 rib, with markers before the K2 to indicate the sides. Instead, I moved the markers in a single stitch so they were between 2 knit sts - K1 pm K1 P1 K2. This way, the decreases were always symmetrical. See: