My Own Little Olympics Closing Ceremony at the Madison Knit-In

Hello my friends! Last week the yarn factory was running overtime as I was getting ready to go to the Madison Knit-In. I still managed to squeeze in a little knitting time as I really, really, really wanted to wear (read: show off) my finished Olympic sweater in Madison. I finished the fair isle knitting on Wednesday.

And basted a line for the steek. I went through the center of the "v" in the center stitch. This allows you to see where you need to stitch when you have it under the sewing machine, because it is hard to follow the column of knitting in all those tiny dark stitches.


Late that night (note the bad lighting) I sewed the steek by machine. I did two lines of stitching on either side of the basted line.

I waited until the next morning-Thursday-to cut. Since my supervisor at the yarn factory (aka "me") seriously discourages drinking on the job, I had to cut the steek without the traditional shot of vodka beforehand. I did ok sans alcohol, although it was a little more nerve-wracking.

I knit the button bands Thursday night before I left (no action shot because if memory serves I was knitting with one hand and skeining yarn with the other, at that point). And I sewed the buttons on in the hotel room on Friday night, the night before the show. I also wove in (most of) the ends (at least the ones that would dangle down and show) that night and kitchenered the underarms.
I blame the bad hotel room lighting (note to self--always throw an Ott light in the car for a hotel) on the bad darning job under the arms. But hey--I've been to several big events in my life with a hem masking-taped-up, so I am not fazed by a knitting show with a few dangly ends inside and a tiny underarm hole!

She's done!


And here we all are at the show--me, my new sweater, and my dear friend and assistant Blogless Carla.

Details:

Pattern: Lloie's Cardigan also known as "Yoke Sweaters" by Elizabeth Zimmerman and Meg Swansen available at Schoolhouse Press.

Yarn: Sophie's Toes sock yarn. I dyed the background color especially for this project by overdyeing Blackberry to an even darker and more solid shade. The fair isle colors are from bottom to top: blue--unknown, Cranberry, He Saw Her Across the Smoky Bar, Layers of Color Dark Green, Green is the New Black, Olive, and pink-unknown. These were all pretty much from my own collection of scraps so sorry some of the info is sketchy. It really takes just a bit for most of these color sections.

Needle size: 2 for body and ribbing; I'm a loose knitter.

Mods: I didn't follow the body stitch count but modeled this sweater after another one I've made in which I really like the fit, and I added waist shaping. But she uses the percentage system anyway, so that was fine and then I just followed the chart when I got to that part.

Several people have asked me if this was a kit or if the fair isle yarn was one yarn that changed colors like that. NO! PEOPLE! This is what I love to do--make color choices. I am very very happy and proud of this sweater. It is one of the best things I have ever made.


Thanks for listening! And before I sign off I just want to give a shout out to Blogless Carla who is an excellent help at the shows and to my special mom for tirelessly winding yarn as well as moral support for me last week before the show. Thank you!