WIP Button Side Sweater Using German Short Rows

As I follow up on my button side sweater I am coming to close to finishing. Not so easy since I started three projects at the same time.

First of all I just love the yarn. I am knitting the sweater with Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool
 45%Wool, 35%Silk, 20%Nylon Yardage: 192, Stitches: 5.5 = 1 inch
So naturally I am a happy camper. This is one of my favorite yarns. The wool gives it stability, the silk gives it drape and the bit of nylon helps it hold it's shape.  It feels soft and squishy to the touch and my hands are so happy holding it.  I also love the color range.  I need to go down a needle size with this and many yarns because I am a loose knitter and in order to get the fabric I want that is not to tight, not too loose, but just right I often need to use a smaller needle than stated.

I love the color I choose. I went out of my comfort zone and picked a Cinnamon color that I don;t often choose for my wardrobe and I like it a lot. A bit of orange and a bit of brown but very neutral and a departure from my usual grey and black.

The sweater construction is interesting because you knit the curved band bottom together with the body. The sweater uses German Short Rows which are no my favorite. I have always don the wrap and turn and not matter how I tried I could always see the small hole from the turn. For what ever reason this method seems to give a totally invisible turn. From knitting this sweater I now feel quite proficient in this method.

I did, as I always do deviate from the pattern a bit. I decided even though I am not tall that I wanted a longer body so I knit about 16 extra rows which also resulted in one more button on each side.. The pattern calls for a Kitchener Stitch join where the band meets but after doing this I wan;t happy and instead did a three needle bind off which some what matched the pattern on the band and I felt looked better.

And I changed the sleeve. I did not like the few rows of garter stitch for the cuff. To me it did not go with the sweater so I did the modified rib patter that is used on the shoulder saddle and I personally like it better for me.  I think it adds a nice detail.

What's On Your Needles

As the weather gets warmer and I start to think about outdoor concerts, days at the pool and travel I start to think about what my knitting projects will be.

I always like to have knitting with me and small projects that are light and easy to carry work well for this purpose. Socks naturally and my favorite one skein shawls.

Checking on Ravelry.com there are wonderful people who have designed and shared their pattern for free.  If you are like me I try to take advantage of their generosity.

If you check on Revelry frequently and click on "Patterns" a small box drops down with the most looked at patterns for that day. This is constantly changing although several will keep appearing.

Down at the bottom it will offer the top 20 and if you click on that you will get small thumbnails of the patterns.  You can also do an advanced sort and then put in specific detail for your search like how many yards (put in 450 for a one skein as a starting point), what type of project (shawl) sort by free.

My recent search gave me Reyna 
a triangle shawl with some open work areas that looked like a good choice for a carry along project because there was some detail but looked like it would be easily memorized and therefore okay to work on if there were other people around .  

I remember that I had started a shawl (KAL) knit along back in December and the design became too tedious for me since it required  watching every row. I need to go back to my abandoned project and I think the yarn may just want to be a Reyna shawl.

Happy Knitting