Easter, Bloggiversary, Cabled Cardigan

I hope you all had a great Easter. Ours was mellow and chilly. Some kind of crazy Artic Blast has blown through here, and the weather has been less like April and more like January. The boys had lots of candy and little surprizes from the Easter Bunny, and we had a very nice meal of roast leg of lamb and mixed fingering potatoes with asparagus and red wine. We went for a little drive in the afternoon then sort of crashed out in the evening. Here's some food pictures:

Roast Lamb & Mixed Potatoes:



Asparagus and Parmesan:



This is my favorite egg from the lot:



My bloggiversary was yesterday. I was too busy and involved in family stuff to sit down and write. Seems like that's been going around lately. Anyway, as I look back over the past year and think about knitting, blogging and all of you, I realize that so many things have changed as a result of this wonderful medium.

I got involved in the online knitting world early last spring when I needed to find an answer to a particular question. I joined a couple of newsgroups and started noticing that when some people signed their names, a link would appear under it. I think the first link I followed was Elabeth's, and that's when I learned about blogs. I read hers and followed some other links and finally got the nerve to start my own blog. Before I joined newsgroups and the blogworld, I felt isolated as a knitter. When I had a knitting problem or a knitting triumph, I kept them to myself, because there was no one around here to share them with.

Over the past year, I have met wonderful knitters from all over the country and world. You guys have supported me through a frustrating illness and some frustrating knitting. The support and humor I've encountered has meant the world to me.

To honor this special occasion, I want to show you the best thing I've knitted so far. The Margaret O'Leary Cabled Cardigan from Vogue Knitting Fall 2006 (#19). This is the best fitting, most comfortable, most successful piece of knitting I've done.



The Stats:

Yarn: Knit Picks: Wakashan 100% Baby Alpaca (in black). I did end up with 3 spare hanks of yarn, but that's OK with me.
Needles: Addi Turbo Circular: #8 47", Some kind of straight #10, and #8
Size : 38 bust.

There are a few problems with the pattern: The cable chart for the right front has a mistake on row 13. It should be 6-st LC instead of 6-st RC. The collar shaping has a problem on the right half. The instructions have you making the collar shaping over the buttonband. If I remember correctly, all you have to do is end with a RS instead of a WS and then do the shaping. These corrections are not listed on the VK website, but others are. If you want to make this sweater, print out the corrections first then go for it.

I would absolutely recommend this sweater pattern. It wasn't difficult and the results are wonderful. I did change the length of the ribbing on the sleeves from 7 inches to 3.5 inches. They were too long and I didn't want to fold them over. Knitting the shawl collar takes forever and can be a drag. The collar which is double the thickness of the rest of the sweater, tends to unfold itself (you can see that in the picture below). A minor disappointment, I can live with it.

Thank you all for being such lovely knitters and bloggers!

Smooches!