Fuzzy Blackberry

It's taken me exactly two months, but it's finally finished! This is the Blackberry cardigan designed by Jennifer Thurston that I promised my supervisor when I was working down in NYC.

No funny holes or bunching in this one; I did everything I should have done, I think. I even spliced ends to join new balls of yarn so that I wouldn't have as many ends to weave in. That wasn't an easy thing, since the R2 Fuzzi Felt is made up of two strands (one of which is kind of suede-like, the other more wool-like) that do not want to stick together once they've been separated.

Pattern: Blackberry by Jennifer Thurston in Knitty

Start Date: 21 March, 2006 Finish Date: 21 May, 2006

Yarn: R2 Fuzzi Felt (58% nylon, 16% merino, 20% acrylic, 6% alpaca), 50m/50g, black

Cost: $2.98/ball plus shipping; I bought 19 balls, but only used 10 1/2.

Source: Elann

Needles: Pony 7-mm circulars, Aero 5-mm single-pointed, Denise Interchangeables Sz 8 (5-mm)

Size Made: 2XL

Gauge: My gauge just right, 11 stitches/14 rows = 4 inches using 7-mm needles.

Changes made: I made this cardigan before using Lion Brand Kool Wool. The Fuzzi Felt isn't as elastic and I realised that the ribbing was way too big when I cast on for the sleeves with the 7-mm needles. So, instead of casting on 46 stitches, I only cast on 38, and used 5-mm needles. After I'd finished the sleeve ribbing, I increased by 8 stitches and switched to the 7-mm needles for the rest of the sleeve.

Another consequence of this yarn's inelasticity was the trouble I had increasing 5 stitches (by knitting into the front and back of a single stitch) to make the bobbles. With the fat needles, the single stitch just wouldn't stretch enough, so I ended up increasing just 4 stitches instead. The bobbles looked fine.

To finish the cardigan with ribbing all around the body I switched to 5-mm Denise Interchangeable needles. I even joined two of their cords to make a 43-inch long circular needle! Thanks for the great X'mas present, Moocow!

So, I'll be mailing this off to Denise soon.

In the meantime, I'm trying to finish off all my works-in-progress. I've finished all the pieces on my lacey sweater from Rebecca magazine; I had way too much time on my hands working as a receptionist. Now I'm at the blocking stage, as you can see.

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Posted by Lana to Bumbling Bees - Girls with Purls at 5/21/2006 08:56:00 PM