Saturday, October 13, 2007

Tomten-DONE!

I finished R's little tomten. It's big for him, but that's ok, I need to sew in a zipper eventually too.This was a relatively quick knit, I actually finished a few weeks ago, but it just now got cold enough where Robby could wear it. He always tries to pull the hood off. I love how it turned out, the modular construction kept the knitting interesting, and the Malabrigo was lovely to work with. The neon green border is actually a little brighter than it looked on the screen when I bought it online, but it works, I think. I will be able to see Robby in the dark!I'll post some of the pictures on Robby's special blog so you guys can get your daily dose of cuteness!...Oh wait, you guys are still here! I have another FO to show you! Remember that Rebecca sweater that I was having so much trouble with? After two years it's finally DONE. Thanks to some gentle prompting by Mrs. Knitsane, I got enough get up and go to finish seaming the sweater up. And despite my gauge issues and mistakes, I'm really happy with it. It's a perfect fall sweater and is very warm and comfortable. And because the yarn is a cotton/acrylic blend, it's easy to take care of...it's murder to knit, but I can just throw it in the wash!Hello. I have bad posture.While seaming and cursing this sweater, I thought, why didn't I just do it in the round? But thanks to Wry Punster's thoughtful blog entries on sweater construction, I realized, this heavy, heavy sweater, needed the rigid line of seams that go up the sides of the sweater to give it some stability, kind of like supporting beams in a house.Without the seams, the sweater would continue to sag and hang way too low. Since the yarn is very non-stretchy, the seams are very rigid, and they help the sweater keep it's shape. There is no real waste shaping, the 2x2 rib on the sides kind of act as waist shaping.

Now you guys know me too well, to know that when I finish one project I automatically MUST start another one. I'm continuing to work on Rob's Adult Tomten, I finished the short row sleeve cap shaping on it, and am going to work a few rows into the sleeve to decide whether it works or not. I took pretty good notes, so I'll try and explain what I did in a later post.

I've been obsessing over Eunny's Autumn Rose, and wanted to do it in green and purple hues. I ordered a buttload of Jamieson's Spindrift and have been experimenting with different colors. This is what I have so far, I'm going to rip out to the cuff and replace the white with dark gray and add in some blues.It's been fun, knitting with different color combos and seeing what works and what doesn't.

Thanks for reading and sticking with me thus far! If you want an invite to Robby's special blog, just e-mail me at robunderscorebeaatmsndotcom!

20 comments:

Monika said...

The tomten is just too cute and my favorite colores as well! The sweater is gorgeous too, must be nice for the fall weather now. And your new project is looking quite promissing!

Anonymous said...

Wow, this post is full of so much knitted goodness! Your cabled sweater is so gorgeous. I love the colors you chose for your Tomten it's adorable!

mames said...

so weird, bea, i was just thinking about you and wondering what the latest was in both knot and robby blog world. i love all the projects so far, i cannot believe you are biting off the eunny sweater, i have great knot envy. tell me, when do you find the time to knit? anyway, i am going to robby's blog next. smiles.

Anonymous said...

Love the tomten, great colors! That sweater of yours is absolutely gorgeous! I'll bet you are glad to be done with it and wearing it.

Now I'm off to see the little one's blog :)

Anonymous said...

Very cute tomtem and great job on your sweater! Did you get a haircut? I don't remember your hair being short. Going to go get my dose of Robby cuteness!

Yarnhog said...

That tomten is fabulous. I'll bet it is incredibly soft and cozy in Malabrigo. I am seriously tempted to make one for myself!

Congratulations on finishing the Rebecca sweater. It's a great feeling to finally finish something that's been lingering in the closet for way too long. And it looks great, too! (I totally agree with you about the seams. Necessary for stability when you have a heavier sweater or a stretchy yarn.)

Michele said...

great post!

first a big congratulations on finishing your rebecca sweater. it looks fantastic on you! so much cable goodness. i'm really happy you stuck it out with this one.

and the tomtem looks so cute on robby. i like how you've mixed the colors.

i love what you've got already on the autumn rose sweater but adding some grey and blue also sounds good. looking forward to seeing more of this one.

Anonymous said...

The Tomten is great, but the Rebecca sweater is fantastic! My dream is to someday do an allover-pattern-cable type sweater and I'm still too chicken to do it, knowing that I'll put it down once and be afraid to try to find my way around the pattern ever again. Dumb, but true.

You go!

fluffbuff said...

Wow, you're on a roll.
Robbie's little tomten is awfully cute and the aran sweater is GORGEOUS!

Anonymous said...

I found your blog through Ravelry and had to comment on the cuteness of your Tomten. I totally want to knit up one of those for my little guy now. Your Rebecca sweater is beautiful too.

Anonymous said...

The Tomten is awesome!! I love the colors, I like how so many people have knit this and each time you see it, it's so original! And your sweater is gorgeous! Good knitting all over the place!

Elspeth said...

How cute are those pictures?! What a great pair of sweaters!

Faith said...

I love how you sneak that little "Oh, by the way, here's another thing I finished" and it's frickin gorgeous! Oh man, I'm amazed.

Romi said...

Holy cow! What gorgeous stuff! I am in awe. :)

Cinnamonamon said...

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! I think Eunny's Autumn Rose is my dream project.

bokumbop said...

These are absolutely beautiful - I can't believe the knitting you do, I am in awe. Thanks for coming by lately, even though I have been horrible at commenting and keeping up.

Knittypants said...

I love the tomten! The colors are just so perfect together.

Your cabled sweater looks like just right for the weather and the cables are beautiful.

Anonymous said...

i am crocheting your hat pattern from the knitting store and it is turning out wrong. is the pattern at the store correct?

Anonymous said...

There isnt a guage on it but it is HUGE!

Anonymous said...

I love tomten, however your sweater is quite gorgeous!