KauniKAL

Upsizing the Cardigan

Since I have to wait for the yarn to arrive I decided to upsize the cardigan for those who need it. This is what I figured out. The pattern is a 6 pattern repeat and the sizes are up 24 st or 10cm from the previous size. Following that formula here it is - Notice if you read this before I have made a few changes--

Cast on 218 – 242 – 266 – 290 - 314sts on needle number 3, and knit 3 cm rib, 1knit, 1purl with 2

colors. (Knit in color 1, purl colour 2)

Change to needle number 3½ and increase with 11 stitches in the 1st round. At the

same time you start to knit according to the former diagram.

Mark 13 sts mid front, 6 and 7 sts each side of the start of the row.

Mark sides after 9 – 10 – 11 – 12 -13  pattern for side (54 – 60 – 66 -  70 -74 sts). After further 18 –20 – 22 - 24 -26 pattern for the other side. (108 – 120 – 132  - 144 - 156sts)

Now there are 229 – 253 – 277 - 301- 325sts

Armhole

Work straight until the knitting measures 32 –

36 – 40 cm. this you can increase if you like

Let 12 sts rest on a piece of yarn (6sts on each

side of the mark in the side) and cast on 13 new

sts (cut up sts)

The 13 sts in the middle of

the front.

The largest size shown is 120cm 47” finished chest  (upsized would be  130 cm, 51" - 140 cm 55.2”)

To up size this cardigan you can follow the red #’s for XL and Blue for the bigger size

Pattern questions

Although my yarn is still in transit (don't worry Shelley, I have faith in you), I've had a read through the pattern a few times and I have a few questions.

1.   With the center steak band, do we begin it right from cast on, or do we begin it after the ribbing?  I thought that perhaps it would be easier to cut at the end if we began it from cast on, but would that change how it sits at the waist?

2.   How are you all planning to sew up the shoulder seams?  I was thinking of 3 needle bind off as it is easier than ktst, but would it be too bulky?  Those who have seen the yarn, what do you think?

3.   Is it really necessary to sew the steeks before cutting them?  The other time I did steeks, I didn't have the need.

4.   Is there a way to make the colour work on the sleeves match each other?

5.   Anyone have any good links on making button holes?  I really suck at this.

Any thoughts?

Problems, problems...

Well at least I don't have the problem of a lot of you. I actually recieved my yarn from http://www.wollsucht.de/catalog/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=kauni+eq&x=0&y=0 in about 2.5 weeks. It's beautiful! But now I'm having trouble getting gauge. I cast on about 30 sts and began a swatch in the round (well, not really I'm doing that technique where you carry along the yarn on the back and knit every row.)

According to the pattern, the gauge is supposed to be 24 sts to 10 cm or 6 sts to the inch. So far I've tried needle sizes 3,4 and 5 and have gotten 8 sts, 7.5 and 7.5 respectively. I wonder what the problem is? I do only have about a two or three inch swatch instead of four inches because the sides pull in a bit. Is anyone else having gauge issues?

I suppose eventually I'll get it but I'm getting tired of swatch knitting! :)

I wish I could say the Kauni is here

I wanted to update all who pre-ordered Kauni yarn from Fun Knits ----- We are still patiently waiting -----

I am still waiting for both shipments of Kauni to arrive. I was really disappointed  today when I went to the Post Office and still no yarn.

I wish I had better news. I was told it would take 7- 15 days for the shipments to arrive. Today is day 15 for the first shipment and day 7 for the 2nd. Monday is a holiday in Canada so no mail now until Tuesday. I know a lot of you are waiting, so please know that the second that yarn arrives it will be shipped off. All of your packing slips are ready and all I need to do is add yarn and send. I am sending the yarn Air Mail to the US and Expedited to Canada.

I hope my next post is better news - Shelley at  Fun Knits

my yarn is here now to wind..

My rainbow (I think it is EQ) Kauni yarn arrived lickety split from the UK.  May I recommend 4to4 on eBay as a source?  No affiliation etc, I've ordered from Irene (Jannette's Rare Yarns) many times and have always been delighted with the prices and the service.

I wound the first hank, thinking my XL ball winder would be able to handle the entire thing.  Wrong.  I had to wind a second ball.  I'll do 2 balls on the 2nd hank as well, trying to divide them evenly (I have 1 huge ball and 1 smaller ball from the first hank).  I guess I'll try to label the extra balls so I know which one to use when I run out of ball(s) #1.

I'm so excited to get going.  Even tho it's hot and muggy here in Spokane tonight, I'm going to get started casting on and doing the ribbing while I watch the Mariners baseball game on the tube.

Laurie

http://www.vintageknits.com

Kauni EF

Here's Ruth cardigan in Kauni EF.  I was going to wait to post until I got to the first color change, but I think that the color bands are longer in this dyelot than in the EQ, so it will be a while.  I'm loving the colors and the pattern.  My only problem is that my lefthand tension has been hard to control because it's humid here and the yarn keeps sticking on my fingers.  I'm also having some rolling on my ribbing, but it could be because my circular needle should be longer, or maybe because I messed up and did the ribbing on the same size needle as the body.  I hate frogging back, so I left it alone.  If I decide later, before cutting, that the roll is too annoying I'll cut off the ribbing and reknit it with smaller needles then kitchner it onto the body.  I just learned how to do that last year

My Yarn is here!

I'm very excited - except it isn't the yarn I ordered.  I ordered ET - a purple that runs to black.  I recieved EQ - the lovely rainbow that people are trying so hard to find.  I'm going to use it anyway.  It will still be beautiful and I don't want to wait to start the sweater. 

I've decided to make a sweater rather than a cardigan.  I prefer to wear sweaters.

Tonight I'll have to ball it up and do a couple gauge swatches. 

Hi - is my yarn true to color?

I am a new member to this KAL.  Like everyone else - I first saw the sweater on Yarn Harlot's blog and fell in love.  I have done some Fair Isle (Philosopher's Wool and Alice Starmore) and Dale of Norway so I'm hoping I can figure this one out.   I just received my yarn - the EQ rainbow color and I'm wondering if my batch is not correct.  The colors are a lot more muted than what I've seen on the internet.  Does it just photograph brighter than it is?  Or should I get an exchange?  I hate to do that since I had it shipped from Germany.

Ricki

http://knittingintherockies.blogspot.com/

Buttons

Thinking ahead, I am trying to decide if I want a button band and buttons or facings and fastenings. In any case, I might need something that looks like buttons.

I know exactly what I want - blocks of color with internal squares, just like the blocks in the pattern.

I don't do Sculpy or Fimo, but this seems like the perfect way to get exactly matching colors to the sweater and exactly the right shape.

What have you thought about with regards to closures? Have you found the perfect buttons? Can you make  buttons?

-Holly

78 Now!

I just finished adding the latest new members to this KAL, and we are now up to 78!  I don't think either myself or Shelley would have anticipated the response we have received, but then we didn't know that the Yarn Harlot was going to link here either.  And one can certainly not underestimate the Harlot effect.

I'm now thinking that I will close this KAL to new participants by the weekend.  My reasoning behind this is that there are already a lot of us to keep track of, and I don't want it to be so overwhelming that it would make it hard for us to get to know each other and support one another through the process of knitting this sweater.  Does this sound reasonable to my fellow KAL participants?

That being said...I won't be around much tomorrow and may not even have time to add any new participants.  Our niece is graduating from high school tomorrow.  It seems like yesterday that she was our cute little flower girl, before she had even started kindergarten.  We're very proud of her, and I know that watching her graduate will be a very emotional thing.  I better remember my kleenex!