The Inferior Cardigan’s Got Back

The back of the Inferior Cardigan is finished. I don’t have a picture. It looks just like the Inferior Sleeves only wider. I do have a picture of the left front. Please do not mock my wonky ribbing.*

side by side comparison

The Superior Cardigan is on the left. The Inferior Cardigan is on the right.

Exciting things happen on the front! I should be at the armholes in no time.

My other projects are not going so well.

The night before last, I was ready to cast on the first of the Bloomin’ Socks. First, I had to ball the yarn. I don’t have a ball winder** and M has a short attention span, so I put the hank around the back of the rocking chair and started to wind. As soon as I made it clear to the cats that I was Not Playing, everything went swimmingly. Then I noticed that an Upsetting Tangeling Thing was happening. It was like the guy winding the ball at the mill took the yarn off the winder, put it on backwards, and finished the job. M tried to help. The spaghetti mess rapidly became worse.*** I sat on the couch trying not to cry and undoing the tiny, tiny knots. By the time I had finished, I was in no mood to try an overly complicated cast on.

It is now a day later and I have cast on in the overly complicated manner THREE times. Each time I asked: “Why am I doing this when I could just knit one on/purl one on? Why does the designer want people to cry? The pictures would be a lot less complex if they just did it the easy way.” For my fourth and final attempt, I did it my way and you can’t tell the difference.

cuff and turtle

Emily Ivey, casting on as she sees fit since 2001. So there.

In my stash, I have enough actual sock yarn for eight pairs of socks. This does not count the sack of Wool-Ease and other yarns that can also be used to make socks. And yet, I have ordered yarn for three more pairs.

add it to the pile

On the left, we have some Regia from Simply Socks. It was ON SALE. The Red is for the Red Hot Socks knit-a-long. On the right, we have M’s very favorite sock yarn of all time: Brown Sheep’s Wildefoot (Elderberry). I got this because I didn’t want to pay a ton of shipping for just a pattern. It does NOT cost $4.25 to mail two pieces of paper.

From the sock yarn I already have, I’ve started a new TakeItWithMe project: Fluted Banister Socks in some kind of Kroy. I really like this pattern and the color will be great for M. I’ve added 5 extra stitches to the leg to make it a little bigger, but I think I will loose them when I get to the foot.

MORE socks

Take a good look. You won’t see them again ’til they are finished. Months from now.

I have not forgotten about the bedspread! It is still a very active project. I won Rowan #33 on ebay which has a baby blanket that is really similar to the bedspread patterns, but the squares are bigger. Janet pointed this out to me in the comments and bless her for that! Maybe it won’t take six years after all.

*I don’t know what’s up with that but it blocks out nicely so I have decided not to worry about it. I imagine it has something to do with my loose purls.

**For the record, I don’t have a ball winder because a Certain Someone called me “lazy” when I said I wanted to spend $40 to get one. The same Certain Someone looked at me as I wound and wound last night and said, “Don’t they make something that can do that for you?” My memory is hazy at this point, but I believe I called him a Bad Name.

***Only ONE person should be trying to untangle at a time. ONE PERSON.

8 thoughts on “The Inferior Cardigan’s Got Back

  1. erin

    I like your banner photo at the top, such a bright greens and reds. Oh dear, I felt the pain of having to deal with those knots. Thanks for the warning about the cast on for the socks. I also have very wonky 1 X 1 ribbing on my aran sweater and I hope blocking will do the trick.

  2. Guylaine

    Oh, it’s so pretty on your siteโ€ฆ The colors, the banner, all invites for comming spring, which will be soon there for you, I imagine!!! Bravo!

  3. becky

    I’d take this prime opportunity to order the ball winder!

    And I see you’ve been redesigning the blog! Very interesting. You had them make your very own special line of yarn for you! GRIN…

    And the cast on thing…. I use the one that works for me too.

  4. amanda

    Love the new banner Emily! And definitely use the co that works for you. JoAnns just had a 50% off coupon and you could’ve gotten a swift for 30$–you might want to poke your head into their site occasionally if you want to score a swift at a decent price. And you know, the only time I have probs with yarn tangles is when M is home. If he is at work I can wind and wind with no problems. He comes home and knots galore!

  5. meg

    I like your new decorating scheme – very nice! Doesn’t it just seem so wrong to have to *wind* sock yarn? (Btw, if you’ve got a JoAnn’s fabrics store down there & get their mailings, you could use your monthly 40% off coupon to get a ballwinder – I see they’ve got them online)

  6. Katie

    Nice job on the inferior cardigan!* (reading through your post) ๐Ÿ™ i’m sprry about your upsetting tangles. seems like EVERY time i try to wind up yarn from a hank, it turns into woolen ramen.

    (scrolling down) yay! take a stand on that evil caston! i never do those anyway! hehe _>

    have fun knitting socks and your bedspread! bedspread? wow! go emily! i still need to start knitting for the red sock along.

    off to go knit a lampshade. hmm… ~kt

  7. Teyani

    The sweater is coming out great – and the socks.. what a icey cool shade of green – and we’re so glad that you remain true to all that is sane, and that you cast on YOUR way ๐Ÿ™‚

    Your new banner gave me a big ol’ grin today – so sweet…Nice job!

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