Must. Get. Back. To It.

It's been weeks since I've touched my Forecast, and about as long since I've even visited this blog. Bad, bad knitter. I've been preoccupied with knitting socks (my first) and crocheting dolls (my vice).

Now that Shannon's announced she's knitting her version so we can match when we go on our book tour, I'm feeling the pressure to finish. What if I've lost my place? Must let go of the fear.

Must finish my Forecast.

So it begins...

I should say "begins again," because I've ripped it out a few times already!

But first, my introduction. Hello! I'm Shannon, aka Knitgrrl. I've been promising myself a Forecast ever since I saw it, because I love Stefanie, love her patterns, and well... Kim knit one and I wanted a matching sweater for our book tour in the fall! I can only hope I look half as sassy as she does in hers.

I chose charcoal Cascade 220 because I didn't want to distract too much from all the lovely details, and because I've got a ton on hand at the moment (I'm nothing if not highly proactive in stash-reducing). I do love the brighter colored Forecasts, such as the original one and this yellow one Jenna's doing. I am changing up the cable pattern, eliminating the bobbles in favor of using the double-texture cable (page 70 in Barbara Walker's third Treasury). I like the combo knit/purl on the cable itself, looks like it'll fit in nicely.

And if not, I guess I'll just rip it out again!

p.s. that mustard colored yarn at the top edge? provisional cast on...I've got some applied i-cord ideas brewing!

a finished forecast

So here she is in all her Cascade 220 glory. As you can tell, my cables are just a wee bit different. See, I read the cable chart wrong and didn't realize until a few repeats in. But I kinda liked that it was less busy and pushed forward.

More pics and commentary over at m'blog.

Could it be a sleeve?

Yes! It's a sleeve! I gave it a treat for being so finished, even though it hadn't got it's ends woven in before I took the picture. The other sleeve will have to wait. I just can't handle a big bulky sweater in the weather we're having (hot, sunny, gorgeous).

Everyone has been knitting their Forecasts in green, brown or blue tones; it's so great to finally see a different color - yellow! I love that yellow Beaverslide Jenna's using! Love it love it love it! It makes me (almost) want to knit another Forecast in yellow.

A very sunny Forecast

Hi everyone! I'm Jenna (aka Cinemaknits) and I love this knitalong already - seeing everyone's yarn and cable variations has been inspirational.

I started Forecast last week, and after a knitting break this weekend I'm back in business:
I'm using Beaverslide's worsted weight in Prairie Coneflower. It's BRIGHT, yes, but I like my knits bold. The yarn is a joy to work with, and I'll definitely be using it again - their range of colors is pretty phenomenal. In this picture I was about ready to divide for the sleeves. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I had to do a few extra rows before dividing to get a comfortable fit. Now I'm plugging away on the body, which I'll probably lengthen.

Detail on my cables/bobbles:
I'm using a three-stitch bobble, and while they're still sticking out a lot I don't mind. I LOVE how textured Forecast is!

Anyway, I look forward to seeing everyone's progress (and what you decide to do for buttons - right now I'm at a loss.) Knit on!

Stalled

On Friday I was halfway finished with my second sleeve when the yarn ran out.

I knew it would, so I'd scheduled a trip to the shop to buy more. (The shop has limited hours that aren't also standard working hours, so scheduling a trip is important.)

They'd sent all the wool in the right colour to the Christchurch branch, so I have to wait till next Saturday (if I'm lucky) to continue. And I thought the Easter break would be a perfect time to finish it all up.

Hello all. As I mentioned in my intro post, I am currently knitting three sweaters for work, two of which are original designs and due on May 1st The yarn for one is unspeakably tiny and just arrived from the mill a couple of days ago. Starting Forecast was foolhardy and somewhat defiant, but I think it's also necessary for my sanity...

This is the cable pattern I'm using in place of the horseshoe/bobble combo. I love twisted stitches and their high relief, and I thought this cable looked like the tangled courtship of Lizzy Bennet and Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy...

The cable is doing some funny things. Look at the zigzag it creates along the button band edge. I actually really like it. I'm thinking there would be a way to make a button band that would straighten this edge, but I don't know if I'll bother. The buttons I'm hoping to get for this are these JHB icicles, the brown ones.



This is a closeup of the cable so far. It will definitely need blocking as it skews to the left, but I think doing more repeats might balance it as well.

I find myself liking the wrong side almost better than the right. Right now the sweater is pretty much reversible, I'd lose the little ridge under the collar if I wore it wrong side out, but I think I'll end up liking the right side in the end.

Wrong side out:

Yes, that is a heck of a lot of markers, I've marked every increase point and my cable bits. It helps when watching absorbing movies, and when you're as spacy a knitter as I am.

Time to work on the required sweaters...sigh.

Cirilia

So sad

I'm several inches in...only 6 rows from the "divide for shoulders/body" section, and I'm concerned. I decided against bobbles, hoping that the cables would be enough, but now I'm having second thoughts. Please make me feel better!! I don't want to rip this out, but I don't want to be disappointed everytime I look at it, either. Is it enough? Do I need bobbles? Even just 3-stitch bobbles? Crap. :(

Hi everyone, my name is Cirilia. I work at Webs in Northampton, Massachusetts and I cast on for Forecast despite having several work knitting deadlines looming and an unfinished belated birthday Aran for the boyfriend (holy alliteration, Batman).

I have been watching the 1995 (BBC mini-series) version of Pride and Prejudice and I have an immese desire to recreate this look:


Classic Elite Skye Tweed is on sale at Webs and I have set aside the perfect orange. Bonus, this fits into Project Spectrum! I'm planning to use most of Winnie's modifications which seem good for a long torsoed girl, and most likely a different cable insert. I like the bobbles, but I had a really good time hitting the Barbara Walkers to see what would fit into a 9 stitch panel! All I can say is, I'm pretty stoked. I feel like a Jane Austen fan shouldn't use words like "stoked", but whatever, I do what I want!

I am teaching a top-down sweater class right now and I hope I can have this done by the last class meeting so the students can see one of the amazing looks you can get with top-down knitting. Stefanie Japel is our generation's Elizabeth Zimmerman/Barbara Walker caliber knitting dynamo, in my opinion.

Progress pics soon,

Cirilia

the pits!

Folks, I need some advice. I've been knitting the smallest size of the Forecast, and it seems to fit nicely so far, except for the arm pits. I already frogged my first attempt at the section that divides the sleeves and body because when I tried on the sweater, it dug into my arm pits. I reknit the pattern, adding 4 rows, and increasing by 16 stitches. I thought this would be enough to give my arms some room, but no. It's still digging in a little. Should a frog again and knit more rows before the sleeve/body divide, or what?

Sadness....

sleeve fudging

I'm only about 20 rows in, so I can't tell how well it's working, but this is how I'm planning to reduce the sleeve circumference. The XL size has 65 stitches in the sleeve at the point where you divide sleeves and body. At 4 st to the inch, this is about 16". I want more like 14", which is the arm size of the next size down (57 stiches). So I need 8 stitches fewer in each arm section. Each increase row as written increases the size of the sleeve by 2 stitches, so I need to miss out the increases on the sleeve side of the raglan line 4 times. (That is, the increases after the first marker, before the second marker, after the third marker and before the fourth marker). I'm distributing the rows with fewer increases evenly down the yoke, about one every 16 rows.

I think it'll work.

I went and did it

Just wanted you forecast buddies to know I created a blog of my own and I'd be happy to take input on blogging basics. (pretty please) I have no clue whatsoever on how to add those cute clickable link buttons or even to add my favorite blogs to the sideline. Go see it!

Forecast beginning

Hi people! I started Forecast last night because I was craving cables and bobbles and interesting things to knit. So far, I like it. I'm using Rowanspun aran in Heath and while it's a little more subtle than some of my usual colour choices, I think it's suitably sophisticated for this pattern. Like most people, I went for a three-stitch bobble. I toyed with the idea of substituting knit for purl becuase the thought of all that purling was a little frightening, but actually on the right-side rows because you keep doing bits of cable, it doesn't feel like much more purling than for stocking stitch.

I couldn't get a M1 by knitting (or purling) into the bar between stitches to work without a hole, so I'm doing a purl into front and back. I'm also going to try doing fewer increases on the sleeve side of the raglan line because I usually find that sleeve tops made that way are far too big and this cardigan needs to be more fitted. Does that make sense? I think it's something to do with a different ratio of bust size to arm circumference for large bust sizes (I'm making the XL size.)

I do like the bobbles. They make the cables even more interesting.

Bekki

One-armed bandit

One arm down and only one left to go! Yippee!!



As much as I've enjoyed this pattern for what it's taught me - cabling, bobbling, and how to purl more quickly - I absolutely loathe the ribbing. It takes forever and is somehow extremely unsatisfying.

The original pattern does have the big advantage of minimising the ribbing.

So I'm thrilled to have finished one of the sleeves, at least.

The other thing I've really noticed about the mods is that they definitely require more wool. I'd already over-bought by ball, but find myself about a ball and a half short of what I'll need to finish up. As long as I don't do more than half a sleeve before Saturday (the first possible time to get to the yarn shop) I'll officially only have one project on the needles.

Yeah, I don't see that happening either.

Forecast: FUN

I just cast on for my lovely Forecast sweater this weekend. I love, love, love the collar! After I'd gotten through the first bobble row I realized that I had read the cable chart wrong. This even after reading how others had done the same. I guess I had to see it to *see* it. So I frogged those rows and started over just above the collar. By the time I'd gotten that far I'd already learned the pattern so my second start has been really fun since the pattern is memorized making the knitting much more fun and a whole lot less confusing. I did my bobbles a little different because I didn't like how they were looking. They are Kfbf, turn, p3, turn, k2tog, k1, pass first st over. I like how they look this way.

One question on the Make 1's. I'm working the make 1's purlwise. Is that the right way? I'm a kinda new knitter (couple years) so I don't know a whole bunch about different types of stitches.

By way of introduction, my name is Jennifer and I don't have a blog. I'm kinda shy about sharing myself with strangers although I read at least 15 knitting blogs daily. I learned to knit a long time ago but just started really going crazy for it last winter. I started with scarves, moved to hats, then socks. Now I've decided to try a sweater. I thought the top down all in one piece with very little seaming would be a good start.

Oh, yeah, the yarn is Cascade 220 in a bright heathered turquoise.

ok, so i broke the rules.




i know you're not supposed to go button-shopping until you've got a FO to reward yourself with, but somehow i found myself at windsor button this weekend. i managed to engage the behind-the-counter button-plucking duties of a patient staffer who pretty much has the arduous job of helping customers select from a (give-or-take) MAZILLION types of button items. it's a little crazy.

anyway, i'm so happy with these. they're a warm olive, and with a little wood-grain-esque variation in them. can't tell if they're wood or plastic, but they're very sophisticated, and bring out the green in the sweater. the fern, if you will.

i'm at the ribbing section of sleeve one. the hard and rock place of sleeves -- seaming or in-the-round. both have their ups and downs... i'm lucky i have short arms! :)

Almost a sleeve

I'm glad to be done with the cables on this sleeve! The other sleeve is lurking at the back of my mind. It may have to wait awhile. The k2, p2 ribbing is going slow. The needles I'm using are about an inch too big so the ribbing stretches a bit. I stopped the cables about a half inch above my elbow. It's more comfortable without the bobbles digging into your elbows every time you lean on your elbows.

Cable issues (already)

Ok...so I'm cookin on the yoke, and I stop to study the cable chart. It looks to me like they *are* mirrored cables on the chart, but it's hard to tell with the bobbles in the photos. Can anyone help me out here? Is there something I'm not seeing? Christine, I think you were the one who made the comments about mirrored cables that caught my eye. What am I missing? Thank you SO MUCH!!!! :)



EDITED TO ADD...
Holy Crap, I'm such an idiot. I just took an (even closer) look and figured it out. The cables in the pattern are more of a braided look, while Christine's are actual *mirrored cables*. But, now I must know because I can't see from the pics...are they 4-stitch cables? 6-stitch? How did you work them into the 9 stitch cable chart? Thanks!! :)

bring out the maracas

yo.



today's forecast: sunny.



body is completed - one button band is done and the other (with button-holes) is pending. picking-up stitches is one of my horrendous banes; i'm completely imprecise. the solid button band has 69 picked-up stitches; the current button-hole band has (surprise!) 64 stitches. hope the 5-stitch descrepancy along the placket won't be an issue after blocking and some well-spaced action among ten buttons. at least the wider side (buttons) will lie behind the narrower side (button-holes), if there are puckering issues. thoughts?

it's not a mistake; it's a design feature!

Starting Finally :)

Hi everyone! I am finally starting my Forecast. I've decided on Pinku's alterations for the most part, and I'm going to attempt to do mirrored cables instead of the way they are written.

I got through the collar last night, and decided to set it aside when it called for the larger needles. I'm also trying to finish Orangina and a baby sweater for a friend, so I'm trying to divide my time fairly :).

I'm using Cascade 220 in a sage-y green color. I'll post a picture as soon as it looks like something recognizable!
Heidi

Starting. Again.

Hi all. This is Daphne from dlittlegarden. I cast on for my Forecast in Peace Fleece in Shaba Green last Saturday, but had to frog two or three times already. I'm about to do so again, as I realized the other day that I've been reading the chart incorrectly. I read it as right side only, which seems to make the bobbles stand out more, and the cables are almost indiscernable. I'll post pictures as soon as I've reknit the yoke!