Tres Chic Veronique

Does anyone else have a lag between the completion of a project and the photoshoot/post? It just takes me so long to get a photoshoot idea and then to find time when it's actually daylight out. I find it very frustrating.
And that's why I pestered my roommate-with-a-fantastic-camera! She's got the fancy camera, a little bit of time, and her tried-and-true backdrop (aka our front stoop).

Pattern specs:
Pattern: Ruffled Jacket (#44), by James Coviello, from the Fall 2007 Vogue Knitting magazine.

Yarn: Malabrigo worsted weight, purchased 7 skeins in color American Beauty (#502) from More Than Yarn ($10.40 a skein!), but I used only 5 skeins (1,080 yds total). That means that for $73, I got a sweater *plus*: opera-length armwarmers (ahem, not photographed), and (soon) a Rem Koolhaas hat. Pretty sweet.
Now, you might think that buying an additional 2 skeins (432 yds) is a little bit of overkill. I have 3 excuses to offer you: 1. The pattern instructs you to use 8 balls of GGH Soft Kid (1,208 yds) and 7 balls of GGH Bel Air (994 yds). Why the discrepancy? Well, I sent an email to VK, and was told:"Thanks for writing. The yarn amounts are correct, as backward as it seems. (Soft Kid) is much finer, and takes more yarn to go inch for inch with the thicker (Bel Air)". I really couldn't wrap my brain around this concept, but thought it wise to get *at least* 1,208 yds of substituted yarn. 2. Have you ever purchased too little yarn for a project and then been unable to find the same dyelot? Oh, it makes me hyperventilate just thinking about it. Six skeins of Malabrigo would be 1,296 yds, but really, that's a mere 100 yds more than the recommended amount, and who knows what disasters could happen? 3. This yarn was on sale. The recommended yarns would have cost me $170, so I saved $100! And anyway, if I have a lot of yarn left over, surely the Spiders will buy it off of me.

Buttons: 3 big ass, bright red plastic buttons, purchased from The Point.

Needles: Although I thought that I owned Addis in every size known to man (or, in this case, knitter), it turns out that I did not have the ones that I needed. This is where Jess steps in and hands over US 9 (5.5 mm) 32" long Addis. Phew! The recommended needle size was US 10.5 (6.5 mm), but I got gauge with Malabrigo on 9s, so 9 it was.

Mods: Oh boy. Lots.
1. The back cable is one of the major selling points of this pattern.

Lovely right? Well, the chart is wrong! I'm sure it's just a typo, but I think at this point VK was sick of answering my emails, and there's no errata. I posted the corrections on Ravelry.

2. If you look closely at the picture in the magazine the stitches on the sleeve seem to be pulled really taut in the shoulder area. It turns out that the sleeve cap is super narrow due to *double* decreases on each side. This decreases 4 sts per row instead of the usual 2 sts, which creates an abrupt slant. Perhaps there's a logic behind this, but in the end, these sleeve caps simply didn't fit, so I unpicked my seaming, ripped out the sleeve caps and improvised.

3. Seaming. There are miles of seaming with this cardie, but no tips on seaming. Now, I know how to seam, so this didn't appear to be a problem. Not a problem that is, until I tried on my completed cardie, and saw the ruffled edges droop outwards. This gave an overall wilting feeling to the piece and made the V neck overly wide. At that point, I discovered that Anthropologie sells this sweater. Yup, you read that right. For $368, this cardie could be yours! (For $228, you can get the Twinkle sweater that was on the cover of VK last winter). After zooming in, I noticed that the Bell ruffle is seamed "backwards", ie so that the bulk of the seam is facing the outside, not hidden on the inside as seams usually are. This neat little trick forms a pretty braided edge and forces the ruffle towards you instead of away from you!

Verdict: I love the girliness of this pattern! The plunging V neck! The elaborate cables! The ruffled edge! *swoon* Yes, there were plenty of mods but really, you can figure out the chart typo after row 2, and re-knitting the sleeve caps took a few minutes with this bulky yarn. It took me a little over 2 weeks to knit this cardigan! And Malabrigo is the softest, dreamiest yarn a knitter could want (but I'll pretend that I don't notice the slightest bit of pilling on the sleeves after 2 weeks of wear).

Labels: Ruffled Jacket

All that sewing was a blast! I made all sorts of mistakes, I learned lots of new techniques and I even made a few wearable dresses. Along the way, I've somehow amassed a sewing pattern and fabric stash. (Did you know that Simplicity sells Built by Wendy patterns on sale and with free shipping?! Did you know that Purl Patchwork has beautiful fabrics? Oh wait, you knew that).

But now that it's Fall, I'm back to knitting. And I finally found the Perfect Fall Pattern: James Coviello's Ruffled Jacket #44 from this Fall's Vogue Knitting. It's made in heavy worsted yarn, so it's nice and warm, but it has very feminine details like cute cables and frilly edges. I swatched with Malabrigo (oh, Malabrigo!), and wouldn't you know, I got gauge! Well, almost... After an exhaustive online search for 7 skeins in the same dye lot (apparently I am not alone in my love of Malabrigo, 1426 Ravelers have stashed it), I finally made my purchase (in the color American Beauty) from More Than Yarn. I had never heard of them, and was hesitant to hand over a chunk of cash to an unknown company. They totally came through: not only is most of their stock on sale, but they also included a nail file with sheep printed on it, and teeny tiny knitting needles. Oh, and since they're in Jersey, I got my package in 2 days. (My only gripe is that my Addi lace needles were shipped separately and have disappeared, but they are responding to my emails).

At 15 st per 4", I've whizzed through the sleeves, the back and one front. Unfortunately, this cardi has not one, but TWO edges. Sure, casting on 300+ stitches will not be fun, but I've convinced myself that it will be worth it. Right? Right. --Please remind me in about a week when I'm moaning and groaning about it.--
What's that? You want to see more of the back cables? It's true that you can barely see them in the postage stamp sized photo in VK... And that the chart in the magazine is wrong.

(If this picture is not enough, you can check out the other Ruffled Jackets on Ravelry).

Finally, to prove that it's Fall (even though it's ~80 F), I baked a cake. Not just any cake, a Fig & Plum cake! I drooled when I saw the ADD knitter's pictures, so when my friend Liisa gave me figs from her fig tree (A fig tree! In NYC!), there was only one thing to do. My roommate and the blue scarf recipient approved.

Labels: fig and plum cake, Ruffled Jacket