It's finally finished and I'm very proud of the way it turned out. Best of all, it's actually wearable!


I would definitely recommend this pattern to any beginning/intermediate knitter who is looking to take things to the next level. The pattern is very straightforward, but challenging enough to keep all knitters on their toes. I can see myself making another one of these sweaters at some point in time.

Here's what I learned from this experience:

• Knitting sweaters in as few pieces as possible is great: The benefit, of course, is that there are fewer seams to deal with (did I mention that I can't sew?). Casting on all of those stitches at the outset might seem like a big hassle, but it's worth it in the long run.
• There's more than one method to cast-on stitches: Up until a couple of days ago, I thought there was only one method. Some methods are better suited for certain projects than others.
• Use circular needles with FLEXIBLE cords: There were times during this project when I wanted to destroy my Bates circulars -- the cord just wasn't cooperating, especially when it came time to work the eyelet detailing. In this case, cheaper does not equal better. Invest in the good stuff. You won't regret it.

The decision to which project I should start next was taken out of my hands. Since the wool for the Ribby Cardi was the first to show up at my door, that's what I decided to go with. Actually, I have to say that I was very impressed with how quickly elann.com processed my order -- I placed the order on a Wednesday evening and had received the materials by Saturday afternoon. So happy!

The colors that I'm using on for my Ribby are Lotus Blossom (body) and Grape (sleeves and collar), both beautiful shades of purple from the Highland Wool Peruvian Collection.


Ideally, I would have liked to have used a really dark color for the sleeves and a really light color for the body, but it doesn't really matter. This partcular yarn is cheap enough at $2.25 a ball that I can afford to make more of these sweaters down the road.

I have to say, though, that I'm a little nervous about knitting this sweater. I'm not particularly good at ribbing, especially when it comes immediately after the cast-on row. This really shows on the sleeve and body edges of Sitcom Chic. It's definitely something that I'm going to need to work on if I'm going to continue knitting sweaters.

Have been busily working away on the yoke detail for Sitcom Chic. I absolutely love the way the yarn overs turned out -- it really gives the piece an interesting and sophisticated look.

The slightly raised appearence of the decreases also adds a little bit of character to the sweater. I'm excited to finish this project and start showing it off. Now if it will only fit...

The Denise Needles arrived and I can't wait to start using them. I love the variety of needles, not to mention the flexibility of the cords. The Bates needles -- I know, I went the cheap route! -- I'm using for Sitcom Chic pale in comparison.

Since Sitcom Chic is almost finished, I have been trying to line up materials for some new projects. Looks like the next project is either going to be the Ribby Cardi from Chicknits.com or the Fibonacci Cardigan from Magknits.com -- I seem to be on a roll with cardigans these days. However, don't count out the Marakash Shoulder Bag featured in the latest Yarnmarket.com bulletin. Needless to say I've been stock piling yarn like crazy. I'll just have to see where the mood takes me.

Well, at least for the time being. My recent preoccupation (okay, obsession) with my Boogas caused me to completely ignore my other project, Sitcom Chic. So...without further ado, here is the final photo of the two bags. I'm pretty pleased with the results:


Progress on Sitcom Chic has been generally good over the last couple of days. Finishing sleeve #2 was definitely the highlight of the weekend, and I'm more than a little relieved the the DPN portion of the project is now over. While it seemed to take less time to knit sleeve #2 than it did to knit sleeve #1, sleeve #2 kept jumping off the needles. It was too horrible to describe. Dropped stitches everywhere. Fortunately, though, this trauma was short lived.

I ended up joining all three pieces late Sunday afternoon. Here's a picture I snapped prior to the join:


I had no problems joining the pieces, but I'm finding the sweater to be very heavy on the needles. It's like there's too much fabric. I don't think that's the case, but I won't know for sure until I cast off. I'm just worried about the stitches stretching around the armholes because of the weight. For the time being, though, I'm happily knitting away. I'm only rows away from the yoke detailing. After all of the stockinette stitches, yarn overs will definitely make for a nice change.

I decided to treat myself to the Denise needle set -- it beats tearing my hair out later on. The package should arrive sometime this week!

I love holidays. I love that I can sleep late and have some time to do the things that I want to do. Best of all, I get a paid day off from work!
I've recently returned to a hobby that I haven't picked up since I was 10 or 11 years old: knitting. Thinking back, I realize that I gave up knitting for two keys reasons:

1. I was devastated when the pattern on my first sweater didn't line up as it was supposed to. The sweater pattern had three thin stripes running across the width of body -- one in blue, one in green, and another one in blue. I followed the pattern correctly for the front of the sweater, but...reversed the stripes on the back of the sweater. Oh, what wonders that did for my self esteem at age 11.
2. I fell in love with counted cross-stitch. It was just something about the charts and the beautiful DMC colors. For awhile there I was determined to have every color floss in my collection.

While I still love cross-stitch, I find that it puts a lot of strain on my 29-year old eyes, especially after a long day of staring at a computer screen. I needed something that would allow me to keep my hands busy while watching TV, not require a lot of close work, feed my creative fire, and give me a sense of accomplishment. Hence my return to knitting after an 18 year hiatus.

Starting off small was the best thing I could have possibly done. I highly recommend Debbie Stoller's Stitch 'n Bitch as a bible for all knitters. Not only does she go into the history of knitting, but the various techniques are illustrated in a way that is very easy to follow. The book also offers a reasonably good (and trendy!) selection of patterns. My first project, a Coney Island Fireworks scarf, came from this book and was met with rave reviews.

Since then I've branched out to try my hand at hats, the infamous Booga Bag, and have recently completed a baby sweater. My latest challenge comes in the form of a sweater pattern I found in the Knitty.com pattern archives.

The pattern is called Sitcom Chic. I chose it largely because it looked like a relatively straightforward project. The thing that was probably the most most attractive about this sweater is that it doesn't require a lot of seaming (I'm not really that good when it comes to sewing). I've also used the recommended Lion Brand Cotton-Ease before and found it good to work with.

A cute sweater like this needs to be in a bright color. Fortunately, the Cotton-Ease yarn comes in several great colors. Unfortunately, my local Joann's Etc. didn't have too much stock on hand. I hate it when stores reorganize! Anyway, I ended up with 5 balls of Cotton-Ease in Popsical (shouldn't it be popsicle?) Blue, a beautiful turquoise color that's perfect for summer. Since the yarn was on clearance, I actually got all 5 balls for the unheard of price of...$3.94! Needless to say I was happy. I think that was the first time I actually came in under budget when buying yarn.

I should say that because I am a loose knitter I have a tendency to create garments for gorillas. As such, I have to drop a needle size in order to have any hopes of achieving a correct gauge (I am now a slave to gauge). I am knitting the body and the sleeves on US #4 and US #7 needles instead of the recommended US #5 and US #8 needles. So far the gauge looks to be on target, but it might be too soon to say for sure.

It took me about a week and a half to knit the body of the sweater (size small) on the US #7 circular needles. I think it looks okay (the 1x1 rib aside) and the stitch count seems correct. I am, however, a little uneasy about the measurements -- it's hard to measure a piece correctly when it's all bunched up on circular needles. All I can really do is cross my fingers and see what the piece looks like when finished.

I've spent a good portion of the weekend working on sleeve #1. Although I'm on gauge widthwise, the sleeve is not as long as is illustrated in the schematic. It's supposed to be 14 inches, but I only ended up with about 12.5. I think my tension might have been a little tight when I first started knitting the sleeve. I'm going to try adding a few more rows to bring the length to the recommended 14 inches. Hopefully this won't be a big mistake.