FO #18 & 19: A Tale of Two Shrugs

Finally got some shots of the shrugs! Spanky's not a fan of shrugs. She says that it looks like the rest of the sweater is missing. But I like the fact that they aren't as warm as regular sweaters--they're transitional pieces. But, some of them work out better than others.



Pattern: Two-Tone Ribbed Shrug by Stephanie Japel, from the book Fitted Knits.

This pattern was really easy, although the never-ending ribbing around the collar was a bit tedious. I really love the way the collar looks though, so it was worth it. The weird thing was that while it was on the needles, I really couldn't figure out what it was going to look like.



Also, I made the pattern size that corresponded to my shoulder width of 18 inches, which was further up the chart--probably the 3rd largest size. Apparently I have pretty wide shoulders for the rest of my build, because the arm widths for that size turned out to be a bit baggy. I should have been more vigilant while I was knitting, and measured the sleeves as I was going. That way, I could have decreased evenly around the sleeves so they'd be more fitted but the back could have remained wide enough.



As you can see, it's not that bad, so I'm still pretty happy with it. I've already worn it, and I can see it is going to be in pretty heavy rotation at the office this summer, during the Ice Age of the air conditioning. Plus, it's not that heavy of a sweater, so I don't look freakish wearing it in the summer time.

Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers. The brown is left over from the yarn I used for Spanky's sweater, and the blue is some Cascade I bought specifically for this shrug. I was going to use the blue along with some pinkish rose color of Cascade together, but when I saw them together, I didn't like the way the two colors looked together. But the blue looked really good with the brown, so... Anyway, I love the two colors together, and I love 220. This yarn has been in my stash for a couple of years now, so again, WIN.



Needles: size 7 for the brown and size 6 for the ribbing. Not really a stretch. I knew the size 7s would work just fine, so I didn't really swatch.

ANYWAY, on to shrug #2



Pattern: Carie cropped cardigan by Stephanie Japel from Fitted Knits

I fell in LOVE with this pattern in the book. It looks SO GOOD on that model, paired with that dress... I fell for the marketing. The model obviously HAS NO BREASTS. She's wearing a dress that exactly matches the shrug, but most importantly, she HAS NO BREASTS. WTF was I thinking?



Can we see those again up close?



Holy Moley!

How can I wear this? I look like a WENCH. Ugh. I can probably get away with punking it up for going out on the weekend, but I can't really wear it to work without feeling like my girls are saying, 'Well HELLOO!' and that's just not professional. I work in a casual office, but this would be too weird.

The sad thing is that otherwise, I really like it. I love the sleeves and the way the shoulders fit. I wish the collar was a little higher, and I definitely wish the bodice was a bit lower down!

Yarn: Cascade Magnum, 2 skeins
Needles: US 17

In Seattle, I found this sewing shop called Stitches that also had a great selection of Cascade yarns, including a lot of this Cascade Magnum. There are some gorgeous colors in this yarn. I spent a long time deciding which to get, because they were each $19.95, so I only bought two. Really, I think if I'd had three skeins, all the problems I had with the pattern would have been alleviated, since I would have had more yarn to make the bodice longer, etc. As it wound up, I used pretty much all the yarn, and seamed up the sweater with some cotton remnants from my stash.

And so it goes. You win some, you lose some, not that this is a loss. It is just something that won't see a lot of rotation in my wardrobe... unless I'm going to a medieval faire!