I thoroughly enjoyed making the Acer Cardigan designed by Amy Christoffers. With lovely yarnover and cable motifs, it kept my interest. As I learn nifty little tricks to add polish to my knitting, I love to incorporate them into knitting sweaters. "Acer" knit up fairly quickly using worsted weight yarn. I chose Rowan's Hemp Tweed in the teal color. The yarn's tweedy-ness is subtle enough to enhance, rather than detract from, the stitch pattern. And while some tweed yarns feel like a bale of hay, Hemp Tweed has a nice hand and the sweater is just soft enough that I can wear it next to skin. Since I've become so enamored with my fusion of Custom Fit and the kind of shaping used by Ysolda Teague in her Blank Canvas sweater pattern, I used my "hippy shaping" to create just the right fit for my Acer Cardigan. I created hourglass shaping on the front and back of the sweater, to give the illusion of an hourglass figure which my actual body certainly does not have. Then I forced the extra hip shaping to the sides of the sweater. It makes the hip shaping appear less severe. I also altered the sweater by adding some length and adding short rows to the upper back. I used decreases in the corners where the back shoulder stitches meet the bound-off back to make the neck band lie flat. I explained this technique in detail in my blog post for the Drumlin sweater . A new-to-me idea that I tried in setting in the sleeve was to very loosely sew the underarm seam with dental floss as a guide. It's much easier to pull out errant dental floss than it is yarn if the sleeve stitches don't line up with the body stitches. It was so easy to follow the floss with the seaming yarn - the columns of stitches lined up perfectly with each other! Typically, when I wear my hand-knit sweaters buttoned up, the buttons pull out toward the outer edge of the buttonhole band, making them look off-center. A little trick I used on this sweater was to cheat the buttonhole one stitch toward the body of the sweater. If you look closely, you can see that the buttonhole is just a bit closer to the inside edge of the band. When buttoned, the button appears perfectly centered. I just love to learn little techniques that add up to a sweater that I enjoy wearing! Resources: If you're not already a member of TKGA , I highly recommend it. I love Arenda Holladay's articles on seaming, in the members-only section. I use her "Seams Part 3" article as a reminder every time I seam a sweater.

Sometimes all I need is a little "something" during transitional weather. I made this version of my Farrand Cowl out of some cheery Malabrigo Rios colors to keep my neck warm as the weather struggles to let go of winter. The "Apple Green" color reminds me of spring-time tree buds. Always a fan of teal, I thought "Teal Feather" was just right for the accent stripes. Now, puhleeeze...can we get rid of what seems like the longest winter ever?! · Farrand originally appeared in Knitty's Winter 2016 issue.

Techniques Archives

Acer Cardigan

I thoroughly enjoyed making the Acer Cardigan designed by Amy Christoffers. With lovely yarnover and cable motifs, it kept [...]

By AudKnits|2019-12-19T15:57:02-05:00December 19th, 2019|Projects, Sweaters, Techniques|0 Comments

Book Review and Giveaway: Mosaic & Lace Knits

I love new-to-me knitting books. What a treat it was to discover Barbara Benson's Mosaic & Lace Knits: 20 Innovative Patterns [...]

By AudKnits|2018-06-06T18:42:47-04:00June 6th, 2018|Book Review, Giveaway, Techniques|68 Comments

Spring Farrand Cowl

Spring Farrand Cowl

Sometimes all I need is a little "something" during transitional weather. I made this version of my Farrand Cowl out of [...]

By AudKnits|2018-04-10T16:39:34-04:00April 8th, 2018|Cowls, Patterns, Projects, Techniques|0 Comments

Stranded Knitting Practice: The Freyja Hat

I'm practicing my stranding. Why? Sheer, shameless jealousy. My good friend (She Who Will Remain Nameless) strands like the wind. When [...]

By AudKnits|2018-04-05T15:49:19-04:00April 2nd, 2018|Hats, Projects, Techniques|2 Comments

Happiness is a Good Stretchy Cast On

I love learning just the right technique for a given purpose. When I need to cast on for a sock, [...]

By AudKnits|2018-01-19T19:56:57-05:00October 29th, 2015|Cast-Ons, Favorite Things, Techniques|4 Comments

Some Little Lace Tricks

I recently found myself away from home for several weeks, hence the dearth of posts here. When life hands you [...]

By AudKnits|2018-01-19T20:00:30-05:00September 2nd, 2014|Charts, Lifeline, Projects, Shawls, Techniques|0 Comments

Stabilizing Tea Leaves

If you follow my blog, you've read about my experiment to add stability to top-down seamless sweaters (Part 1, Part [...]

By AudKnits|2018-01-19T20:00:39-05:00July 7th, 2014|Design Process, How to knit, Projects, Stabilizing Seamless Sweaters, Sweaters, Techniques|8 Comments

TKGA Meets the Real World

You may remember I've been working on completing Level 2 of the TKGA Master Hand Knitting Program. It is a [...]

By AudKnits|2018-01-19T20:01:23-05:00April 17th, 2014|Master Knitters Program, Techniques|0 Comments

Reversible Scarves: Stefanie Moebius

Just the right weight for springtime - I made a version of my Stefanie Moebius pattern from Knit Picks' Wool of [...]

By AudKnits|2018-01-19T20:03:20-05:00May 10th, 2013|Book, Moebius, Scarf, Techniques|0 Comments

New Video – Binding Off in Pattern

I love casting on and binding off in pattern. Especially with ribbing, it can lend a nice subtle edge. I [...]

By AudKnits|2012-03-28T09:14:17-04:00March 28th, 2012|How to knit, Techniques, Videos|0 Comments