Cheap Cotton Tape

Jannette's Rare Yarns on Ebay has a listing for 7 balls of Rowan Cotton Tape in Sullen. That's enough to make a small (assuming you don't use more than the pattern calls for) which we know should stretch out enough for a medium. The whole thing with shipping to the US would cost $35.60. I'm tempted, but I really really really shouldn't buy anything. If anyone else is considering doing the Carla-along, please buy this, so I don't. The listing is here.

Carla - a finished photo (or two)!

Say hello to Carla!

Its been a while since I posted...I finished knitting carla and seamed her up in August, but I wasn't too fussed with her at that point. So she was packed into the uhaul and shipped to California. After we were reunited, I tried her on again. Although she was a wee bit too roomy, I still wore her...after taking some assessment photos in my bathroom mirror (which is an unkind widening type of mirror!) I decided she needed a little help. I knew that I could reknit the body if I wanted to, but I decided to take the lazy woman's way out and throw her in the washer. I'm proud to report great success with this method.



After washing the sleeves even tightened up. I love how they look now!

Over all I would rate this sweater as a successful knit! If I were to do it again, I think that I would see about going down a needle size to get my gauge a bit tighter. Although I lengthened the sleeves and torso to accomodate my lengthy body, I dipped into the 9th ball of cotton tape. I thought I had made the medium which called for 8 balls. I probably could have used only 8 if I was at a tighter gauge! But live and learn!

Ugh! A mistake!

So while I'm seaming up Carla and watching tv, I notice a mistake in one of the body pieces. :-( At first I thought, "forget it, no one will notice", but in my mind, I could hear Edith Eig's voice (from Knit One, Purl Two on DIY) over and over saying, "rip it, you won't wear it if there's a mistake". So with that, I ripped a couple of rows in the front piece of my Carla to fix the mistake. On another note, Carla kind of got the best of me, when it came to seaming. Any tips on perfecting the mattress stitch? Or should I use another stitch/finishing technique?

front done

hi everyone, i've been having problems with flicker, as soon as i figure it out, i'll post pictures on this site, but until then, you can view my carla progress on my blog. so far no problems, the decreases were a little tricky, but i just looked through the archives, and found some great advice! thanks. i'm getting worried about the sleeves though.

My Carla is Done

Alas, this great project has come to an end. I'm very excited that my Carla is complete and I wore it yesterday. Thanks Shobhana for hosting it. And thanks to everyone who gave me advice with my decreases. And, I really appreciate everyone that photographed their progress along the way. I was studying the embroidery too much yesterday.

I met Cookie a week ago, and she gave me the advice to embroider from shoulder to wrist, which I did. I wove the ends into the cast-on edge, and it worked out perfectly! I bought 10 balls of Tahki Chat and only used 7-1/2. Did I do something wrong?

Again, to see the finished photo, please go to my passionknit blog.

Help with Carla sleeves

My Carla is close to being complete. I can't decide if it would be easier to do the embrodiery on the sleeves first and then seam the sweater together or to seam all the pieces together and then do the sleeves.

I believe the patterns says to seam the sweater together and then do the embrodiery. What's your take on this?

Thanks,
Liz

New Carla Start

I started my Carla on Monday afternoon, and I'm up to the point where I dec 2 stitches at each end. Somehow, I lose the pattern when I do this. I've read through the archives, but I'd like to know if anyone else encountered this problem and how you resolved it. I'm really eager to finish it this weekend. Although I'm using Tahki Chat to substitute for Cotton Tape, I can't tell the difference in the photos.

I'm having issues posting a picture to Blogger so please read more at my passionknit blog.

The demise of Carla

Now you see her:

And now you don't:



Really it's all good!

I went to SnB at Cafe Stuzzi on Tuesday night and tried on the very talented Sally's Blue Suede Carla. She had knitted a size small; instead I had chosen the size medium. Well guess what? It fitted me perfectly! Just proves I have an interesting perception of my own body size. I have recently put on a little weight - but obviously not as much as I thought. So this has led me to ripping out all of the back of Carla and starting again. Oh well - better now than when it is completed and sewn up!