finally getting started

i got my book in the mail yesterday and immediately cast on my gauge swatch. i'm not sure the pattern is right, so i'll be looking at everyone else's swatch to see if what i'm doing is correct. i moved over the weekend, so my computer isn't up and running yet. once i get it togetha, i will post some pictures.

isn't she lovely...

i was patiently waiting to block before i finished, but after reading shobhana's comment about seaming, i whipped mine up last night... and here are the results!

aah, my finished carla...

and sally, thank you so much for pointing out that the sleeve embroidery technique is the same as on excite! here's my finished sleeve, after weeks of being confused and somewhat annoyed that i couldn't figure the damn thing out.

yay! so excited i'm finished... i can't wait to rock this at my knitting circle! :-D

size advice?

hi all! i've just joined the knit-along - am eagerly waiting for my cotton tape (in glint) to arrive.

i just wanted to ask you what sizes you've chosen? i don't want mine to be baggy, so i'm thinking about making a size smaller than i usually knit for sweaters. has anyone tried this? how stretchy is the result, exactly?

thanks! i've loved following your progress and can't wait to get started.

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to pop in and say hi.

Swatched tonight and I'm ready to go. I'm using Cotton Tape in Electric.
Hope to start this weekend.

Y'all doing a great job!

painfully waiting for time to finish...

i've had the busiest week ever but i managed to finish all the pieces to my carla sans sleeve finishing. this week, onto the sleeves + seaming!

i've been so motivated by this piece i started thrill as well. anyone want to thrill-along? :)

Where my Carla's at!

I've fallen out of blogging in the last few weeks, as I've been busy wrapping up the last 6 years of life in this city before I leave in just 6 short days! Really I should be packing my apartment (for example: like this and this), however posting to this blog seems so much more important at this moment than packing my dishes!

So last week I rocked on through knitting the sleeves. I had taken a number of pictures during the part where you drop the stitches - it was my first time dropping stitches and quite frankly, I found it rather exciting! If anyone is interested I can share those pictures. Today however I'd like to share pictures of my experience with the Carla sleeve embroidery. I followed the instructions in the pattern and here's what I was able to create:

Close up of the stitch
I could have paid more attention to which side of the tail I was inserting my needle, as I have some places where I've since noticed that the wraps are a little wonky because they are wrapped in the opposite direction. I also snapped a shot with the sleeve on:

Last week I did seam Carla up...but I don't have any pictures of that momentous event to share, as I'm not too keen on how wide she is. The neck is really quite wide and the body could benefit from being more narrow too. So I'm thinking that I'll reknit them once I get to California and have some downtime in a few weeks.

the great sleeve debate...

so i think i've been doing ok so far... i finished the front and back pieces, no problem (pictures to come later today), and i just did the first sleeve. but here's my issue... i got to the end and i dropped the stitches, and i'm not sure how i feel about it. has anyone else dropped the stitches as done in the pattern? i love what shobhana did with her sleeve... i'm wondering if i should just frog it and start all over again. *sigh* :( why didn't they just keep it like the sleeves in the model?

sick of twiddling my thumbs...

i've been watching (and drooling over) everyone's progress and i just can't take it anymore! i cancelled my original order for "it's a tape thing" which was placed about 2 weeks ago (and still not here) and sent another order through jimmy bean's wool. i couldn't resist the $4 shipping on any order (btw, they have cotton tape in enchant for $5.50/ball). hopefully it gets here soon... i can't wait to begin! everyone's progress so far looks amazing.

back 2 back

Last week I was able to finish the first body piece of Carla. The raglan decreases threw me for a bit of a loop the first time around, but I figured out that decreasing in twos (ie: k3tog) was key, so the second time around went much more smoothly! Yesterday I cast off the second body pieces and here's what they currently look like:

Measuring the pieces has become a bit of a challenge, as the fabric is soooo stretchy. If I were more of a detailed oriented person, as some of you may be, I'd count the rows for each pieces so that you know you're knitting them identically. I didn't do this, nor do I currently have the patience to do it, so I'm hoping that it will all come out right in the end.

So now I'm zipping along on my first sleeve:



Not bad for only getting about an hour's worth of time knitting it last night. I had to remember Clara's post about the sleeve to know that I'm doing ok. It may not currently look like what the finished sleeve, but that's because of the dropped stitches that happen in the st-st part later.

i heart cotton tape

i was originally going to make my carla out of lana grossa's tre, but changed my mind once i found out yarn expressions was having a sale on the cotton tape. boy, am i glad i changed my mind. i received my cotton tape saturday and couldn't believe how light and heavenly it is. i chose the color bamboo and i'm still deciding if i like it. i'm hoping my book arrives today. i can't wait to get this sweater started.

Another finished Carla on the web

Hi! I found another finished Carla out there....

Sharlyn just posted her version of Carla using some Muench Bergamo from Elann.

ohh, she's looking good!