Carla-along

Cheap Cotton Tape

2004-10-06T09:10:00.000-05:00

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)!

2004-10-05T18:49:00.001-05:00

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!

2004-10-02T21:18:00.000-05:00

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

2004-09-29T06:55:00.000-05:00

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

2004-09-26T10:04:00.000-05:00

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

2004-09-26T09:21:00.000-05:00

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

2004-09-17T19:08:00.000-05:00

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

2004-09-16T04:22:00.000-05:00

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!

Done like Dinner!

2004-09-15T22:03:00.000-05:00

I posted pictures of my finished Carla at http://www.supurlfluous.com.

Congratulations to everyone... All the Carla's turned out amazing!
Thanks for all your helpful advice, and thanks Shobhana and Lori for hosting the knit-along!
It really made Carla a fun project.

Look at all these Carlas!

2004-09-15T13:02:00.000-05:00

I have photos of my finished Carla up at my site! Here's the direct link to the post that contains the photos and my commentary.

I'm really happy with this top! Thanks to everyone for the knitting company and to Shobhana for hosting the knitalong.

i'm all done, too!

2004-09-13T10:14:00.000-05:00

here's my finished carla! i'm quite pleased with her, actually, although i'm hoping the sleeves will get a bit longer with wear. i've put a couple of more pics on my blog, including a close-up of the sleeve embroidery.

my dog wants to be famous

2004-09-12T21:20:00.000-05:00

100_1597
Originally uploaded by lmcaron.

here's my carla, all done. i love it...

Quick knit

2004-09-11T22:21:00.000-05:00

Well I was lucky to get my yarn before the holiday weekend. :-) I started the swatch and realized I was reading the dang pattern all wrong. So after finally getting it right (and gauge), I started working on Carla. I'm happy to report that my back piece is finished. Yay! I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to work on it, since my kids and I started school this week and I had to finish a book for a book club meeting next week. I'm hoping to finish (seaming, blocking, and all) her before Thursday, so that I can show it off to all of my friends. I'm the only knitter in the group. :(

Wish me luck, because this is my first sweater. Liz P.S. Once I get Hello installed on my pc, I will post pics.

all done!

2004-09-10T09:27:00.000-05:00

carla091004
Originally uploaded by shobhana.

i wore her a couple of times while i was on a working vacation in manhattan. i'll post a pic of me wearing it in a few days. i never fail to feel completely ambivalent toward a recent FO. ugh. i just hate them and it usually takes several months to a year for me to really appreciate them. i am not sure that i made the right choice regarding color. it's pretty blah. the only thing that looks good underneath it is a white, spaghetti strap tank. not sure what i'll wear under it as it gets colder. we shall see. the sleeve finishing was annoying and i made the executive decison to leave mine a little rough around the edges. i think it fits well with the overall aesthetic of the sweater.

Done!

2004-09-05T18:24:00.000-05:00

Finally, after a few rough starts and a little frustation, Carla is done! I even did the sleeves right - I LOVE my sleeves. I ended up blocking after seaming - the sleeves were shorter than I wanted. After making a size smaller than I would normally make. I love everything about the fit except for the sleeve length. We'll see if blocking will work. I did have to redo the embriodery after I decided to stretch the sleeves - but it only took 15 minutes! Pictures to follow tomorow.

Quick knit, slower seaming.

2004-09-05T04:18:00.000-05:00

My Carla has been seamed and is on its way to a finished garment! I didn't block the pieces before seaming, but after I finished seaming I did wash Carla and lie it flat as means of blocking. I haven't worn it yet as it's still drying, but as soon as it dries [hurry, Carla, hurry!] I will take finished sweater pictures. In the meantime, you can read all the details and see pictures of my seaming Carla over here: http://www.skinnyrabbit.com/projects/summer2004_carla.php#004402

here lies carla

2004-09-05T00:06:00.000-05:00

100_1521
Originally uploaded by lmcaron.

she's done! this where she will sit for a week until i return from from backpacking in the north cascades national park. i made my personal deadline of getting it done before my vacation, but now it waits. so sad. i'll post a picture wearing it once i return to sit on my laurels to sip lattes and take hot baths.

maxi me

2004-09-04T10:44:00.000-05:00

talk about quick knit! started carla last night and have now finished the back. this includes an hour of intensive cursing as i tried to figure out how to save a dropped stitch.

mini me

2004-09-03T13:17:00.000-05:00

there are so many finished carlas out there - time for a picture of a swatch again! as you can see, i've also practised the infamous raglan decreases. hopefully they'll look a bit neater in full size. the colour is glint, btw.

Almost done!

2004-09-03T06:40:00.000-05:00

The front, one sleeve, and most of the back of my Carla are done - I plan on finishing the back piece today and hopefully the sleeve over the weekend. Thanks for the help with my misreading of the pattern! I was doing a YO instead of a YF b/c somehwere I had read that Rowan YF meant YO! What a mess. Now I understand why everyone says it's such a quick knit.

Problem....

2004-09-01T16:10:00.000-05:00

Hi all,

Seems like my style of knitting is not compatible with the pattern.
I don't know if anyone is familiar with Annie Modesitt's "combination knitting", but that's how I have been knitting for years.
It never was an issue until now. I know I am doing the yarn-over correctly, but I think the way I knit is twisting the stitches.
I ripped out the swatch, but I will do it again and take a photo so you can see it and maybe help me figure out what I'm doing wrong. Thanks!!

finally getting started

2004-08-31T11:42:00.000-05:00

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.

Pay day = New yarn

2004-08-31T09:50:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone!

It's payday here, so that means I get to splurge on some yarn. :) After being on the fence about which color to choose, I've finally decided to go with Glint 541 . I still love Hazy545 though. I just couldn't justify ordering so much yarn without first decreasing my stash. I swear its taking over my bedroom. All of the yarn, needles, books, my goodness, it's a wonder that I can even find my kids. :)

I'm thinking it will be here by the end of this week or by the middle of next, since Monday is a holiday. I'm crossing my fingers that it will be here before the weekend, so that I can knit my little heart out while the kids are away this weekend.

Finished electric carla

2004-08-31T00:54:00.000-05:00

sally's blue-ish suede carla
Originally uploaded by sallyB.

Here is me wearing my Carla and trying (unsuccessfully) not to look like a knitwear magazine model ca.1990. I wondered about trying for a headless shot, but then decided "so what if my head's on the web".
The colour (Electric) has grown on me, even though I still think it's a weird purple/blue hybrid. The size turned out the way I wanted: not too large. So over all, I'm very happy with my 80s inspired 'blue/purple suede carla'.

isn't she lovely...

2004-08-30T08:46:00.000-05:00

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?

2004-08-29T15:45:00.000-05:00

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.

To Block, Or Not To Block?

2004-08-28T20:56:00.000-05:00

I can see the advantages, but at the same time, Carla just doesn’t seem like a structured enough sweater. What do you all think?

Hi everyone!

2004-08-28T01:30:00.000-05:00

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!

Finished!

2004-08-27T14:55:00.000-05:00

I did the embroidery the way Sally outlined in her pictures. That was really helpful!

I used a lot more yarn that I expected to, way over the yardage I would have used with real Cotton Tape, despite knitting on HUGE needles and more loosely, so I don't think I will have enough Tahki Capri to make another one. So my test Carla will be my real Carla. Unless I get some Cotton Tape sometime in the future...

Did anyone else use way more yarn than they thought they would?

painfully waiting for time to finish...

2004-08-27T11:19:00.000-05:00

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? :)

sleeve embroidery

2004-08-26T23:03:00.000-05:00

100_1517
Originally uploaded by lmcaron.

so this is embroidery scenario i've worked up for myself. i tried a number of techinques, and i use the term, technique, quite loosely since it was more like, "huh, well that's no good".

2004-08-26T08:39:00.000-05:00

I don't think the pattern is right!

Where my Carla's at!

2004-08-25T19:34:00.000-05:00

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.

Back from vacation...

2004-08-25T06:52:00.000-05:00

...and no progress on Carla!! I thought I had packed so well, only to discover on the plane that I had left my extra yarn for Carla at home. I can't tell you how sad I was - I really thought I would finish it while away and be able to wear it on a cool night in the mountains. Luckily I packed other yarn and was able to work on the MondoCable by BonnieMarie which now has me distracted from my beautiful Carla. Back to it tonight though!
All of your Carlas are beautiful ladies! :)

Hi everybody!

2004-08-24T12:24:00.000-05:00

This is my first knit-along, and I'm starting a bit late. My yarn (Tahki Capri in rose) should get here while I'm on vacation, so I won't start for another two weeks. In the meantime, I tried a pre-Carla using Artful Yarns Vaudeville which I posted in my blog. It looks very funky. I can't wait to start!

More about decreases ....

2004-08-23T20:10:00.000-05:00

I spent the better part of last night finishing the front and back of Carla. Instead of dec. 3 stitches for the beginning of the Raglan decreases, I decreased two on each side by k3tog. Using this method I ended up with two extra stitches, but I couldn't come up with a way to dec. three stitches without breaking the pattern. I don't want the sweater to be baggy so I may end up frogging back and dec. 4 sts on either side. I am worried that this will make the sweater too tight (I normally wear a medium but I am knitting a small).

I CO for the sleeves this morning and immediately the edge started to roll. Has anyone else had this problem? What method should I use to CO? Or ... Will the edge lay down by itself? I have also heard that once you unravel the stitches, your CO edge becomes very loose. Has anyone discovered a way to prevent this from happening?

Carla's sleeves: not too tricky after all?

2004-08-22T22:00:00.000-05:00

Carla ladder embroidery
Originally uploaded by sallyB.

I've finished the sleeves and have dropped the stitches down to the cast on edges. My cast on edges have become very loose as a result. I think a cast-on stitch takes more yarn than a normal stitch as I have ended up with a couple of loopy bits at each edge. But that's ok, I'll tighten it up and/or cobble it together with some matching sewing thread later on.

I know other people have had trouble working out the sleeve embroidery, but I think that if you peer at the photo closely enough, you can see it's exactly like the embroidery down the front of the yellow top called Excite. It's just simple weaving!

Here's a photo of my sleeve embroidery. I also took a couple of photos showing the way in which I did it, but I don't quite know how to 'blog' more than one photo from flickr at a time. Is it possible?

Anyway, I agree that the Rowan instructions are NO help whatsoever, and if you turn to the instructions for Excite, they're worded entirely differently, even though it's the same method of embroidery/weaving.

On a final note, I won't get too grumpy at Rowan- the weaving with the criss-crossed horizontal bars looks utterly amazing. It's a fantastic design feature. A bit of decoration down the length of a sleeve is cool!

yay!

2004-08-22T16:59:00.000-05:00

i have completed carla! film at 11!

the great sleeve debate...

2004-08-21T14:22:00.000-05:00

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?

My first

2004-08-19T10:05:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone,

I'm Liz and this will be my first blog, sweater, and knit-along. I already have the book, just need to purchase the yarn and size 13 needles. I hope my version of Carla is as nice as everyone else's.

Carla body: a progress photo

2004-08-18T06:15:00.000-05:00

Carla body
Originally uploaded by sallyB.

My Carla seems to be coming along OK. But the stitch is really weird, isn't it? It has a double personality. When you hold it up, it wants to stretch downwards with gravity but at the same time it is incredibly elastic so it's going to flop and stretch widthways, too.

When measuring before starting the raglan shaping, I laid the knitting on the floor and stretched it sideways a bit. I did this because I have knitted Carla in a smallish size (for a 34" bust)- I want the fabric to stretch slightly around my body because I don't want a big, floppy garment. Hence I assumed I should knit it slightly longer to compensate for the widthways stretch.

So I stretched the knitting sideways while measuring the length and as a result, now that I have finished the piece, it has definitely turned out too long. After some undoing and reknitting, I think it's the right length now. Previously I had 35 rows of holes next to the selvedge stitch at the side (i.e. I had done 70 rows) but I have reduced this to 31. The measurement is somewhere around the 37 cm mark, but this stitch is so elastic it's hard to tell.

The picture here is of the front and back, seamed together. (This was my first attempt ever at mattress stitch! Previously I have only been a back-stitcher. Thanks, Shobhana- you inspired me to use mattress stitch! I am now a convert).

My advice to anyone starting Carla in the future is to think 'small and short'. Even if we think we are busty, bulgy, long-torsoed or whatever don't err on the side of making this garment too wide or too long. The fabric is incredibly elastic. And I'm sure our Carlas will stretch even more once we begin wearing them!

sleeve knit notes

2004-08-17T18:46:00.001-05:00

i've finished seaming "long, tall carla." now i need to tweak that sleeve finishing a bit. good thing i didn't weave in those ends. word to the wise - don't pull too tightly. leave a bit of slack with the bit that you weave up the arms.

A completed back piece!

2004-08-17T06:20:00.000-05:00

On Friday evening I swatched for Carla, got lucky with the gauge, and started knitting the back piece while in the car on my way to an outing outside of the city the next day. This project just ROLLS! I finished the back piece last night and enjoyed knitting it. Lots of pictures for you to see have been published in an entry at my site.

Here at the Carla-Along blog I have read about others coming up with extra stitches when finishing a row. Forgetting to slip the stitches over OR adding a yarn over right before the edge stitch is probably what is causing this. I did this a couple of times while knitting my swatch, and made note to avoid it when knitting the actual piece. As a result, I didn't have to frog once (thankfully!) .

Hey here's the picture

2004-08-16T23:58:00.000-05:00

electric1
Originally uploaded by sallyB.

Sorry the picture did not appear before. I'm a learner!!

Electric Cotton Tape

2004-08-16T23:48:00.000-05:00

Silly me! I picked up my Cotton Tape from my mum’s place on Saturday (I had it delivered there) and before then I had not seen the colour Electric ‘in the flesh’. I thought it would be a true, bright, royal blue. I had relied on the colour reproduction in the It’s a Tape Thing booklet and looking at shade cards on the web.

And it turns out that Electric is not very blue after all! To my eye, it’s more of a lilac or a washed-out electric blue with pink undertones. I’m not disappointed; it’s still a vivid colour with a bit of ‘pizzazz’, which is what I wanted.

I hope this of interest to others who might be trying to make Cotton Tape colour choices. Earlier in this blog Caroline noted that Shadow is actually greyish, not a deep black. Perhaps it’s the case that all the Cotton Tape colours (even the dark and vivid ones) have a slightly washed-out look?

In this photo I have shown my Cotton Tape alongside the blue colour in some Marimekko fabric. I hope this shows how purple-ish the Cotton Tape is, when compared to a real blue. (Excuse the out of focus picture- my phone doesn’t take great photos).

Finally the beginnings of Carla

2004-08-15T23:59:00.000-05:00

Carla in Progress
Originally uploaded by Jacsmn.

After much starting, ripping and restarting I am so pleased to be showing you a photo of my Carla. Even the colour is beginning to appeal to me. It's amazing how the yarn and stitch pattern work so well together!

Hi Everyone!

2004-08-15T21:32:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I managed to find the last copy of Rowan It's a Tape Thing at my LYS... It is very hard to find Rowan anything in Ottawa so you can imagine my excitement when I saw it! I promptly ordered two bags of Rowan Cotton Tape in Glint, and Hazy. This will be my first time ever knitting with Rowan yarn, and I'm hoping my Carla turns out to be as nice as all the other Carla's have so far.

Carla and the Olympics

2004-08-14T19:53:00.000-05:00

Last night I stayed up late watching the Olympics and knitting. I now realise that Carla and the Olympics do not mix! I ripped out between 8-16 rows back to the ribbing THREE times!! Every time the Aussies hit the pool in a gold medal race - I stopped looking at what I was doing and things started to go wrong for Carla. I was actually hoping to have some progress photos up this weekend so I will try again tonight.

2nd time a charm??

2004-08-14T18:58:00.000-05:00

I ended up frogging my whole thing - only about 12 rows, but I was soooo frustrated b/c I kept coming up with extra stitches. I've restarted and, so far, have only 40 rows at each count. I really love the sttch pattern, it's really fun to do. All of the finished Carlas look beautiful - i can't wait to post some pictures of my progress.

closeup

2004-08-14T08:44:00.000-05:00

carlac081404
Originally uploaded by shobhana.

here is a closeup of my sleeve interpretation. stay tuned for a post of me sporting Carla!

just because i'm almost finished, it doesn't mean that i won't be around. i'm here to answer your Carla questions as best i can and i'll probably contribute a bit of non-knitting related, let's-get-to-know-each-other filler.

knit on!

the infamous sleeve

2004-08-14T08:41:00.000-05:00

carlab081404
Originally uploaded by shobhana.

here is a shot of my version of the infamous sleeve. i am sure that we shall see several different interpretations of the very vague finishing instructions.

pieces of carla

2004-08-14T08:40:00.000-05:00

carla081404
Originally uploaded by shobhana.

the end is near! i have finished knitting the pieces of Carla and i am seaming her up now. i am so-o-o excited! i am hoping to introduce her to the world today, but i don't know if she'll be ready in time.

carla sighting!

2004-08-13T09:57:00.000-05:00

check out pinku's carla!

sally's carla

2004-08-13T09:42:00.000-05:00

Hi from Sally in Melbourne. Can I tell you about my colour choice for Carla?

I was tempted to use the same colour as in the It’s a Tape Thing booklet. The warm chocolate-y brown of Sullen is divine. But since I think half the fun of knitting garments for yourself is choosing a colour other that the one(s) in the pattern, I decided to make a bold and brave colour choice for my version of Carla.

I’ve chosen Electric, as it reminds me of the blue suede ankle boots I had in the 80s when I was a teenager. That electric blue makes me feel very nostalgic, for some strange reason. I never thought I’d get to the age when fashions from my teenage years would be back and I could relive being a teenager all over again (albeit in a more sophisticated, tasteful way!)

So, through Carla, I hope to become emersed in a bit of 80s nostalgia. My Carla will be called “Blue Suede Carla”.

Now, on to the knitting… (I’m casting on tomorrow).

By the way, I’m knitting the 34” size (I’m more a 36”) because (as the wise knitters here have already noted) this stitch and yarn are sure to stretch widthways.

Love it!

2004-08-11T19:10:00.000-05:00

I started Carla in dusk a few days ago - I'm trying to finish Charlotte (only 11 rows to go!), but I could not resist any longer. I am a little frustrated - I think I have knitted, and ripped, and knitted the same 4 rows 4 times today! I keep ending up with extra stitches. I guess I just can't knit this while sitting on the side of the trampoline with the kids or during supervision of a hugely bubble filled bath, again with the kids. :) I'll try again tomorrow! Anyone else having a problem with extra rows? If I get past this frustration, I'll post a pic tomorrow.

sick of twiddling my thumbs...

2004-08-11T17:59:00.000-05:00

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.

clara's sleeve

2004-08-11T14:05:00.000-05:00

here's the link to clara's step-by-step sleeve display. she says that she couldn't quite follow the pattern either, so she sort of fudged it. hers looks pretty good, though. i'm still a bit nervous. why i don't i just cast on for the second sleeve and worry about this later? =)

sleeve help!

2004-08-11T12:45:00.000-05:00

ok. so i have cast off the first sleeve. i'm a bit confused by the making up. i'm having a difficult time visualizing how that's supposed to work. would someone care to explain this to me in the simplest terms possible? do i criss-cross the yarn back and forth over the stitch between the 2 dropped stitches as i move from the cuff to the top of the sleeve? it sucks that the book doesn't give you a close up shot of what it's supposed to look like. i feel nervous about this.

back 2 back

2004-08-11T09:05:00.000-05:00

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.

Hello All!

2004-08-10T12:37:00.000-05:00

I just received my copy of It's a Tape Thing [woo hoo!], so I'll be knitting "Carla" very soon. I'll be using Cotton Tape in Glint, which I've had in my stash for a while now and have been wanting to use. I've also been wanting to knit a lacy sweater to wear with my jeans or capri pants over a strappy top, and Carla fits the bill. I'm excited about finally getting to knit a lacy sweater, and making a bit of a dent in my stash, to boot. I knit using Cotton Tape before, and love how it just rolls on the needles. Very lightweight to wear, too. I'll be starting Carla week, and will most likely be cross-posting between here and my own site at skinnyrabbit.com.

Thanks to Shobhana for hosting this knitalong! Knitalongs make the knitting all the sweeter :-)

i heart cotton tape

2004-08-09T14:14:00.000-05:00

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.

maybe i should start drinking coffee again!

2004-08-07T12:56:00.000-05:00

100_1490
Originally uploaded by lmcaron.

thanks for your help in my blogging mess.

back finished

2004-08-06T20:11:00.000-05:00

i finished my back and drank a glass of wine beforehand to reason what i was going to do with the decreases. i went ahead and co 4 for the first two rows and decided to continue on with the pattern to finish with 16 stitches instead of the stated 18. i'm thinking that maybe i should've just co 2 at for those first two rows instead and would have ended with the 18 stitches, but i'm going to sleep on it. it also was a little shorter than 37 cm, but oh well.

I'm starting to understand why noone wants to frog

2004-08-04T23:17:00.000-05:00

Well, I sat down last night to do my tension square and for some reason I just couldn't get the pattern to work. I was making all manner of mistakes. In the end I had to come upstairs to look at Loriz's picture of her swatch. Thank you Loriz for posting that - it really helped me clear up what I was doing wrong!

Now I can't get gauge. On 9mm needles I am just under gauge and on 10mm needles I am W-A-Y over for some reason (I also don't like the fabric!). So I've decided to go with the 9mm needles and hope that being cotton it stretches ever so slightly.

Now I am hoping the whole shoulder shaping issue gets resolved before I get that far!

progress

2004-08-04T08:54:00.000-05:00

after much wrangling with the armholes, i have completed the back! it came out a little long. measuring is a tricky thing with this fabric. i ended up with 39 cm instead of 37 before the armholes.

happy birthday jacqueline! good luck with glint!

carla080404
Originally uploaded by shobhana.

Across Europe and all the Oceans

2004-08-03T21:04:00.000-05:00

It's Arrived!

My Cotton Tape is here all the way from Colourway to Melbourne, Australia in only 4 working days! How quick is that! Unfortunately, I am regretting the colour choice - big time! I was oscillating between Hazy and Glint and chose Glint in the end. My only hope is that, like Shobhana, when I start knitting it up, I will grow to love it. I plan on swatching tonight and hopefully casting on tomorrow...which incidently is my birthday - so I don't imagine I'll get a whole heap done and then I am off to Tasmania for a weekend away.

But next week will be all systems go!!!

On a seperate note, has anyone thought of emailing the design gurus at Rowan with the question about the armhole shaping. I am happy to do it - but until I actually get to that section of the pattern myself, I am kinda a bit vague as to what you all mean.

starting armhole decreases

2004-08-03T15:19:00.000-05:00

and i'm already confused! so i'm making the medium and starting to cast off 3 stitches at the beginning of the next 2 rows, but that throws me off the s1, k1, psso repeat. i'm thinking that i need to cast off the 3 stitches and be set up to go right into the s1 of the pattern. what am i missing?

welcome!!!

2004-08-03T14:04:00.000-05:00

welcome to the fabulous Becky, of Fluffa, who discovered 11 skeins of Cotton Tape in her stash and will be joining us as soon as she picks up a copy of "It's A Tape Thing"!

Another finished Carla on the web

2004-08-03T09:27:00.000-05:00

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!

37cm

2004-08-02T20:56:00.000-05:00

i started the carla a while ago in swish and am really loving the pattern and color. i'm pretty close to starting the armhole decreases and wondering how much you guys stretched the sweater to get to the 37 cm. right now i'm at 33 cm, is 4 cm too much?

small vs medium

2004-08-02T16:03:00.000-05:00

I decided to make the medium because I don't want it to be too snug across the waist/hips. I'm realizing it might stretch out too much and that it won't be too tight. If I make the small, will it be too snug in the arm hole/ shoulder area? That seems to be the problem with store bought sweaters in small vs. medium. I might start the front in the small size just to see.

crazy armhole decreases!

2004-08-02T13:10:00.000-05:00

these armhole decreases are driving me crazy! the pattern tells you to keep the pattern correct as you cast off. i kept ending up with the wrong # of stitches. i ripped back and reknit about 4 times. now i have the right number of sts, but the pattern and the stitch count will be off when i work the following 4 rows! i am so aggravated. i am sure there is a solution, but i'm too worked up to sit down and figure it out right now.

isn't she lovely?

2004-08-01T08:34:00.000-05:00

this is knitting up so-o-o quickly! and thus far i am really pleased with the results. if you are in doubt about which size to make, i would suggest going with a smaller size because a) this top will look terrible if it's too big and baggy and b) because it's 100% cotton it's going to stretch like crazy. i suspect it really needs to be fitted to look good.

carla080104
Originally uploaded by shobhana.

Loving that Hazy

2004-07-31T11:51:00.000-05:00

Well, I went and did it. Bought 10 balls of Hazy at the sale.. It just looks so lovely and I know there are other patterns in the Tape Thing book that I'll want to knit. Am dithering over the Black Shadow since I know I'd wear black more often, but so far am resisting... so does anyone else have swatches to show? am curious how slipping knitwise vs. purlwise changes the look of the pattern, if at all... later!

Hazy days of summer

2004-07-30T07:54:00.000-05:00

Over the past few days I've been able to put in some time to starting Carla. I'm using Cotton Tape in Hazy. For the first time in a while, I'm not having any doubts about my colour selection. I'm really happy with this one! Yesterday I ended up wondering through a few shops, looking a early fall clothes and I found that Hazy coordinates with a lot of items that I was drawn towards. I didn't end up buying any thing to go with the sweater...that can wait until the sweater is completed.

Back to the matter at hand...did I swatch for Carla? I had "swatched"**, however when I "swatched" I wasn't quite doing the pattern correctly. Here's an example of my fine skills of erroneously reading the pattern. See the knit stitches every third stitch? That's what you get when you risread where the asterisk is (ie: what stitches you should be repeating). It was truely mistfying me what I was doing wrong, until I re-read the pattern. The gauge of that 'swatch' is 10st to 10cm. I believe the target is 9st to 10cm. I figured that was close enough.

Since figuring out where I went wrong, I've since reworked the section above the ribbing (ie: the back of the sweater) things are looking much better.

This is much much better looking!

Knitting this sweater is going take concentration as some have pointed out, because it will be difficult to find the stitches after frogging. So I'm being patient with this one!

I'm a little worried that I'll run out of yarn. I always worry about that, but this time I quite nervous. I ordered one extra ball, just in case, but wonder if I should have played safe and gotten two. We'll see. When I finished my first ball I had knit 21cm of the back (including the ribbing band, which used more yarn). I'm going to lengthen the body by a few cm's as well as the arms to accomodate my height. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

That's it for now! Tomorrow I've got a 4 hour car journey and maybe I'll be able to put a dent into the second skein while driving..however I'm a little nervous of taking this as a car project.

** I have a really bad habit of just starting the project and checking the gauge on the swatch once I've started. Notice that my erroneous swatch had a ribbing band on the bottom as well. tsk tsk!

get your swatch on!

2004-07-29T08:32:00.000-05:00

i finally got around to swatching! it took a bit more time than it should have because i kept forgetting to yarn over before the slip 1, k1, psso. so annoying. hopefully after i cast on i'll have it in my brain. otherwise, i'll have to count my stitches after every row to make sure that i haven't forgotten to do it! i'm having second thoughts about the color i chose, string. (photos later) boy, is it dull. i thought i wanted something neutral. i had considered glint, but that shade isn't quite warm enough against my skin. argh. anyway, string it is! who knows? maybe i'll grow to love it!

carla-alongers feel free to post to the blog through blogger. if for some reason you haven't received your blogger invite or need another one, please email me!

welcome!!!

2004-07-28T09:47:00.000-05:00

welcome to the Carla-along blog! this is a place for participants to share their progress, post photos, ask questions, and share tips on Carla from the Rowan booklet "It's A Tape Thing". please email me or lori if you would like to join us!