After spending much of Thanksgiving weekend knitting the first sleeve, I tried it on to find that I hate it. The "seam" looks worse than if I--the worst seamer on the planet--had knit it flat. A 2 year old could've done better. I doubt it will ever be worn in public unless I reknit the sleeve AND do a better job the second time around. Actually, I really really really want to rip the entire thing out and start again (couldn't sleep one night this week b/c I couldn't stop fantasizing about springing out of bed and frogging it right then, at 2 am). Am using all my will-power resisting the urge b/c I fear:
a) this silk yarn will look hideous after being worked that much (some of it already does)
b) I'll loose all interest in the thing and never get a wearable sweater made of this luscious rusty silky merino yarn
and c) if I do follow-through, it still probably won't be finished until next fall when it will no longer fit due to my impending jabba-the-hutness.

Sorry to be such a poopy-head.

On the up side, you all have beautiful jumpers that I can admire. Can barely wait to see Jackie's in person.

My first sleeve is done, seamed and ready. I can't wait to wear it in the Twist Fashion show on December 6th.

This is how I envisioned my finished Tree. Look how fitted Gaysknits sleeves are. Wouldn't it look good layered under a denim jacket with the long sleeves hanging out? I also found it interesting how she changed the body pattern to stockinette. I think it looks really nice and the color is gorgeous. Hmmm...maybe I need to make another go at it??

The Tree Jumper is Done! I finally sewed up the sleeves and had the husband take a picture of me (that is why it is a bit fuzzy). It fits nicely and when I wash it I will pull the sleeves to get a bit more length into them! Onto the next project...

Here's my Tree at the Flea. Flea Market that is. I have been wearing the heck out of my Tree and hope everyone else can get theirs done to enjoy. I've been washing in cold and letting air dry after pulling down hard, stretching the arms. This seems to help elongate them so as to make them not as baggy.

I'm a little bit longer on my tree jacket now. I think I would try to get the lace rows more straight. My collar is scrolled but I don't want the body to be. I'll see how I manage it.

My first Tree Jacket is in progress. I knit in a thicker yarn then in original pattern but I have calculated it to fit my yarn. I knit in a pea green woolyarn which has been in my storage for a long time.

I enjoyed my quick knit Tree but it turned out different than I had planned. I should have knitted the small instead of medium and the arms/chest wouldn't be so big. Girls, if you are trying to knit a larger chest circumference, make sure you check the arms and maybe work in some additional decreases going down. I really like white cotton and will wear it, just differently than I had anticipated.

Here's the progress I made on the KC trip.

I'm trying to catch up and now get to start on my sleeves. I started for size 36 but stopped short at 26 ridges around the chest and I'm glad I did. It's quite roomy as it is and it should still have a little give for the inevitable shrinkage. I opted for no waist shaping and will do the sleeves flat.

Despite feeling like I tinked as much, maybe more, than I knit, the sweater did get longer in the last 2 days. Unfortunately, some of the mistakes that I didn't tink are in the front and extremely obvious. In fact, the back looks way better than the front. If there wasn't a "seam" in the garter section, the front & back could just be flipped. Alas, the zephyr girlss were clever enough to design a center seam in piece of circular knitting! The worst part is that there are about 5 inches of very pretty knitting AFTER the mussed up part.
No more knitting on this thing until I decide whether or not it's worth pulling out that much work; especially since it'll take me weeks to reknit it without another car trip planned in which I get to be the passenger.
Next time, Lanora, I'll drive while you knit since you can probably knit accurately in the presence of people.
not sure why I make this turn of events sound so bad. The truth is that I love knitting and this yarn so pulling out 5 inches allows me to maximize the joy of the Tree Jumper.
(I tried to hide the bad parts in these photos.)

Finally, I got to start on my Tree yesterday. Good choice, Lia on the Cascade Sierra. It's such a soft cotton/wool yarn. I'm loving it and think it will be quite cozy when it's complete. Waiting this long to start has it's advantages: I'm taking advantage of the pointers such as the arms and clever waist shaping. Also, the seam in the back really doesn't bother me.

The pattern doesn't call for any waist shaping, but someone had an idea for going down a needle size or two for a more "shapely" tree!

Here is my meager Tree progress. The pattern says to use a circular needle, but I have trouble with using short circular needles and I didn't know if the Magic Loop method would work on this. I realize at some point I'm going to have to switch to circular, which means probably buying a new one because my Denise size 8 points are already being used on another project.

Some info about the arms. If you are knitting it flat and seaming it up, you just pick up the held stitches and knit away. You only decrease on one side (thought that was weird) - a gal on the SKC wrote the Zephyr gals and they said that is correct. Good Luck Tree Knitters!

It has armholes and a seam up the back (icky) and even a little body. In fact, i'm afraid it might be too little, but will knit a bit more before deciding to rip-it.
I'm wondering if the center line through the garter couldn't be eliminated by alternately where the transitions between knitting and purling fall--one row after the marker and the other row before the marker. Any thoughts? Maybe I'll try it on the sleeves.

This is the beginning of my Tree Jumper. Unfortunately, I had to rip out my first attempt because I only cast on 60 stitches instead of 80. But now I'm good and have completed the neck. I'm on the garter.

I'm using Manos Cotton Stria. I had a very hard time with the winding, I'm not sure if it was my error or the yarn but it kept breaking and getting tangled.

I am not sure I selected the correct yarn. It might be too bouncy. There is some nylon/elastic in it. It is Crystal Palace Bamboozle. I really love it a lot. I want it to work. I've made socks out of the fingering weight version of it. It washes like a dream. I even got gauge! I will bring it to SNB Thursday night. I need everyone to to be honest and tell me what they think.

When I bought this yarn 2 weeks agao, I went straight home and knit a swatch. The cast on soon followed. Then I rapidly lost steam, despite the lovely soft & silky yarn that I get to touch every time I get to the knitting. Last night I reached my usual knitting pace....backwards.
Ripped out all of the increase rows (about 20-25% of the entire thing) because the stitch count was off.
Here's a photo anyway:

(By the way, after struggling for ten minutes to get the color accurate on my digital camera and spending a few more minutes finding the USB cable, I remembered the camera built into my laptop--this is the photo from it!)

My tree is loosing its stitches.

The gauge is too loose, again!

Slow Growing Tree!
I think I need some fertilizer to get my tree growing! Hum... where do you find knitting fertilizer?? I know, the Thursday night Stitch and Bitch at the LYS, where else!
Hopefully that will give my poor tree a boost!

I just connected my second ball of Cascade Sierra. Go Tree, Go!

Grab your needles, go to Twist and get some yarn so you can join the KIP Tree Jacket KAL. This is another great pattern from the Zephyr Style gals. It is knit in a worsted weight yarn in round from the top down. The sleeves are knit in garter stitch and can be knit flat to seam up later. It is a simple knit with only a 2 page pattern!

If you would like to join this blog to post progress, finished trees and ask questions, click the link on the top right (or just send Lia an email) and she will add you to the list as soon as she can.

Cast on gals!!