Let the past sleep, but let it sleep in the sweet embrace of Christ, and let us go on into the invincible future with Him. (Oswalt Chambers)

Friday, October 13, 2006

Log Cabin CIC Sweater

Front and back of Lopi Log Cabin Sweater for CICLooks better, doesn't it?

It's not perfect, but it does look much better than my first attempt.

Last Tuesday, after showing you the beginning of a scaggy looking Log Cabin kids sweater I wrote:
Since this is a kids sweater for CIC, I'm not going to let my perfectionism result in frogging. It will block out into a colorful and very very warm sweater.
I took another look at it and frogged it.

I could see I was knitting one too many rows in each block - ending after a right side row instead of after a wrong side row. Once I knew that, I didn't want to continue on with the mistake, so I started over.

Finished Lopi Log Cabin Sweater

Pattern: Log Cabin Child's Pullover

Yarn: Lopi leftovers

Needles: US #9

Gauge: 3.5 stitches/inch and 7 rows/inch in garter stitch

I had two goals in knitting this sweater:
  1. Create a warm sweater for CIC.
  2. Use up left over partial skeins of Lopi.
This sweater has to be the ultimate in warm sweaters. Bulky weight Lopi knit firmly with a #9 needle in super condensed garter stitch. Some child is going to be warm indeed wearing this one.

As for using up the Lopi, it became obvious after knitting the front and back (top picture) that I needed to introduce a fourth color to have enough yarn for sleeves.

I had fun planning how to use up as much Lopi as possible and still have the sweater look like it was designed and not knit with random blobs of color.

Notice that the bottom ribbing in the top picture is gray and the bottom ribbing in the final product is turquoise? It didn't take very long to reknit the ribbing and I think it looks more attractive to have all four colors in the body as well as the sleeves.

The pattern calls for a stand up collar in the back. Without it, the sweater is reversible. I omitted the collar without regret.

Leftover Lopi from Log Cabin SweaterOnce I was done sewing up the side seams, these are the only pieces of Lopi I had left that were over six inches long.

I like the Log Cabin idea for using up yarn and will no doubt use it again for help in emptying out my Lopi bin.

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