Blanket Completion!

Astoundingly, I finished my OpArt rip-off in just a little over a week. I am happy with the results, and super excited that the acrylic didn't mess me up too bad. It took on an interesting shape (which was a pleasant surprise):
The little points appeared when I bound off, and I know they are obviously related to the increases, so I imagine if you don't want them you could just increase in different spots? Okay, I don't know. And I don't care. I like them.

The back is just as fun as the front, except for a couple of ends:
The whole thing wound up being about 38" across. Knitting with the acrylic wasn't too bad, but washing it gave me nightmares. Squeaky, wet, plastic... shudder. The feel of it was horrid. Horrid, I tell you!

But it is done now, and I learned you really can kill acrylic with steam. After doing so, the blanket was no longer defiantly attempting to lose it's shape. I just pinned it out and blasted it with a steamy iron from about an inch away. Worked great!

Cass's Sweater Quasi-Pattern

I hesitate to call this a pattern, because I am terrible at these things. And it hasn't been tested or anything so it may be rife with errors. But this is the very general gist of what I did:

It's a very basic top-down raglan with only a tiny bit of shaping at the upper arm. The actual sweater has a 35" bust. In the photo above, it is modeled on my 34" bust. You could easily adjust this by doing fewer or more increases (although you will probably also have to adjust the ribbing to accommodate a different stitch count).

Gauge = 4.25 st/in with worsted yarn on size 8 needles

Cast on 104, join in the round and knit 4 rounds.

Round 5: K 35, pm, K 17, pm, K 35, pm, K 17, pm (use a different color, as this one will mark the beginning of the round)

Round 6: *K to one stitch before marker, YO, K 1, Yo, slip marker. Repeat from * 3 more times

Round 7: Knit

Repeat rounds 6 and 7 20 more times

Separate the arms and body: Knit to first marker and remove it. Place stitches between the first and second markers on waste yarn, remove 2nd marker, and knit to third marker. Remove the third marker and place stitches between it and 4th marker on waste yarn. Keep the 4th marker to indicate beginning of round.

Knit every round for about 3 inches, or until it is at the bottom of the wearer's bust.

Begin ribbing: K5, P1 around for about 9"

Note: if you did a different number of increases, you might not have a multiple of 6- count your stitches. Use a little math to see what your count divides into nicely, and adjust ribbing accordingly (i.e. divisible by 5 = K4, P1 ribbing).

When the ribbing is to your (or the wearer's) liking, knit every round for about 3 1/2" (or again, for whatever works for you).

Bind off.

Sleeves: Transfer stitches held for one sleeve to needle, pm and join in the round.

Round 1: SSK, knit to 2 st before marker, K2tog
Rounds 2-9: Knit
Round 10: SSK, knit to 2 st before marker, K2tog

Repeat Rounds 2-10 once more

Begin ribbing: K4, P1 around for 9 1/4"

Note: the note above applies here too!

Knit every round for 6" (or desired length)

Bind off.

Repeat for second sleeve.

Finishing:

Single crochet around the neckline (I used a size H hook)

Weave in ends, close up any holes around the armpit.

Success!

I seriously love the Classic Cotton used in this sweater. It had a bath in the sink, got spun in the washer for a few seconds, and then went into the dryer until mostly dry. While slightly damp, it was shaped and laid flat to finish drying. Freaking awesome. The stitches evened out wonderfully, and it blocked well.

I'm a little worried that the arms might be too long for Cass, and I hope they don't get in the way if that's the case. But they're also not rolling very much in the photo, and they might roll a bit more when worn throughout the day. If that's the case, they'll be a good length.

I've started a baby blanket for my husband's friend, Kendra. She's very into black, bats and Halloween-type things, and Scott reminded me of her affinity for black when I first mentioned knitting something for her baby. Initially, I was going to make OpArt, but I really don't want to weave in all those ends. Or purl every other row. Or have it take longer because it's garter stitch. So I made something similar, but much lazier. Like OpArt, it's knit in the round from the center out, but it's stockinette, and the color change is every other row (so I'll only have to weave in ends whenever a skein runs out).

It's going well so far, and I like that I can just zone out and knit. It's great car and meet-up knitting, since you don't really have to look at it all the time. But as is the problem with this sort of project, each round gets longer and longer... Hopefully I won't be completely insane by the end!