Starting the Dogwood Blossoms sweater kit!

Hi All, Lemmy and I are starting the Dogwood Blossoms sweater. Wish us luck (and good eyesight!) We'd love others working on this sweater to join us!

It's kind of hard to see which colors are on the charts. The dark ones look alike (at least on the blue kit). There is a close up photo of the sweater in the instructions that is a little clearer. I think the first colors used after the cuff are Bark and Silver.

I'm near sighted and wear progressive lenses. I've found I have a much easier time knitting (esp fine gauge) when I wear a pair of old glasses. The distance prescription is lower and I can see up close MUCH more easily. Guess I need stronger progressives, but this works for free!

Tags: Blossom, Dogwood, Fair, Isle, Sweater, colorwork

0 members like this

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Beth Heal on February 17, 2011 at 3:28pm

Hi April,

Wow! You're making great progress! I just received my kit yesterday, so I'm a long way from giving my opinion on the colors. They look very different on the skein than they do knitted in a pattern. In fact, when I opened the box, the first thing I though was, how am I going to keep these colors straight! The colors are beautiful though, and I'm anxious to cast on. Hopefully someone else will check back in on this KAL and give you an answer.

Happy knitting!

Beth

Permalink Reply by April Lewis on February 17, 2011 at 6:58pm

Hey Beth!

I've torn my MCL in my knee so I'm stuck on the couch for the next 14 days, the ONLY reason I'm getting so much knitting done. LOL. I normally have several projects on the go at once and it takes for ever to get finished.

I wrote the color names along side the rows I was knitting so I could keep track of the colors I am suppose to be knitting with. Then when I took off the paper bands from the balls I rolled them up tight and stuck them inside the little holes in the center of the balls, so I know what colors they are. I can just pluck out the ball bands and read them and then tuck them back inside the ball.

I hope that makes sense, I had to pop some pain killers and stop knitting, lol, maybe I shouldn't be typing either. Happy knitting to you too!

April

Permalink Reply by Beth Heal on February 19, 2011 at 10:43am

Oh no - sorry to hear about your MCL! I know that's painful. Hope it feels better soon, but in the meantime what an awesome excuse to sit and knit.

Thanks for the great idea about how to keep up with the colors. I'll do the same which will help me get going on this project. I'm getting organized today and plan to cast on this afternoon.

Feel better!

Beth

Permalink Reply by Phoebe Farley on February 19, 2011 at 4:27pm

What I did with the colors...I called KP Customer service and they e-mailed me a legend of what color goes on what line. I use see thru tape to keep up. Then I put all the yarn in bags and put the bags in a "Shoes Under" thing in alphabetical order. It has compartments to keep things separate and lives on the floor next to my chair. I check the legend and can find the yarn very easily when it's time to change the colors. It really makes life easy.

Hope your knee is better, April.

Permalink Reply by Beth Heal on February 19, 2011 at 6:22pm

Thanks Phoebe - these are great ideas too! I got through about line 25 of the pattern today assigning colors line by line, but some of the colors are so close on the pattern, that I wondered if I was picking the colors correctly. I may call KP on Monday and see if they would post a legend so everyone could see it. I too have a box to hold my yarn that will be living by my chair for probably a very long time!

Permalink Reply by Janet A on February 24, 2011 at 9:38am

I have the Green colorway to the Dogwood Blossoms sweater. I have not read the pattern through yet, but I wonder if anyone knows of a tutorial for doing steeks at the cardigan neckline. I don't want to purl any of my colorway. Would you use your pattern yarn over the steek, or a scrap yarn? How would you cut the neckline curve? So many questions. I can only find tutorials for straight fronts and sleeves. I hesitate to start before I know what to do.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Janet A.

Permalink Reply by cherylbwaters on February 24, 2011 at 12:48pm

Janet, there is lots of information in the CLiC KAL. And I think Peggy Stuart did a blog or two on steeking. Click here for one of them.

Permalink Reply by Janet A on February 24, 2011 at 1:08pm

Thank you so much Cheryl. I think that I had an aha moment when I read Peggy Stuart's blog. I understand now. I am also going to check out Mary Scott Huff's book.

Permalink Reply by cherylbwaters on February 24, 2011 at 1:14pm

I'm so glad Peggy's blog helped. She will be happy to hear.

Permalink Reply by Beth Heal on February 25, 2011 at 7:49pm

Are any of you working this sweater using bobbins to wind yarn on while knitting the rows, or are you working from the skein? I finally got to the colorwork tonight and used the skeins. I thought that because they were not large, it would be ok, but I spent a good deal of time untwisting them as I went around the rows. I'd just like to get some thoughts on this. It would take about the same amount of time to wind bobbins as to untwist, but there's yarn waste with bobbins as the bobbin never ends when the row does. Any ideas?

Thanks!

Permalink Reply by Beth Heal on February 26, 2011 at 4:30pm

It's probably weird to reply to your own post, but I was looking through the previous posts and found wendy's address for Philosopher's Wool and the 2 handed Fair Isle technique. I gave it a try and it's not hard at all! Anyone who has not gone to the website and looked at the video should take 10 minutes and learn this new technique. So, never mind about the bobbin question - I may never use bobbins again!

Permalink Reply by wendy on February 26, 2011 at 5:41pm

Oh good, I'm glad that helped you. :o) Once you get the hang of it, it really isn't hard at all. And no, it isn't weird to reply to your own post - lol. I hope you are enjoying your sweater.