I finished my first sweater! Be proud of me!! 

The pattern for this little number came from http://www.purlbee.com and can be found here. I love and use this blog for so many reasons: the instructions are detailed, include visual aids, and are extremely easy to follow; the comments section is amazing – if you get confused mid-knit, you can ask for help and the designer will respond to your query; and the projects are just super super cute!

While the original pattern uses different colours of the same yarn, I chose two different brands for my sweater. For the bottom portion I used Richmore Spectr Modem, a 100% wool worsted yarn made in Japan, in a dark grey (colour #48). This yarn is sold in 40g, 80m skeins, and I ended up using the better part of 5.  To obtain the correct gauge I used 60cm size 4 circular needles (Japanese needle size, mind you). I chose a different yarn – Wister Grace Merino, an extra fine 100% merino also made in Japan, in ivory (colour #01) – for the lattice portion because I wanted it to have an ever-so-slightly different texture. For this section, I used 1.5 40g, 120m skeins.

Also, while the original pattern calls for you to knit up the back, down the front, and then stitch the sides together, I chose to knit the bottom portion in the round (this was something that had been discussed in the comments section – thanks, random internet knitters!). Once the grey section was finished, I knit the lattice portion up the back and down the front, and then grafted the front sections via kitchener stitch. This made for a pretty quick knit, and the whole thing took about two weeks. I’d definitely reccomend this pattern if you’ve never made an adult garment before – the lattice bit may look intimidating, but I promise that it’s ridiculously easy!

All in all, I’m really pleased with how it turned out! I’m going to be casting on some leg warmers or a cowl today, but the next big thing I’m tackling is this Japanese cardigan pattern. Stay tuned for updates!

Fall hasn’t  properly started yet, and already my knitting to-do list is getting out of hand. For the last couple of weeks I’ve been working away on my very first sweater (if all goes well, I’ll be posting more about that very very soon – fingers crossed!), and I’ve already bought the yarn for a pair of legwarmers I want to make. After that I have an idea for a multicoloured textured cowl, and somewhere in there I should probably try to whip up a few Christmas presents.

And as if things weren’t already ambitious enough, the other day I picked up this glorious little book.

This is my very first Japanese pattern book, so I’m super excited to dive in! I don’t know what it is about Japanese patterns, but they have this tendency to be super cute, chic, and very well designed. I’m going to make the cardigan featured on the cover (the model is wearing it backwards here). I’d like to do it in a yellow merino, but I’ll have to see if I can track down a nice shade. All the yellow yarn in my town seems to be either pale or mustard, and I’d kind of like something in between.

Anyway, before I get ahead of myself, I feel like I should point out the obvious: since this book is Japanese, everything in it is in Japanese. Everything.

My Japanese is decent enough to understand a few instructions, but this thing is chalk-full of vocabulary that I’ve never ever seen before. For example, I’m used to “CO” meaning cast on, but here, in the crazy world of Japanese knitting, the pattern tells you to cast on by throwing “一般的な作り目” in your face. Um, what?

Luckily, the road to Japanese pattern understanding is well traveled, and the kind souls that have gone before me are more than willing to share what they’ve learned. The most useful resource that I’ve come across has been ABC’s of Knitting‘s Japanese graphical knitting charts instructions. If you’ve never read a Japanese knitting chart before, they break it down really well. The site also has a great guide to Japanese knitting basics (think needle  sizes and yarn weight) and a glossary of Japanese knitting vocabulary. To quickly reference chart symbols, I found Fleegle’s Blog really handy. Google also lead me to this really comprehensive PDF from needleartsbookshop.com. It has some pretty detailed instructions and a list of other resources at the bottom. Aside from that, I relied pretty heavily on my iPhone’s Japanese app to translate a lot of the written instructions. With these tools and a couple of hours, I was able to break down the cardigan pattern in its entirety. I’ll have to wait to start knitting to see how successful I actually was, but I really think it’s going to work out!

This will also be my first time stitching together five separate pieces into a single garment, so I’m a little nervous about that. Anyway, I’ll post more as I go. Wish me luck, I’m going to need it!!