#cig knitting

[carlos-in-glasses]

Hi, Cig!! 💞 I hope you have been well! For nice ask week, any knitting projects you would like to share with us? But zero pressure of course. Which has been your favorite to work on so far?

Hello Desi!!!! I hope you've been well too! YES I DO have a knitting project I'd like to share! Thank you for asking!!! Very happy to show real progress with my Ingrid Sweater (pattern by PetiteKnit), which is an all-over textured jumper.

Yesterday, I began the single ribbing for the hem, and I will soon be moving on to sleeve no.1! I'm a bit scared of the sleeves because apparently everyone finds them hard... But hopefully I won't have to rip back as much as I did with the body along the way! I cast on in the New Year and this is proving quite a journey, but one I'm proud to be on. I was even able to take it to the pub to work on because I found my stride. (And indeed I had a pot of tea at the pub because I am *never* and I repeat *never* drinking *ever* again):

I think my favourite item to work on so far is my rananculus top. The lacework yoke was highly engaging, and it was followed by mindless stockinette in the round, which is nice and easy. I like patterns that have a mix of engaging features and parts where you can just knit while engrossed in a movie. Shout-out also to the chunky beanie hats I've made - these are great for pub knitting and it's nice to have a quick win 🥲

[carlos-in-glasses]

Our boy really loves your knitting!! He wore ALL CIG to his last red carpet 😍

Haha oh my god thank you Lemon!

He looked great that night! Lovely to style. A true gentleman. Look at him rocking the hat!

(Me and Rafa seeming to share a shoulder-width lol) 💚

[carlos-in-glasses]

Darling do you have any recent knitting projects you could show us 👀👀

Ooh Andie hello and thank you for asking! Yes I do! I have two larger WIPs and two small finished objects!

The WIPs:

The Lights Up Cardigan by Wool and the Gang. It's a patchwork cardigan, which you knit in panels. I bought the kit for my birthday. I'm doing it in pale earthy tones - eventually I plan to make one in a sort of muted rainbow. (The colour in the first pic is distorted - I was knitting with the white yarn!)

2) The Tolsta Tee by Rebecca Clow. I saw a lass in a yellow t-shirt with elbow length sleeves and decided I need to make one for myself. The pattern doesn't have elbow-length sleeves so I'm modifying.

The Finished Objects:

A yellow chunky beanie by Lauren Aston Designs, modelled by my panda and knitted mostly at the pub.

2. Knee warmers for my mum's Christmas present! I'm very proud of the sort of basket weave stitching that created a dome for the bend of the knee, so it wasn't all ribbing. Modelled by me.

I love knitting!! Thank you for giving me a reason to share these!!! 🥰

[carlos-in-glasses]

Cig Knits: A Rananculus

The Rananculus is one of the most popular patterns on Ravelry, so I thought I'd check it out for myself as a beginner who wanted to try lacework. Although it's notoriously oversized, I somehow managed to make myself the world's tightest version lol - despite getting gauge with my swatch?! But that might be because of the yarn I chose (for the colour vs. how it would behave because I'm a sucker for a good green and also an idiot). Or maybe I was knitting more tightly when I felt more pressure? Idk. Anyway, I went for Rowan Sock in Emerald. It's lovely and has still made for a wearable garment that fits - I just think if I knitted this again (which I want to!) I'd go for a DK wool and go up a size or two. Make an actual cosy jumper out of it.

The yoke was exactly as engaging as everyone says, and then it's just stockinette in the round while watching Lone Star (a requirement). This is the first project I didn't have to frog at all?! But I put that down to following the tutorials on Youtube by Sundragon Tips and Tricks - I couldn't have done it without her. I loved this project for teaching me the logic of lace, and it's definitely made me a more confident knitter. (Tbh I've been stupidly confident from the start - far more than I have any right to be, but still, feel like I've earned some stripes with this!)

So, while I want to knit this again, what I really want to do is try my hand at more complex things. I'm currently knitting up my first cardigan - which is patchwork! I'll be tackling a button band, and that's extra fun because I get to choose buttons when I'm done! Can't wait!

[carlos-in-glasses]

I've finished knitting my second jumper! It's the Step-by-Step Sweater by Florence Miller - and is perfect for beginners like me. There's also a YouTube tutorial that runs through the whole process. I absolutely loved working on this and am so pleased with the result. I learned how to knit a jumper in the round, do raglan increases and German short row shaping, which wasn't anywhere near as complex as I thought it would be. The yarn is Sirdar's jewelspun. (Although in the video I helpfully pronounce it as Sidar, which is in fact the name of a restaurant I won a voucher for during a raffle at a wine tasting like a HUGE YUPPIE. But I'm exhausted and making all sorts of weird litttle mistakes.)

Anyway! I can't believe this is a thing that exists! Definitely my favourite thing made so far. I think the next thing I knit will be some knee warmers for my mum, which she has requested in dark green! But I'm excited to knit more jumpers that maybe include some new stitches to learn.

[carlos-in-glasses]

Thank you for the WIP Wednesday tags! I basically couldn’t get it together fic-wise but @actual-sleeping-beauty shared her beautiful WIP cardigan so I thought I’d show some serious technical progress with knitting! I’m using charity shop wool to practice knitting a collar with short row shaping, plus learning raglan sleeve increases/ a yoke in the round! At first it was a disaster because I tried to do a folded collar but KNITTED MY NEEDLES INSIDE THE KNITTING AND HAD TO CUT THEM OUT WITH SCISSORS which I don’t think has happened to anyone in the history of knitting? But! We try again. Behold! A plain ribbed collar (I’m never doing a folded collar ever again!) with German short rows! The short rows weren’t as difficult as I thought, which was a huge relief. I can’t wait to start knitting the jumper I have planned with a bunch of colourful yarn (also pictured!)

[carlos-in-glasses]

Tank Top!

My tank top - and not a vest - is complete! And it fits! Behold!:

Knitted flat with a bunch of cotton from Paintbox! It was hard to find a tank top pattern that wasn't in the round, but the Heya tank on Ravelry came through for me! I didn't feel ready to manage the shaping on circular needles, but I'm confident about giving it a go next time. It would be nice to do another summer knit before the season changes, although this small top did take ages due to having limited time. So, I might as well make a start on another jumper. (Or indeed the pumpkin I want to knit for Halloween - I found orangey-brown wool in a charity shop! If all goes well it'll be so cute and I'll improve my 2x2 rib. Hurrah!)

As for this tank top, I found the pattern really easy to follow as a beginner. Issues I had were: 1) Getting my stitches twisted and then being afraid to frog so I carried on, keeping the mistake; 2) Accidentally knitting a purl row when I lost concentration (lol) so I HAD to frog because the mistake was too large, and holy cow was it tense frogging back just one row and trying to get all 88 loops back onto the needle. I managed it but bloody hell; 3) As mentioned above, time. Knitting narrow cotton on 4mm needles took literally a thousand years (six weeks) and at one point it was getting to be quite the snooze. However, once it got to the v-neck and arm hole shaping on the front panel, it became really fun. Overall, it was a good experience and has taught me how to knit a v-neck and shape armholes. If I could go back in time, I'd buy the cotton in just the green shades. Otherwise, I don't think I'd do anything differently - I'd even make the same mistake with the purl row because it taught me how to frog just a small section - and that it would be ok.

I might wear this to work tomorrow with a cardigan on top!

[carlos-in-glasses]

Tell me something you are proud of yourself for this week 💛

Ooh thank you for this question. Tbh it’s been a rough week at work where I’ve mostly felt shame, so it’s nice to actually sit and make myself think about a positive. I’ve landed on knitting! My current knitting WIP is a tank top that I’m making out of colourful cotton and this week has been focused on armhole shaping for the back panel. It’s my first time doing shaping like this and it’s going well I think!:

Not perfect and there are a couple of obvious mistakes in the lower stripes that I was too afraid to frog (but I since learned how to frog just one line without dropping stitches, which is why you can’t see a major mistake I made in the light blue part 😬). But! Nearly done with this before moving onto the front woo! 🥳 I’m proud of the perseverance. 🩷