Tidbits and KALs

Thank you all so much for your lovely, kind words about Caulfield. Thanks to you, the pattern made it to the number 2 spot in Ravelry’s ‘hot right now’ pattern list yesterday. Amazing! I think that’s the first pattern I’ve had in the top 5, and it totally made my day.

Now that the rush of sizing details and modification information is subsiding, I wanted to mention a couple of things about Caulfield, its yarn, and its styling.

First of all, the pattern itself. This is the first in what I hope will be a periodic series of “choose your own adventure” patterns. That is, I write the pattern with several different options, and you can pick and choose between them. In this case, that might mean making a pullover with sleeves, or a sleeveless tank, or switching around waist shaping options. A couple of things to think about when mixing and matching the pattern this way:

  • Cardigans usually benefit from a bit more positive ease than tanks. So when choosing a size, consider 0-1” of ease for the tank and 1-2” of ease for the cardigan.
  • It’s super easy to move the waist shaping around. The chart is the same in all cases, so if you want to add waist shaping to the cardigan fronts, simply do so approximately in the middle of your stitches, according to the chart. If you’d like a pullover with waist shaping only on the back, simply omit the charts on the front and work straight to the armholes.
  • I think that matching edge trim looks best. So if you’re want to add sleeves to the pullover, consider either trimming them in a small amount of garter instead of the rolled reverse stockinette trim, or trim the neck edging with a small amount of rolled stockinette, as well.
  • If you’d like to swap necklines around (and make a V-neck pullover or a scoop neck cardi, for example), you’ll need to do a teeny tiny bit of math since the cardigan CO numbers aren’t half of the pullover CO numbers. For a V-neck pullover, just work every RS row decreases until you reach the proper number of shoulder sts. For a scoop-neck cardigan, simply add any additional decreases evenly to the existing “bins” (bind-offs, every row, every RS row, and every other RS row) until you reach the correct number of shoulder stitches.

*****

I can’t say enough good things about Kim’s yarn. The MCS sock might be my single favorite yarn ever used for a sweater, and I’m already bursting with ideas for new ways to use it. If you’d like to use the (highly) recommended yarn for Caulfield, Kim has some colors in stock now–you can see her available yarn and fibre here (MCS) and here (merino sock). She and Ron are also working on a huge update, with yarn expected to be ready next week. (Photo credit: Indigodragonfly.)

But! If you’re the kind of person who can handle a little delayed gratification, Kim is also taking custom orders (and will be offering yarn and pattern together as a kit if you like one-stop shopping). Just check out Kim’s colour page (warning: yarn-inspired drool when you click that link), and let them know. One wonderful part of the custom order process, which I went through when Kim and Ron came up with the Bunnies, Bunnies! It Must Be Bunnies! colorway shown on the tank:

When we take custom orders, we always send the customer a photo of the finished yarn to make sure it’s what they’re expecting. (And, you know, so they can frame it and put it on their desk at work…)

You can get more details about ordering yarn from Kim’s post on Caulfield.

*****

Finally, since I always like to give a shout out to amazing people who craft, let me tell you about the gorgeous green necklace I’m wearing with the tank version of Caulfield:

It was made by Cyn of Antiquity Travelers, who I connected with via our mutual friend Thea. Cyn makes amazing jewelry (go ahead, click on that link–I’m lusting after the Greek style beaded bracelet and the coordinating pearl earrings right next to it), and is a lovely person to boot. You’ll see some earrings from Cyn in a later release this fall. She’s amazing, that one!

*****

Right! I think that’s enough bits and bobbles about Caulfield for now. Some wonderful knitters are planning on casting on tonight and making it their Ravellenic Games project–and I’ll be cheering them on while I work on a couple of secret projects in front of the tube. If you’re interested in a KAL, it looks like we’ll start one up in my ravelry group, but I’m torn about timing. It’ll take at least a few weeks for everyone custom-ordering yarn to get their shipment, so from that perspective an early September start time might make sense. On the other hand, a couple of folks are casting on right away. So what say you? Would you vote for a “rolling start” KAL that begins before the opening ceremonies tonight? Or suggest that the official KAL start wait until everyone has some gorgeous yarn in their hands?

3 thoughts on “Tidbits and KALs

  1. Love this necklace on you! it has found a happy home 🙂 So funny, the Greek-style bracelet has become a favorite. I’ve had quite a few people ask for this one! But the drop earrings (pearls) are my favorite style to wear. Comfy, everyday elegance. I wear this style a lot.

  2. The necklace is gorgeous! And what about the orange necklace that you are wearing with the tank?

  3. Rolling start….otherwise it’s like a race and who needs that?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

TweetShare