I figured out the provisional cast on!

Ok, I understand for the experts of this group I probably sound like a real DORK, but until this project my knitting had all been very "old school" -- the most exotic thing I had done was knit a pull over sweater from the top down all of a piece.

A bit of explanation about the picture....the lavendar yarn at the top edge is my "stitch holder" for the left side and the back of the sweater.

The lavendar yarn in the center is my provisional cast on for the right sleeve. I have done about 3 rows on the sleeve and now realize that I must next figure out the much feared "short rows"....something I was NOT going to attempt at 10:45 p.m. after being up since 5:30 a.m.!

Perhaps today...

Can someone help me out here?

I've been knitting right along, delighted with the cables, happy as a clam that I was going to avoid the part of knitting I hate most -- sewing things together --until last night when I realized its time to start the sleeves and I have no clue how to begin this with these weird shaped pieces!

Sooooo....surely in this big group at least ONE of you has done this that way, and could you give me some assistance here with how to go about it?

Thanks SO VERY MUCH!!

four skeins in...

I'm trying to remember to take a picture every time I reach the end of a skein, so I can document my progress without having to do battle with a lot of long hangy-bits, especially since we have a very playful new kitten. So here you can see the waist shaping, the cable, the seed-stitch border, and the short-rows on the sleeve. Sorry about the curl. The sleeve looks quite short; I think the cabled cuff will be just below my elbow, which is good because it won't dangle in the dishwater or anything.

progressing nicely, thank you!

I'm moving right along on the body of the sweater.

Now that I can actually see the "field" versus the cable, I really like this pattern (almost enough to consider making another one for myself!)

I will be adding 1 1/4 inch of length to the body, and I've decided to add it at the middle of the sleeve so the tightness of the arms that folks have mentioned being a problem will be taken care of.

Nonprogress report

Maybe this will spur me on to finish Arwen! Here is a photo of the sum total of my Arwen knitting.

progress

Oops, I promised to put up a picture of the seed stitch hem, didn't I? Here it is, I threw the sweater-in-progress in the scanner when I'd reached the end of the first skein. I've just started the fourth skein now.

Somebody wanted to know more about knitting in one piece: well, I cast on the back and both fronts at the same time, and worked back and forth for about 11 inches (with waist shaping). I've just knit across the right-front, and then provisionally cast on 60 stitches* and knit those (and put the back and left-front stitches on a holder). Cable set-up row on the return, and now I'm working the short rows.

* Sleeve notes: I know the pattern wants long sleeves, and it does look nice that way, but I have to take my own habits into account. I am perpetually shoving my sleeves up, and growling about it, so I decided on 3/4-length sleeves. I also noticed on my first attempt that the sleeve was too tight around the upper arm, so I've added another inch there.

All this means that the short-row scheme as written will not work, and if I try to add stitches evenly across the length of the sleeves, I'll wind up with a sort of bat-wing effect that I definitely don't want. So I'm knitting back and forth across the front, and with each row I knit two stitches further into the sleeve. Mr Husband is in Utrecht with the camera, but I will take a picture as soon as I can. I don't know how useful it will be, since I'm working with such dark yarn, but for you, I will try.

I think I've decided to include the hood. Now that I've shortened the sleeves I'll probably have enough yarn.

Knitting Emergency

I have been knitting away like crazy. I was hoping to finish my Cardigan by the end of May, and I might have if I hadn't run out of yarn. More yarn is in the mail, and I'm anxiously awaiting it.
See pictures of the progress on my sweater on my blog.