knits, notes, etc.

On our way to Stitches West, we drove past NASA's blimp hangar (Hangar One?), and for some reason or other we (or rather, I) started talking about my threefold obsession with dragons, airships, and mecha. I like each individually, but put them together and you have one awesome... anime series?

Back to this cat sweater, yes?

I almost frogged this sweater a few times because I was very unhappy with it for a while. I don't know if you remember, but I actually started this way back in November... I was constantly worried that I didn't have enough yarn, that it was too small, that it was rather ugly... But, when I showed it to Deb, she laughed. She found it pretty funny that I thought her cat was so ferocious. And, really, I love LOVE how it turned out:

Kitty Couture™ Dragon scales cat sweater.

Pattern Kitty Couture™ Dragon scales cat sweater.
Yarn Louet Gems Topaz, #39 Fern Green, 1 skein.
Needles Size 5 (3.75 mm).

Pattern Description

I think everyone is pretty familiar with the "dragon scale" stitch pattern here--I am pretty sure I based it on Marnie's Wyvern socks pattern? I scaled it down to a 20-st and 8-row repeating pattern and used slanted make-1 increases (M1L and M1R). So, I casted-on 92 sts: 30 sts of 2×2 ribbing for the front, one purl st to give a seam between front and back, 60 sts of dragon scale pattern for the back, and one purl st for the second seam.

This looks like a snake husk—OMG! There's a giant snake loose in the apartment!

I knitted in pattern for at least 9 inches (really, with one skein of yarn, I was concerned it wouldn't be long enough). Then, I divided for front and back. This time, because the front was actually pretty wide at 30 sts, I just decreased every RS row. For the back, I knitted a couple repeats of the pattern (to match the row-count of the front), then joined for knitting in-the-round. I continued to decrease the front until two stitches remained, knitting in pattern for the back. Then, I finished the back with 2×2 ribbing and decreases for collar shaping.

The only thing I don't really like about the front shaping is that I used feathered decreases. Notice how at the top, the stitches pull from the center? Drat. However, I really do like how the edges of the armhole openings were very neat and didn't require any finishing. Cute.

Front and collar shaping.

The Yarn

I like Louet yarns very much. (I've used Euroflax Linen and Gems Opal before...) I bought this skein from Imagiknit's sale shelf and regret not buying more of it. The sweater is very soft and stretchy.

So, no more cat sweaters for a while. I have one more to make and this will be very different for the six you see here. But I want to finish one or two other projects first.

Happy Knitting!