Finished Upsized Ms. Darcy Cardigan

Just before the start of the long weekend, I finished my NaKniSweMo sweater, the wonderful Mrs. Darcy Cardigan. I modeled my sweater after the bottom-up seamless version by Wakendaknits, but added my own modifications to upsize it and change the neckline.

Ravelry: Joyuna's Ms. Darcy
Yarn used: Malabrigo Merino Worsted, colorway Jewel Blue, 4.5 skeins
Size: 41" bust
Post-washing Gauge: 4.9 sts x 8 rows = 1 inch (my fabric grew pretty significantly with washing, so all my numbers are based on a washed swatch. It turned out perfectly, so I strongly suggest you swatch and wash the swatch!)

There are two sizes of this pattern readily available on the internet - the original, which has a 34" bust, and Wakenda's 38" version. I'm publishing my own upsized mods so that hopefully more people will be able to knit this smashing sweater even if they're not comfortable with doing the math.

Read more »

NaKniSweMo Knitting Complete!

(no photo yet, sorry!)

My NaKniSweMo Mrs. Darcy cardigan is all knitted! It's currently blocking. Off the needles, it fit perfectly - so let's hope it didn't grow too much after its bath.

If my calculations are right, the sweater ended up around 40,000 stitches, which technically means it's not a 50,000-stitch sweater but I don't really care, because now I will have a sweater that I did not have last month! ;)

And it's a beauty, too. It's knit in luscious Mmmm Malabrigo, in the colorway Jewel Blue. Here is Sheepy doing what I wish I could do, snuggling up with all that Malabrigo.

I actually have over a skein and a half leftover. I upsized the cardi and knit at a little bit smaller gauge, so I was very surprised to have leftover yarn! That means I knit this whole sweater with less than 500g of yarn. Sweet!

The scoop neck saves a lot of yarn. It's also kind of short; I'm thinking I should have made the body longer. I will be adding in a few rows of crochet edging at the bottom, so that should help.

I'll be back soon with pictures, as well as a full list of my mods! Have a great Thanksgiving all!

~Joyuna

Alpaca Alpaca Alpaca! Part 2 - OABA Alpacafest

Last weekend was the Ohio Alpaca Breeder's Association's annual Alpacafest - a festival where alpaca farmers and vendors all gather together for a weekend of snuggly soft camelids, crias, and more importantly FIBER and YARN!

There were a great selection of vendors, and my friends and I got a load of great stuff. I got a 2-ounce suri/huacaya batt ('Masquerade ball') and some dyes from Alpaca Meadows, as well as a pair of socks for the boy (who is currently knitting me another scarf!).

The alpacas were totally cute and we had lots of fun meeting them. Our friend Brad at KB Alpacas in Fairfield showed us a 4-day-old cria, who was so tiny and adorable I could hardly stand it.


The alpacas are totally awesome and we all had a great time. If you're in the Columbus OH area in November, do check out the Alpacafest at the Expo Center, because it is a great place to meet your fiber and get some steals on yarn & roving, right from the source.

~Joyuna

NaKniSweMo One Week Checkin

The first week of NaKniSweMo is up, and I'm feeling pretty good about my progress.

As of Sunday night, I've finished the neckline decreases and set the body aside to start the sleeves. I've knit a total of 18246 stitches, or an average of 2280 stitches per day.

I've done a ton of math for this sweater! But it's worth it. I'm in love with the pattern, and I want to make sure that it will fit me and look the way I want it. I've reworked the neckline decreases to create a compromise between the ultra-scoop neck of the pattern and the high neckline of Wakenda's mods. It looks like it will work well, but I won't know for sure until it's done.

As I said, I'm keeping a full list of mods for my upsized Mrs. Darcy cardigan on my Ravelry page as I knit.

~Joyuna

Alpaca Alpaca Alpaca! Part 1

Alpaca alpaca alpaca!
My knitting has been FULL of alpacas lately. Adorable, soft, warm fluffy little creatures. Watch out though, they spit.

First alpaca-y thing: My sweater!

Rav page

I cast on this cardigan almost a year ago, with some yarn I got at OABA Alpacafest 2008. Alpacafest 2009 was this weekend, and I got lots of goodies from that - that deserves its own post. I finished the cardigan Friday night, just in time to wear to the 'fest.

It's a Drops pattern, "Cardigan knitted in lace pattern", which is exactly what it says on the tin. I used some wonderful REALLY REALLY SOFT sportweight alpaca, which was unlabelled when I bought it but I found out to be Henry's Attic Prime Alpaca (color musk).

I knit the body as written, but did a 3-needle bind off on the shoulders and picked up stitches for the sleeves to knit them top-down, making the cardigan completely seamless. I also learned how to crochet buttonloops! Very exciting, no?


I almost got the cardigan out of one 700-yarn skein - if I had knit a smaller size, I probably would have. As it was, I ran out just past the sleeve caps and had to rely on the help of some wonderful, generous Ravellers. :) Thank you!

Even though it took me almost a year to knit this thing, the pattern really isn't bad. It's pretty simple, though the Drops instructions are somewhat vague and the chart is impossible to read (I had to rechart it myself). The best part is, it fits! I'm stoked.

~Joyuna

NaKniSweMo Kickoff

Today is November 1st, so I have cast on my NaKniSweMo sweater. NaKniSweMo is the companion to NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, where writers attempt to write a 50,000-word novel in the month of November. In this case, knitters try to knit a 50,000-stitch sweater in the month.

I've participated in NaNo in years past, but I'm really eager to see how NaKniSweMo goes because sweaters are serious long-term knitting for me... Some have taken me over a year to knit.

I've got my materials ready:

There's six skeins of Malabrigo merino worsted in the colorway Jewel Blue, which is a lovely blue that borders on perrywinkle. The yarn is, of course, heavenly. I scored a great deal on it on Ebay... I would never be able to get a sweater's worth of Malabrigo for retail.

The pattern I have chosen for this lovely yarn is the Mrs Darcy cardigan, a beautiful simple pattern which I will be modifying somewhat heavily. I'm taking the mods by Wakenda Knits as my model, upsizing it even further, and modifying the neckline and buttons as I go. I'll be listing the modifications as I knit them on my Ravelry page, and I'll post them here once the sweater is complete.

I'll be keeping you updated on how the sweater goes. Here's hoping I can finish it in a month!

~Joyuna