Mon Petit Chou Knit-along

At Long Last

2006-09-17T10:22:00.000-07:00

I finished this days ago, but waited for a sunny day to take a picture. This was a fun knit; I highly recommend this pattern! The yarn is Cascade Fixation; I used a little less than 3 balls.

Hipster Done!

2006-09-02T13:20:00.000-07:00

At long last, I finished the hipster. It fits nicely, but is *almost* too big. I've only got about an inch of open space between front and back, where you lace it up along the sides. I'd rather there were more space, as there is in the pictures that accompany the pattern. If any of you are still reading this, how did yours come out?

I really don't want the bra to be too big. Seems like it would be most flattering if the lace has to stretch and isn't too relaxed. Did any of you who've finished find that either top or bottom was bigger than expected? I'm using US3 needles and am really glad I didn't go with 4s.

I've decided to wash my swatch in hot water, to see if that shrinks it a bit. That may be all my hipster needs.

Anyway, I'll post pics after I finish the bra. I'm glad to read in your posts that it goes fast. This is a terrific, fun pattern!

Anyone still knitting?

2006-08-08T05:32:00.000-07:00

Because I finally finished mine!

I knit the stupid thing way back in june. Then it sat unloved waiting for ribbons. After joining UFO August I finally got the push I need to put the ribbons on. Isn't it pretty?

You can find the whole story here. But let me just say how much I love the hipster. It is so comfortable. DH has already asked me to knit another one, he likes it to *blush*giggle*. Hope everyone else is still knitting. It's so worth it to finish.

Who's Still Knitting?

2006-06-30T13:03:00.000-07:00

Hey fellow MPCers . . . anyone besides me still working on this? Mine is on hold but definitely in the queue. I have to focus for the next few weeks on things I'm selling at a crafts fair. I'll be getting back to Mon Petit Chou at the end of July. And hopefully be done in early August!

How's everybody else doing?

This little cabbage is cooked!

2006-06-27T16:16:00.000-07:00

I finished MPC up last week, but took a few days to get around to getting a picture.

After taking over a month to finish the hipsters, I felt like the bra went INCREDIBLY quickly... about a week from cast-on to weaving in ends. Yay for short rows! Instead of sewing the stitches from the bind-off row to the rest of the bra, I basically did a three-needle bind-off by picking up a stitch from the bra, knitting it together with the next stitch on the needles, and repeating across. Slightly different from what's in the pattern, but it seems to have worked pretty well.

Woohoo!

Finished hipsters!

2006-06-11T08:50:00.000-07:00

Last night, I finished weaving in the ends on these:

A closeup of the lace:

A closeup of the scalloped edge:

I bought ribbon for the ties back when I started knitting this, but I don't know where it's gone. In the meantime, I'm using some scrap yarn from the stash. That's what I get for cleaning my apartment: the place looks better, but I can't find anything.

I digress. I'm really happy with how the bottoms came out. I was a little worried that they were going to come up too high on the waist, and that I was making myself a nice lacy pair of granny panties. However, I've tried them on, and there's no problem with the fit.

On to the top...

Arrrggghhhh!!!

2006-06-07T19:35:00.000-07:00

I'm developing a love/hate relationship with this pattern. Tonight I cast on for the back of the hipster, and felt pretty pleased that I didn't have problems with the provisional cast on this time. And I sailed along happily until I reached that dreaded row where you purl together stitches from the two needles . . . and that's when things got ugly. Everything was lovely until just after you put stitches on a holder. I don't know how, but I dropped a stitch or more, got a humongous ladder that with black yarn was impossible to fix, and ended up frogging the whole thing.

I'm so mad! But if I was able to successfully do this purling from two needles on the front, of course I can do it again on the back, right? It just wasn't in the stars tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

How are the rest of you doing?

Front Finished!

2006-05-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

Finally--I finished the front and transferred the stitches to a spare needle today. It looks like the right size so I doubt I will need to add extra rows. It actually hasn't taken all that long, considering I'm working on about five other projects at the same time. I will cast on for the back tomorrow, when I'm fresh and alert, since that invisible cast on was not exactly easy. But maybe it will be easier the second time.

How's everybody doing? Hope you have a good Memorial Day weekend!

Row 37

2006-05-21T10:31:00.000-07:00

Here's what I've accomplished thus far.

I'm finished

2006-05-15T16:06:00.000-07:00

Well I finished it. It doesn't look so good on the floor, especially with avacado green carpet which will hopefully be gone this summer. For obvious reasons I don't want to model it, but it does look better on because the lace pattern shows better when it is stretched out. I may change the laces to a smaller ribbon, but it is done for all intents and purposes. My DH is out of town until Wednesday so I was hoping to have it finished when he gets home. (I knit it all in secret so it'll be a surprise). And I did it.

Progress so far

2006-05-12T16:23:00.000-07:00

That's the completed front of the hipsters. Yay! I love working with this yarn. When I saw how many vertical decreases were in the MPC pattern... I wasn't exactly looking forward to having to work so many of them. I remembered what a pain that particular decrease was in the Branching Out pattern, and that was only 2 of them every 10 rows. MPC has A LOT MORE of them. However, with the Fixation, they've been no problem at all.

The pattern has been so much fun so far!

How's It Going?

2006-05-10T18:01:00.000-07:00

How's everybody doing? I'm up to Row 27. Here's a scan of how it's looking. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm going to run out of yarn. But it should be easy to get another ball if I need it. And if I only need a little more I can always frog my swatch.

How do you like the Cascade Fixation? It's my first time knitting with it and so far I like it--no problems at all.

2006-05-07T10:36:00.000-07:00

I too have had difficulty with the cast on and losing stitches. I have frogged twice and I refuse to do it again. I'm on row 21 and still am having issues with finding too many or too few stitches on the RS row. I've decided i'm just going to make my own adjustments as I go along and hope the elasticity will save me.

Invisible Cast-on Woes

2006-05-05T19:12:00.000-07:00

So I learned to do an invisible cast-on tonight. It took several tries, but I finally got the hang of it. I watched the video at KnittingHelp.com and tried to follow, but wasn't getting anywhere (which surprised me because usually her videos are a huge help). Then I pulled out Vogue Knitting and that was even less help. Last of all, I consulted Elizabeth's Zimmerman's Knitting without Tears, which, true to its title, showed me how to do it without shedding any tears! Something about her pictures and her explanation clicked with me.

Feeling all set and ready to get started, I cast on 95 stitches, I knit them, I stop to count . . . I only have 93. So I start over. Carefully cast on 95. Knit them. I count again. And again, there are only 93!!!

What am I doing wrong? This little exercise in futility hasn't made the migraine I've had for the past three days any better. Have any of you got any ideas how I'm losing 2 stitches? My only thought at the moment is to cast on 97, then knit as I have been, and with any luck I'll lose 2 again, which will bring me to the desired 95. It's so crazy, it just might work!

Gauge Question

2006-05-03T06:15:00.000-07:00

I made a gauge swatch and now I/m trying to decide which size needle to use. The pattern says 26 stitches should measure 4 inches in stockinette (relaxed). I started with a US6 needle, as the pattern recommends, but my swatch was too big (4 1/2 inches). That's not surprising--I'm a loose knitter and nearly always have to go down a needle size or two. With a size 5 needle the swatch was just about 4 1/4 inches, and with a size 4 it was 4 1/8. Hmmm.

My gut says, this is a lace pattern, you don't want it to be too tightly knit, so go with the US5, especially since--for the bra, anyway--I am between two sizes. But size 4 needle puts me closer to the specified gauge.

I am leaning toward the size 5. This is such stretchy yarn, I'm not sure getting exact dimensions matters as much as with something like a sweater. What do you think?

So, fellow cabbages...

2006-05-01T18:45:00.000-07:00

Am I the only dork who's been sitting around waiting to cast-on on May 1?

I cast on this afternoon, and am loving this yarn. The Fixation I got is "blueberry", and is somewhere in between a navy blue and a royal blue. I've never worked with an elastic yarn before, so it took a couple of rows to get used to it. I'm normally a pretty tight knitter, and the Fixation is forcing me to knit looser.

Looking forward to seeing everyone's progress!

Some Terms of Endearment

2006-04-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

As we gear up for the knit-along I'd thought it would be fun to share some French terms of endearment. These come from the book Tune Up Your French (which is helping me to do that a little, but I'm so rusty!).

mon petit chou - my little cabbage
mon petit lapin - my little rabbit
mon nounours - my teddy bear
ma cocotte - my hen, my sweetie
ma bibiche - my doe, my honey
ma puce - my flea, my pet

Anyone know any others?

Welcome to the Mon Petit Chou Knit-along

2006-04-19T06:31:00.000-07:00

Welcome! This is an open-ended knit-along for anyone who wants to take a stab at knitting mon petit chou (see link to the pattern at right). We'll get started May lst, but feel free to join anytime. The knit-along will continue until ... well, until there's nobody still knitting!

To join the knit-along send an email with the name you want to use in the list of contributors, and your blog, if you have one, to monotropa AT yahoo DOT com. Even if you're not ready to start yet, please post and tell us about yourself, why you're knitting mon petit chou, what yarn you're using, etc.

I made a button, but if anybody else wants to make one, please feel free!