No Sheep KAL - First FO - Tomato

Here is my first finished project of 2008. It's Tomato by Wendy Bernard from the No Sheep for You book. Details of project modifications on my Knitters-Delight.

Tomato Progress

I have now removed the sleeves and am about to join the body to work in the round. I plan on knitting with the main color until just past the bust before doing the design.

Knitters-Delight

funky new Tomato...done!

I loved all the new Tomatoes so much that I needed to make another one!

Check out my blog for more info.

A new member....And Tomato!!

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post on the No Sheep KAL (although I have been lurking!). I finished my Tomato about 2 months ago. I used Knit Picks Main Line in Wedgewood (main color) and Silver Sage (contrasting color). I had to increase my needle size to get gauge. This was my first sweater EVER! I learned so much and I loved every second of it. If you look at the pic, you'll see that I missed a row in the color section and ended up with 4 sections instead of the larger 3. Instead of a mistake, I like to think of it as a design feature!

Also, I am trying to decide on a Christmas gift for my mother. I am torn between Tuscany and Bacardi. I want something extra special for her, but with work and school I need my knitting to still be relaxing. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Gwen

http://www.gwendolynsgifts.blogspot.com

Introductions

Hello, I'm Susan aka Knitters-Delight. I still have to go out and purchase the book (I have a 20% off coupon from Borders - so I'm going to make sure to run out and grab it today), but I'm planning on doing Tomato as my first project, which I've already downloaded the pattern for. I order yarn from Little Knits online and it has already arrived! I'm using King Tut cotton in a beautiful burgandy colorway. The accent color is a sleek silver. I'm very excited. Since I live in San Diego now after years in Vermont, no sheep knitting makes great sense. Feel free to stop by my blog and say "hello". This will be my first color stand/fair isle project, so I'm sure I'll have a ton of questions.

I made one too!!!

Hi! Here's my finished Tomato, aka the Midnight Tomato. Dorky, I know, but it makes me giggle.

I used about 7 skeins of GGH Samoa in black and then less than 1 of the multi.

It was super fun to knit, really quick to finish and it fits awesome!! The deck really wanted to model it though.

Tomato - Done!

Here's my Tomato - I have not woven in the ends yet or washed it. Any suggestions on how to wash this to make sure that the red doesn't bleed into the white section? It's the recommended yarn, Blue Sky Dyed Cotton. I'm thinking it'll loosen up a little too when it's washed as cotton usually "grows".








I made the smallest size, but didn't switch to the smaller needles to do the sleeves or the neck pickups. I think that worked well, as the sleeves are pretty fitted but are OK.

Another Tomato

I have finished my Tomato - although it has not been blocked yet.

Tomato
Originally uploaded by Random Ranter

Needles: Denise #7s
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca in Sage (2 skeins) and Sand(1 skein)
Pattern: Tomato from No Sheep For You
Adjustments: Because my contrast color was less contrasty, I played it up using it on the edges, instead of just for the color-work.

my stab at Tomato - in progress

I must confess that I did not do the full geeky swatch (because I have used this yarn, Mission Falls 1824 Cotton, previously). Thought I would add the pattern to the sleeves as well as the body, and have subbed in a simple chequerboard for the herringbone - just because I could!)



I started this at 2:00 p.m. today, with fairly long hiatuses to make dinner and do some laundry. (It's now 7:30 pm) Amazed how quickly it is going! I'm liking the feel so far although it will turn out quite a bit stiffer than the original, I think.

Will post again once it's done. ;-)

Back to the Bacardi and the He Gansey once we get an A/C unit in here - hopefully this week!

New Tomato Started

I am sooo excited about this pattern!
I am using GGH Samoa, on size 7 KnitPicks Options needles.

I've had the Samoa in my stash for a couple years now, and I was starting to hate it. But I think it's going to work great here.

Tomato WIP

About halfway done with Tomato!

I love this pattern & yarn! I'm using Cascade Luna for the main colour & Manos del Urguay Peruvian Cotton for the contrast colour. It's my first time using either of these yarn & I'm addicted to them! This is also my first time doing any kind of colourwork & I seem to be doing okay with it.

My blog if anyone is interested. :)

Tomato FO

I finished Tomato yesterday! Read more at my blog, veganpurls.blogspot.com. I am in love with this pattern and have already cast on another for myself... ahem...

I've enjoyed seeing everyone else's FO's, especially the other Tomatos (Tomatoes?) and they were really motivational.

Finished Object: Tomato

I love this shirt.



Two weeks, that's all it took. I did work on it a lot, but I also have a full-time job and spend 9 hours a day, 5 days a week at work, so I didn't have that much time.

I did the second-smallest size on size 7 circs, the Denise Interchangeables were great for it. Those colours are Periwinkle and Stone, in Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton, and while I bought 5 hanks of the blue and 1 of the brown, I have one whole hank of blue left (I made the shirt 2.25" shorter, since I'm only 4'10") plus a partial ball of blue, and brown.

Edit: I traded the remaining yarn.

Further along

The colours are a little different from that, but it's close. I'm very happy with it so far, I tried it on and it looks great.

There's just been one thing, and I'm not sure if it's me, or errata in the pattern. I'm doing the second smallest size, and when I joined and put sleeves on waste yarn, there were supposed to be 59 sleeve stitches on each sleeve. I got the right amount of stitches for the back and front parts, but the sleeves were 57 each. It's possible that I did something wrong, but if I did, I'm not sure what. Since that makes me 4 stitches short, I compensated by not doing the decreases in the first decrease row that comes after the first CC row.

I'm now realizing, of course, that we have a wonderful knitting community online, and there's a good chance that I can send a note to the designer, Wendy Bernard, and get a response when she has a chance. So I think I'll go do that.

First Rows

I'm about 20 rows in, but I thought I'd show the first part:



I like how the k1tf&b makes that neat line. I always wondered how this was accomplished, and though I've used that stitch in Clapotis, I didn't realize that it also did that.

Unfortunately, making the stitch is little hard on my hands. You do one, move marker, then another one, and that second one is harder to do since it's tight. Now that my piece is much bigger, I have longer stretches of time between it, but I still have 10 more increase repeats to do.

Oh, and there have been no fluffy bits in Periwinkle so far, unlike Stone. Maybe it's just certain balls.

My Geeky Thing

First, the yarn:




I'm really pleased with the colours. I didn't get to see them in person before ordering, just pictures online. And even the pictures here aren't quite what it really is - it's not that shiny or bright. But I love the Periwinkle, which will be the main colour, and Stone, the contrasting colour for the pattern.




It's a roughly 6" x 6" swatch, and that's 1x1 ribbing in the middle that I did because it occured to me that I don't need to do stockinette for the whole thing. I hand-washed it with cool water and a few drops of cold-water Tide, and it's still drying. It looks pretty good, though, just a little fuzzier. The yarn is incredibly soft, I love it.

I didn't *quite* get gauge. With 7US needles, I got 19 stitches for 4". I wanted 18. But I did the math, and that's actually okay. It would mean around 1.5" extra, so doing the second-smallest size, I'd have a 37" bust, which is what I wanted. 35.5 would be too small, 40 would be too big.

Edit: I realized I made a typo. 35.5 is the size, not 34.5 like I had earlier.

Yarn

I finally got my yarn yesterday! I had a small problem at first, since I didn't have a ball winder and thought that the store clerk had done it before sending them to me (I'm not sure why I assumed she just would, I didn't ask and I should have). So I got my husband to help, and eventually I got the off-colour for the pattern into a ball to knit my geeky thing.

The yarn, Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton, is great. I get a fuzzy to pull off every once in a while, but it was great to knit with otherwise. Now I have a decent-sized geeky thing, and no time to measure, wash, and take pictures of this morning. Tonight, though, there will be pictures.

I did the swatch on my new Denise Interchangeables, which were great to work with. I usually prefer bamboo needles, and was surprised at how nice the plastic needles were.

Tomato

Hello Everyone! I've already started knitting the cute Tomato sweater. I'm using Rowan cotton in lilac for the main color and a soft yellow for the contrasting color. This yarn is absolutely FABULOUS! I enjoy every single stitch. If you haven't tried it out yet, you must. I haven't taken any pictures of my progress yet, but I will put one up soon.

Thanks for letting me join this knitalong. It's a first for me.

Tomato sweater completed

Hi, all! I just joined this KAL as a new contributor just in time to post about my first finished object from No Sheep For You. I chose the Tomato sweater for a nice spring garment, since most of my sweaters are wool and too warm for Southern California already. I used Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton for the entire project, and I love the feel of this sweater when it's on. If you're interested in more of the project details, you can read my summary on my blog here.