Dashing Mouse Designs — sweater RSS



Let's not catch up...

TL;DR This blog has been silent for far too long.  My apologies.  I am not going to even try to bring you all up to speed on what I've been making and doing, because frankly it's been so long I hardly remember.  Plus there is a serious lack of photos.  Which contributes to the not-remembering (note to self - take more pictures). So instead let's talk about what I'm working on right now! I thought I would try to start out the new year by clearing my needles methodically...size by size... That lasted about one week. In the "actively knitting and thinking about" pile are: A pair of pedicure socks that I'm making for a friend's birthday, which was on...

Continue reading



Knitting the Almanac - January Aran is Finished

Introducing the Coziest Sweater Ever! After much angst about what kind of neck to do, I bit the bullet and just knit as as written - continuing the pattern as tall as I wanted, then binding off in pattern.  I could have gone for the full, turned-down turtleneck, but I don't find them flattering on me.  I intend to rip out the bind off and redo it, this time not binding off in pattern.  I know it seems unintuitive, but the large swaths of reverse stockinette are tending to curl rather unbecomingly, and that is far more noticeable than the bind off being not perfectly in pattern. Overall, I am pretty happy with this sweater.  It was fun to knit,...

Continue reading



Knitting the Almanac - January Sleeves!

In Which I Reevaluate My Hatred of 16" Circular Needles I had a wall of text for you, beautifully composed of course, but the elders of the internet saw fit to render it naught but a series of ethereal ethernet echoes.  So pardon me if this is incomplete or disjointed - it's a shabby reconstruction of the elegant original. I decided to work the sleeves on 16" circular needles.  This is unusual for me as I have a strong dislike for 16" circular needles.  Long story short, they tend to cramp my hands, cramp my knitting style, and feel like I'm breaking them.  However, EZ loves them, and I was not looking forward to Magic Looping sleeves at this gauge....

Continue reading



Knitting the Almanac - January Sweater Body

A Body Without Armholes So having gleaned all the information necessary from my swatch cap, I forged boldly ahead into the body.  I decided that 200 stitches around would be right for the size I wanted to make, so it was dead simple - no extra purl stitches to deploy anywhere. The body knit up ridiculously quickly, due in no small part to the fact that there is no waist shaping, no armhole shaping, in fact no anything shaping until you reach to tops of the shoulders.  This allowed me to cheerfully chug along at it through airports and plane rides as Mr. Mouse and I travelled to California for his company's annual meeting.  In fact, I was working the...

Continue reading