Ivy's Fab Fibonacci Cardi

Or what I like to call the randomized, double-pattern, Fibonacci-controlled trial. I think my job follows me home a bit too much some days!

This stash-inspired cardi was born after I fell in love with the pattern, admiring a store sample at the Clever Ewe. Absolutely adored the finished project but did not want to buy any more yarn (see stash "law"). With the 9 partial balls of Shine Sport living in my stash, I threw this together.


Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Sport
Colors: Grass, Violet, Sky, Apricot, Butter, Orchid, Green Apple, River, Blush
Needles: US Size 2 and 3 24" Circulars
Gauge: 6.5 st/in in garter stitch using US 3 needles
Size: 18-24 Months
Cast On: June 15, 2007

The names of all colors were drawn at random until all but the 9th color had been drawn. The last color in the sequence was the last un-drawn color. The sequence of colors would be repeated as necessary for the size of the cardigan.

The number of garter stitch ribs per color was determined using the Fibonacci Number Sequence. The numbers used were limited to 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 13. Cards with these numbers were drawn at random until each color in the sequence had been assigned a Fibonacci number.

Through this process the stripe sequence was determined as: Grass 5, Violet 2, Sky 8, Apricot 3, Butter 2, Orchid 8, Grass 1, Green Apple 8, Apricot 3, Violet 2, Apricot 3, Sky 1, River 5, Blus 13.

The body and sleeves of the cardigan are based on the Lace Edge Cardigan in Simply Baby by Debbie Bliss, knit using established stripe pattern. The plan is to finish it with an EZ-inspired (and Tulip Cardi for that matter) attached I-Cord edging. For now all I have to show for the plan is the right front and bottom to show. More is coming soon I hope!

Knitting got a little loose above the armhole shaping so I switched to US 2 needles for this portion.

Just for illustration sake, the below pictures illustrate the stash storage allotment. Good for now. Maybe Ikea and I can dream up a larger solution!



Something about that stash makes me think I like green!

In From the Land of Jang

Back on the blogger track...not that I was really on it to begin with (and I have less excuse than Ms. Jang)! Happenings since my last post:

Minus one appendix
Plus two pairs of hand knit socks
One home bought, one put on the market
One home unbought, one taken off the market
One cabled baby sweater
One 7/8 completed Lift and Separate, summarily frogged (yarn waiting for inspiration)

The explanations of many of those are very long and drawn out...things that would have made for interesting blogging had I not been so caught up. We are also sadly now minus one grandmother. It is always hard to say goodbye to those who have such profound influence on our lives. After the past few months she has had we were relieved for her to be at peace.

After a week of vacation the ineptness and malaise from work that seemed to follow me home lifted and the breathed new life into my knitting. I have a finished object to post:



Pattern: Tulip Baby Cardigan
Color Option: TBT05
Yarn: Dream in Color Classy Worsted

Love the yarn, love the pattern. It is fun, fun, fun knitting all around! Minus the time it took to get extra yarn from the yarn shop, this took less than 10 days to knit together. Best of all...very minimal finishing. Love only having to weave in ends! I can't wait to do another one. We'll see how that pans out. I tend to be a bumblebee knitter. What else do I have on the needles? The April STR Grasshoppers, Spiral Boot Socks from IK Summer 2007 and another baby cardigan of my own design. This requires a longer post and pictures so I'll save that one for another day...hopefully sooner than later. I have to document what I did somewhere anyway!

Along with this new wind of knitting fever came the desire to organize and generally clean up the mess which was my stash. In our home remodeling projects I was given a strict "area" for said stash. This "law" arbitrarily set down by my non-knitting spouse elicited a feeling generally confined to roller coasters. Items that did not fit into said "area" were not allowed to find a home elsewhere. Panic, serious panic. Miraculously 90% of the stash fits (a very arbitrary term) and the yarn that didn't wasn't anything I had any fantasies over. Lots of straights and Lion Brand Yarn are up for grabs. If anyone reads this and would really like to know what's there and would like it before it goes in the garage sale is welcome to it! Email requests to phoebesma at comcast daht com.

Gotta go knit on Ivy's Fab Fibonacci Cardi!