My poor neglected blog has been weighing on my mind lately. I wanted to get back to it, but I wanted to wait for something truly blog-worthy. The wait is over.
Have you seen this book? I ordered it on-line as soon as I saw it and drooled over all of the beautiful photographs. I knew I had to make one for myself.
I wanted something self-striping but a little more economical than Noro Silk Garden. Yarn Cravin' had Plymouth Kudo in a hot-pink/black/blue colorway that I thought was pretty. I bought 8 balls (and then had to order one more online when I ran out!) and made a gauge swatch.
The author suggests you knit a pretty sizable swatch in the welt pattern and wash and block it before measuring. I somehow missed that suggestion and just knit a basic stockinette swatch. Then I went through the patterns and found that Tangerine Rose is knit to my gauge. In the book, it is knit in a solid color and then ribbons are threaded through the eyelet holes. I left out the ribbon and let the yarn do all the talking.
Sizing these sweaters is a little odd. You choose one of three sizes based on one measurement of your back/chest. (hard to explain) I am not a tiny person, so I was very surprised when my measurement suggested size 1. I suspended my pre-conceived notions and went with it and my finished sweater fits fine. (This may just be a happy accident since I didn't swatch correctly either.)
This sweater starts at the outer edge of the circle with 600+ stitches cast on. She suggests working the first three rows flat and then joining to reduce the chance of twisting it. I am very glad I did it that way. It also helped to start with the longest circular at my disposal. I never had to change to a shorter one. The inner edge of the circle is still a lot of stitches and then you work the yoke/sleeves back and forth.
Do NOT think you are in the home stretch when you reach the yoke - it took forever to knit. You are knitting the sleeves sideways, so the rows get very long. None of it makes much sense while you are knitting, you have to follow the directions blindly and trust the designer.
She gives good directions for blocking in the book and it is worth it to take your time and do it right. Then there is a long seam to sew. I pre-pinned the whole seam with safety pins so I could match everything up and keep it in place. I used mattress stitch and some black Encore for the seam. I had found the Kudo fragile and easy to break while I was knitting, so I didn't want to sew with it. My yarn is busy enough that the black is invisible.
M took pictures of me today and was not in the mood for a conventional photo shoot. She got very silly and most of the pictures are crazy and inappropriate for public viewing. I picked the least crazy so you could at least see the sweater.
No idea what my arms are doing, but you can see that the sweater can be closed with a shawl pin. You can also wear it open, but I can't provide photographic proof that doesn't involve a "Walk Like an Egyptian" pose.
The only photo of the back where I don't appear to summoning evil spirits or preparing to take flight. If a sane person ever gets a photo of me in this sweater, I will be sure to let you see it. Until then, I assure you that I am very happy with it and hope to wear it a lot when the cold weather returns.
It is gorgeous! Wow, what a way to return to blogging!!
Posted by: Chris | August 22, 2011 at 06:08 PM