Mum’s Cardi – Knitting Box

Good and Bad

Bad:

This is the state of the Jess cardi that I’ve been making for Mum. It looks pretty good, really. But it’s a disaster. The pattern itself is great and well written — can’t find fault with it. The only cause for the disaster was that I was being stupid when doing the yarn substitution. I can’t get the recommended yarn (Elle Pure New Wool) anymore, so I substituted with a cotton yarn! Oh, and did I mention this pattern is worked with 2 strands of yarn held together? The result: An overly thick, heavy, and stiff cardigan. Well, it’s not quite stiff, it’s still drapey, but it’s not comfortable to wear. Gah! I should’ve paid more attention to the warning signs when I hesitated about the yarn in the beginning. Guess I had been in Denial. So I’ll be making something else for Mum, don’t know yet what.

Good:

It’s my version of the Shifting Sands scarf by Grumperina. Belinda gifted me with a very lovely skein of Malabrigo yarn on our first meet up. It is sooo nice and soft that I had been waiting for just the right pattern to use it with. Then inspired by this, I thought this scarf would be it.

I made the scarf narrower than in the pattern, as I like my scarves not too thick (that and the fact that I only had 1 skein, so I wanted to make it as long as possible). I only casted on 22 stitches (instead of 52), and just kept knitting until I run out of yarn. I only used 1 skein, which gave me about 150 cm (60 inches), not including the fringes. I love, love, love this scarf. I love the colour too, definitely the brightest thing I have ever worn.

Project Details:

Pattern: Shifting Sands scarf by Grumperina, with mods above
Yarn: Malabrigo worsted, 1 skein
Needles: 5.5mm straights

18 December 2006

A Knitter In The Making

Annette likes to pick up my knitting or yarn and say that she’s “knitting”. Today I decided to take a picture… Looks like she’s got the knitting pose perfected, just look at that… feet up, knitting on her lap, needles in hands, eyes intent on the knitting. Awww… I hope to teach her to knit some day. She’ll have to get her own stash, though.

That’s the beginning of the back piece for Jess, for my mum. Haven’t finished Buttercup yet (I’m up to the sleeves now), but I’ve been itching to start on Jess and just couldn’t fight the startitis. There are so many things that I want to start! I’ve signed up for sew? I knit!, with the quilted theme. I’ve been wanting to start sewing for ages, and perhaps signing up to this sew-along will give me the push that I need. I’m thinking of making quilted bags, perhaps a knitting bag for me, and a quilted backpack for Annette. And I also want to knit some hats for my nephews. And then last Saturday I went to Tapestry Craft to get circulars for making Jess, and I somehow left with not only needles, but also a ball of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. I’m thinking of making Fetching from Knitty. Oh wait. No, I’m not thinking about making Fetching, I’ve already started.

And on the way home, I passed by Lincraft, and walked out with these:

Ribbons, lace, twill tape, and braided cord. Might come in handy for the bag making.

7 August 2006

If at first you don’t succeed…

Not long after I posted the last entry, I swatched for Jess again. Just one more time, I thought. I kept thinking that perhaps there’s some way I could make it work.

The pattern says to use 8mm needles with two strands of the yarn. My first swatch with 8mm needles turned to be too loose and too drapey, so I knew I had to go with smaller needles. In the swatches picture that I posted before, the swatch at the top was done on 7mm needles with two strands of yarn, while the bottom swatch was done on 5mm with just one strand. Both were still too drapey, and don’t show the basketweave pattern very well.

So I decided to try with two strands again, on 6mm needles. And it actually worked!

The basketweave pattern is showing quite well in this swatch, and that’s the important thing for me. The fabric drape feels just right too, neither too drapey nor too stiff. The gauge is just slightly off, but I can adjust that.

Yay! So I will be making Jess for mum after all. I’m sure mum will be pleased.

Btw thanks for all the well wishes for Annette. I’m glad to say that she is now much better! The coughing has stopped, and she is pretty much back to her normal happy self. I hope she’s excited to see her Buttercup cardigan progressing….

31 July 2006

Ups and Downs

Sorry for the lack of posts in the past week. There has been some knitting, and a sick toddler. Annette doesn’t get sick very often at all, but when she does, she’s really miserable. She’s got the flu now, the poor thing… I can hear her coughing many times during the night, and in the morning she wakes up much earlier than usual, with a piercing scream too. Oh dear…

On the knitting front, the back on Buttercup is done, and now I’m progressing along the first front piece.

You see the 6 stitches hanging on the ‘stitch holder’? They will become the moss-stitch buttonhole band, to be knitted after the front piece itself is done, and then seamed to the front piece. A matching button band will similarly be done this way on the other front piece. This is the first time I encountered such construction. My initial reaction was, Why?? Why can’t I just knit the button bands at the same time as the front pieces and avoid extra seaming? Granted, with Buttercup the pattern says to make the button bands using a needle size smaller. So… maybe that’s why? Because the gauge for the button bands is different from the main body? Or is there any other reason for this? Better garment structure?? Well I decided to follow as per pattern, extra seaming and all, entrusting my sanity to the infinite wisdom of the pattern designer… hehee… well, the patterns in this book haven’t let me down so far… And I do want to learn how this construction would turn out.

I’ve also got yarn for my mum’s cardigan. I wanted a cotton blend, so that it can get some wear even on warm climate. And what do you know, I found Rowan’s All Seasons Cotton on sale at Jannette’s Rare Yarns. Well, the discontinued shades anyway. I bought some of the Purr shade, it’s a light mauve/purple colour, which is just what my mum wanted. Great!

As for the pattern, mum said these two are her favourites (I emailed her the pics of Jess, Shelagh, and several cardi patterns from Garnstudio/Drops Design):

Left: Jess, by Anna Bell. Right: Pattern 71-1 from Garnstudio/Drops Design.

Mum’s first preference is Jess. So I quickly swatched, but the result was… ugh… The fabric just doesn’t look right, the drape doesn’t look right. It’s just way to drapey (probably just what you get when you substitute cotton instead of wool), and you can’t see the basketweave pattern very well. I don’t think this would work…

(Actually, I have swatched with the recommended yarn for this pattern (Elle Pure New Wool). I have some leftover balls from a previous project, which I bought a long time ago at Lincraft. I got gauge, and I loved the way the basketweave pattern looked. I totally would have used this yarn to make Jess, except that when I went to Lincraft I found that they have discontinued it, and now have none left!! Grrrr… And I haven’t been able to find it anywhere else so far… sobs.. I loved that yarn, it was very soft, versatile, nice colours, and very affordable too. Ok, end of rant.)

So I told mum about the situation, and she’s ok with that. She’s happy with the Drops cardi pattern as well, so I’ll go ahead with that. Hopefully better luck with this one…

29 July 2006