Sweater Pattern in Bite Sized Pieces

Good Morning,

Another great day!  Hope where you are you are enjoying this slightly cooler weather.

Spent some time with my photographer, Matt, this morning.  He was taking some pictures of a sweater I knit in late winter for one of my students and the Scribble Lace Cowl.  The Scribble Lace Cowl will be ready in a few days if anyone is would like to try it.  I had mentioned in an earlier blog that I will share it with any who are interested. 

Back to the sweater.  This design was in Interweave Knits Fall 2009 issue.  It is called Farmer's Market Cardigan by Connie Chang Chinchio.  Sandy, my student,  had put the sweater on her "to knit" list soon after purchasing the magazine.  I think it remained on her "to knit" list due to the fact that she wasn't sure about knitting the pattern.

Anyway, months later, she was shopping at one of her LYSs and found a great sale on a couple of bags of yarn.  When she came to the next knitting class, Sandy brought the magazine and a ball of the yarn with her.  I told her that she would most likely get a good result with this yarn, but a gauge swatch was a must.  She was still quite nervous about knitting this sweater, not feeling quite up to the task. 

The following week, she came back to class with a gauge swatch, and a perfectly matching gauge, but still very nervous.  I'm sure it had to do with the fact that there was a great deal of shaping in the form of vertical darts both front and back plus the usual shaping that a fitted cardigan has.  There were several "at the same times" in the pattern and it was that, I felt, that made her hesitate, as well as a more intricate collar and top of pocket.

I offered to rewrite the pattern out for her to follow easily.   The pattern was broken down into manageable bite sized pieces with all of the shaping mapped out, numbered and bulleted for repeats and rows. All Sandy had to do was just check off the rows and repeats as she knit them.

Some weeks later, she brought the sweater back to class and asked me to finish it for her.  I felt badly that she didn't want to finish it herself, but knowing her as I do, it would just sit there, unfinished and doomed to the eternal closet.  On closer inspection, I noticed some gauge changes, probably due to her anxiety levels at the time, and I was fearful of being unable to match her gauge.

Without telling her right away, I began the sweater from scratch.  Fortunately, she had plenty of yarn to do this with.  Within a  month, I had finished and blocked her new sweater.  I had done a little tweaking, as I do with all patterns that I knit, just can't help myself, and the sweater looked as if it might have been designed for her.  The fit was beautiful, and she has received many compliments.  Connie's sweater design was a hit with all of Sandy's friends. 

The point of my story is, don't be afraid of what looks to be a complicated pattern.  Take the time to pull it apart.  Rewrite by hand, or copy the page and pull it apart, enlarge it, do whatever it takes to work through whatever areas in a pattern are causing you stress.  The first step is just to check your gauge and then cast on.  So many times it is just getting started that is so daunting.  I'm sure Sandy might have been able to finish, if she was able to sit with me the whole time, but she does a fair amount of traveling preventing that.

So, take a deep breath, a little attention to details, and cast on those stitches.  Take your time.  You have no race to win.  If it takes you a month, two months, no matter, just whittle away at those stitches and rows.  I will share the photo with you as soon as Matt does the editing.  Since it is an Interweave Pattern, I will also submit it to Knitting Daily.  I will let you know if it is accepted and posted on their website.

Happy Knitting!

The New Vogue Knitting Early Fall 2012

Good Morning!

Hope you all had a a great weekend, and was able to keep cool. It's supposed to be a tad cooler today but I will wait and see for myself.

When I got home from teaching on Saturday at yarnandteashop.com, on the kitchen table was my new issue of Vogue Knitting, Early Fall 2012.  I was so excited by the cover, that I had to first thumb through and look at all the new knitwear designs.  Each one is beautiful and innovative. 

Shorts!  Can you believe shorts?  on  page 69, a pair of hand knit blue shorts paired with a green belted sweater.  On the preceding page, 68, a green double moss stitch skirt paired with a blue boucle' mohair sweater.  All four pieces by Deborah Newton. 

On page 42, one of my favorite subjects....gauge.  The article titled The Finishers' Best Friend: The Swatch Tells the Story of a Sweater, by Deborah Newton.  There are many swatches featured and the content of the article hopefully will soothe the hackles of those that just hate swatching. 

I have tried over the years to educate knitters as to the benefits of the swatch, but this article gives even more reasons than I in favor of spending time swatching.  Enough said...read on.

A few other designs really caught my eye, and I have already made some notes as to the fiber that I wish to create them in.  Alas, they end up in a long line of "to do's".  They are the Lace Coat by Brooke Nico, page 51, and the Lace Poncho by Lisa Daehlin, page 55.  I thought my eyes would pop out of my head when I saw these, already making mental notes on that same "to do" list who might be the lucky recipients of these pieces.

In closing, I have rarely seen so many want and need to knit pieces in one magazine.  Kudos to Vogue for such a great issue!

Have great day everyone and please leave a comment in the box below if you are enjoying my blog.  If you have a question, or would like more information on a subject, or some knitting help, again, leave a comment.

Scribble Lace Pashmina Cowl

Good Morning!

Hot and humid day today as across most of the USA. 

I just finished a Pashmina Cashmere Cowl.  It was knit in a free form lace style that I found in the Interweave Knits Magazine, Summer, 2011.  The sweater is titled, Coral Cardigan by Nancy Eiseman (page 26).  I love this sweater, but was a bit unsure of the lace.  I read the pattern just to study the lace construction before attempting the sweater. 

What captured my attention was the free form type of stitch, you can make it your very own and use the pattern for the shaping and the rest of the schematic numbers.  However, I would, as a knitting teacher, advise to swatch carefully to aquire your gauge. (My students really don't like to hear me harp on gauge, but....I do anyway).

The "lace" is formed by stringing together increases, decreases, and  plain knit stitches every other row/round.  For my cowl, I used some graph paper and charted out the stitches.  Once complete, I added a total of 14 rounds.  I wanted to use a repeat instead of charting out the entire round for the cowl.  It worked perfectly when I swatched.  I really wasn't worried about gauge at this point, but needle size.  What needle size would really make this work? 

I did tweek the chart some just to make the "lace" meander just a little bit more, but all in all, most of it remained as I originally charted.  So, I cast on and began.  I did an edging the first few rounds, expecting some type of curl to happen.  Then I began the "lace".  Every other round was plain knit for the 14 round total.

I knit until I reached eight inches in width and then bound off, using a very stretchy bind off so that it would be slightly wider than the cast on.  The wider side would now lay more smoothly at the shoulder line. 

I am going to get my Cowl from the sink, it's soaking right now, and lay it out to dry.  I can't wait to see it pinned out and dry.  If anyone is interested, will be posting it on Etsy.  Drop a comment in the box below or email me at dee@youandmeknit.com.  The first 10 people to respond will get the pattern FREE as soon as it is printed. 

Have a great day and stay cool.  Turn up the A/C and knit away!