...so...we have a big trip to Japan planned...if the Japanese government will let us in and if the US Air Force will allow us on base...anywhoo...our tickets are transferable if not...but I wanted to have a pretty new cardigan for the long flight over...
...and I have this thin-ish gold cardigan that I like a lot...so I decided to make a pattern from that...and I got out some packing paper...
...and just traced around each part of the cardigan...to make a paper pattern to follow...
...so...remember when I made the
Pink Yoga Sweater...and the nice people at
Sirdar sent me this pattern...well...I bought the pretty aqua coloured yarn for that pattern...but now that I have the pink yoga sweater...I don't think I'm going to make the blue one...well...I'm definitely not going to make it with this yarn...because I'm going to use it for this cardi...
...I don't have a ball winder...but I do love pull out skeins...so I made a little tube of cardboard...
...taped the center pull thread to it and just started wrapping the aqua yarn around it to form a center pull ball...
...all done...it only takes a few minutes...
...and then just pop it off the tube...
...and you have a perfect little center pull ball of yarn...that won't roll around while you're knitting...making it much less likely to be attacked by Kitten...
...do that a few more times...
...and then let the swatching begin...it's really important that you have the gauge down perfectly when you're knitting to a paper pattern like this...
...so I swatched plain stockinette for the body...and several different versions of ribbing...because I don't want the ribbing to pull in at the bottom of the cardigan...the one I'm copying doesn't have a ribbed border and I want it to lie flat like that...
...so this is the traditional cardigan edging...a 2 x 2 rib...knit 2 purl 2...it pulls in to almost half it's width...
...and here is another version with k 3 purl 3...which does lie a little bit flatter...but still pulls in quite a bit...
...so then I swatched a 'mock' rib...which is row 1 - k 2 p 2 row 2 knit across...and it does lie perfectly flat...I just don't like the look of it...
...so finally I swatched a knit 2 purl 2 ribbing with all of the stitches knit and purled into the back loops...
...so then I lined them all up for comparison...
...there's quite a difference in the width...
...and the winner is...the knit 2 purl 2 in the back...it lies much flatter than the regular ribbing and I like the looks of it...so that's what I'll be using for the ribbing and then stockinette for the body...
...so I got out my ancient Susan Bates Knit Chek...
...and checked the swatches for gauge...it doesn't really matter what the gauge is...I just need to know what it is...
...so...on the ribbing it's 18 vertically and 17 horizontally...
...on the stockinette it's 18 vertically and 14 horizontally...
...now on to the knitting...
...what's in your workbasket?...
~Have a lovely day!
What a pretty color! Really hoping you trip goes as planned but not very likely at this point! Love, K
ReplyDeleteHey K,
Delete...yeah...I was looking at the Japan gov website and it says the policy is not likely to change 'in the near future'...arghhhh...
Love,
T
that is some serious swatching! I love the color and the way you balled it all up so neatly!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Karen,
Delete...I love the colour too...hopefully it will turn out well...without a written pattern...
~Have a lovely day!
Guage. What an interesting concept. Actually, I'm starting to think about it a lot more now. Mostly I knit things that guage isn't that important.
ReplyDeleteHi Paula,
Delete...funny...a lot of times I don't even bother to swatch either...but since I'll be knitting to match the paper pattern I had to...
~Have a lovely day!