While away in Vienna I was able to check my email and Ravelry accounts. I was very surprised to find that someone I regard as knitting royalty not only reads my blog, but also likes my work. Praise indeed. So, if you have come here for the knitting content, here is some.
You will remember the Museum Waistcoat in brown, my last finished object. It had its first outing recently and was comfortable in wear. It does look very bright and lively. However, you might be interested to see what it took to get it to a wearable state.
I used the basic stitch counts from my Jewels waistcoat, since that was also knit in Shetland wool. With that one, I had to re-work the front bands several times to achieve a line I was happy with. In doing so, I realised that it is possible to mark out a line across the fabric and pick up stitches from that line. This does create a flap of fabric, but it acts as a little facing and is not noticeable in wear. 4-ply yarn is very forgiving.
The back of the brown Museum waistcoat proved to be very roomy. This is probably because I was using J&S 2ply jumper weight whereas Jewels used an unidentified cone, probably intended for machine knitting. That meant it was a finer yarn than the standard J&S. So, what to do about it?
What I decided to do was to take a generous seam allowance, something not normally done in knitting. This took out more than two inches, and again is invisible in wear. It makes the fit of the waistcoat very much neater, though.
This where I am up to with the blue Museum waistcoat. Remember that on this one every lozenge uses a different pattern. A friend asked me what the point of this was. I've thought about it and I think that it is a kind of code: one day I will meet another knitter who will recognise the problem of balancing floral and geometrical designs in a band. But probably not soon.
You will remember the Museum Waistcoat in brown, my last finished object. It had its first outing recently and was comfortable in wear. It does look very bright and lively. However, you might be interested to see what it took to get it to a wearable state.
I used the basic stitch counts from my Jewels waistcoat, since that was also knit in Shetland wool. With that one, I had to re-work the front bands several times to achieve a line I was happy with. In doing so, I realised that it is possible to mark out a line across the fabric and pick up stitches from that line. This does create a flap of fabric, but it acts as a little facing and is not noticeable in wear. 4-ply yarn is very forgiving.
The back of the brown Museum waistcoat proved to be very roomy. This is probably because I was using J&S 2ply jumper weight whereas Jewels used an unidentified cone, probably intended for machine knitting. That meant it was a finer yarn than the standard J&S. So, what to do about it?
What I decided to do was to take a generous seam allowance, something not normally done in knitting. This took out more than two inches, and again is invisible in wear. It makes the fit of the waistcoat very much neater, though.
This where I am up to with the blue Museum waistcoat. Remember that on this one every lozenge uses a different pattern. A friend asked me what the point of this was. I've thought about it and I think that it is a kind of code: one day I will meet another knitter who will recognise the problem of balancing floral and geometrical designs in a band. But probably not soon.
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1 comment:
I love the richness the blues and gray give to this work.
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