Holographic Back Completed
Hooray! The back is done. Meeting a milestone on a project always makes me happy. Makes the goal-oriented part of me feel all smug and satisfied. But I will probably be pausing here for a little while before I start on the front.
Why? Well... I'm worried about sweater dimensions. Yes, I did a gauge swatch. Yes, my row and stitch gauge still seems to be correct. But when I complete a piece, I usually expect to have to stretch it a little bit as part of the blocking process. Not here. Here I found myself massaging the sweater into a somewhat smaller form. I am somewhat worried that as I knit across the back of the sweater gravity took some toll on the width, added a little stretch. I think the lengthwise stretching is one of the hazzards of knitting something that is more or less garter stitch.
Normally at this phase in the game I would just bull on ahead and assume it would come out okay. But, I want this sweater to be as perfect as possible. So it will block and I will rest and think about what to do next.
Lucky for me, I have something very nice to relax with. Something soft and seductive, totally decadent and totally for me.
When I started blogging last year, I had no idea that I would "meet" so many neat people, much less get a chance to hang out with them. On Sunday, the very chic Bonne Marie and I headed out on a little "yarn trolling" expedition in northern Chicago (check out her blog to see the fab mini poncho design she was planning out while we were shopping!).
We hit a couple of stores in Evanston (Montoya and Close Knit) and a couple in Chicago proper (Arcadia and Knitting Workshop). I picked up a couple of books (including Rowan's new A Yorkshire Fable which is absolutely awesome and definitely a "must see") and thought I was going to get away with avoiding any new yarn purchases until I got tempted by an angel.
Lorna's Laces Angel, that is. Angel is a 70% Angora, 30% Lambswool blend that is just irresistable. At least to me. The colorway is called "Seaside". When I saw it at Arcadia, all my will to resist new stash additions evaporated... after all, how much trouble could I get into with 200 yards of the most fabulously soft yarn I'd ever touched?
Heh. Lots. Suffice it to say that you're not seeing the price tags on that yarn for a reason.
I cast this stuff on almost as soon as I got home. I thought I knew for certain what it wanted to be -- a lace scarf. (I've got lace knitting on the brain right now, I think every yarn I see lately wants to be lace.) What could be nicer, I thought than an airy angora scarf wrapped around my neck in the winter?
This was my first attempt. A modififcation of a pattern stitch in the Blackberry Ridge A Week in the Life of A Knitter's Cat scarf pattern.
I looked at it for a while and then decided that it did not want to be that lace pattern. Somehow all the colors looked muddy to me and the pattern wasn't showing up at all. And so I cast on another... one with big open holes from the Koigu Take Along Scarves pattern book. I figured, hey, Koigu is variagated, right, and so is Lornas. It should work, no problem.
Nope. Nyet. Nein. Nada. Angora swiss cheese. I didn't like it so much I frogged it before taking a picture of it. I regret that now, because I like to show negative results as well as the positive ones to spare others the special joy of learning the hard way.
So then I felt a little frustrated. This yarn did not want to be what I wanted it to be. How could it not want to be lace? And then I heard a tiny soft whisper...You're trying to make me work too hard.. my colors are pretty and complex, my texture is soft and fuzzy, just do something simple with me. Trust that my complexity will make simplicity beautiful.
So here's my most recent attempt. It's not at all complex, but I do like it. I cast on, knit in stockinette for a while and then halved the stitch number by doing K2tog across an entire row to get the ruffly effect. Now I am just going to stitch in stockinette until I am close to running out yarn and then a ruffle at the other end. I'm not worried about too much curling. The angora has almost no elasticity. When I ripped, you could hardly even tell that the yarn had been stitched, it has no memory at all.
So far Angel is a real treat to knit with. Soft and luxurious, it glides through my fingers almost like it isn't there. Almost makes me want to run out and get myself an angora bunny of my very own. It has a nice halo, and so far there's not a lot of shedding going on. Speaking of shedding... I seem to remember something about putting angora yarns into the freezer for a while to prevent shedding. If anyone out there knows any more about this, please let me know.
Of course, I still have this insane desire to knit lace...
The back on that sweater is looking GORGEOUS. I hope it comes out to the size you want! You're right, though. Garter stitch stretches width-wise while stockinette stretches length-wise. As a result, it's possible you might get more length than expected. But! If you knit more tightly you might get a denser fabric that isn't as soft.
NOW. On to other matters. What is with all this beautiful yarn you keep posting? Hmm? I keep coming in here and drooling all over my keyboard as a result. Merci beaucoup, Theresa! ;-)
Now that was an interesting bit of trial-and-error - it makes me want to knit with Lorna's Laces even more!
Your experience with the bunny-yarn matches what my dolls continually tell me - they will be what they want to be regardless of what I have in mind for them to be. Just like pets and kids, they always have personalities of their own.
Heh. Heh. I am going to owe Becky a new keyboard if I am not careful here! I'm going to be quiet on the yarn buying front for a while. I've got so much good stuff to knit now, and there are too many voices calling out from my craft room...
beautiful yarn...i hope that doesnt sound too trite, but it is beautiful. my belief is to knit lace when the yarn is simple and let the stitch show it off. so, the simple scarf makes the multi yarn stand out and shine. sweater is v.v. nice too...hope that it comes out the way you want it too.
i was wondering if it was big but wasn't sure, it's coming out to what about 22 inches? (your board confuses me, how it starts renumbering!! very tricky!) that's not so bad if it's 44 around and it hangs down around the hips, i mean it's not formfitting but might be a good size? is it pullover or cardigan? i have no memory.... i'm thinking unless your mom is tiny and skinny and would look swallowed up in it maybe it is allright.
It *IS* true that putting angora yarn in the freezer makes it easier to work with - not too sure about the shedding part though. It kind of stiffens up the fibers for a little bit :) I had to rip some fuzzy acrylic yarn (Berrocco Plush) and I used this technique and it worked somewhat well too :)
Well... finished dimensions for the sweater are 43-1/2" around, so 21-3/4" on each side. I'm blocking mine to 22"
The gauge is 37 R/4" or ~9 R/inch
The seam will absorb 1 row on either side, so I figure that 22" wide isn't too far off. After all, this is a cardigan, and it is going to need a little ease if mom is going to wear a turtle neck underneath it.
One of the most frustrating parts of this pattern is the fact that while the instructions are clear, there is no schematic, just the printed final dimensions.
I think Becky hit the nail on the head. I am probably dealing with both the garter stitch growing in the lengthwise direction and the stockinette growing in the width-wise direction. This sweater has a lot of hemming/edging type finishing which I think is meant to help keep these growth properties in check.
From a "feel" based perspective, I feel like if I knit this too much tighter, the fabric would get very stiff. My only worry is really how much black yarn I am going to need. Apparently 100g each of the colored yarns is enough for even the XXL sized sweater, so I figure I'll be okay with those, but 350g of the black yarn only covers up to the M sized sweater (which is the size I am making).
Oh the sweater back looks so nice! Just fabulous the way the pattern plays from different angles (and fabulous how you photograph it..). I do hope that the dimensions come out to be what you like it to be!! It would be terrible to do it over or stop at this point.
I do love all the LL yarn, every single one of them, have not ever tried this one though. It looks to be nice for a hat too?
One can also put mohair yarn etc in the freezer for a while to get the "itchyness" out of it, it tends to get softer.