Sunday, March 25, 2007

From one extreme to another

So, after doing all that weaving in (all that endless weaving in) and then buggering up the finishing of the cardigan I decided that I would a) do something simple (with minimal weaving in) and b) follow a pattern for once!

I found a pattern in a book I had lying about for a cowl neck, garter stitch tunic. Garter stitch! And all in one colour! I had some nice variegated wool in a box and off I went.

Boy, garter stitch palls after a few rows. And even though this is for my four year old, it was still 33 cm of garter stitch before anything at all was due to happen. And that was only a little minor armhole shaping before continuing for another 16 cm.

So I figured I'd do a more complicated one simultaneously so that when I got bored with the garter stitch I could switch to something tricky, and if it became too tricky I could switch back.

The garter stitch has seriously addled my brain because I have decided to have a go at my first ever cable sweater. And it's a doozy. You've got to love a pattern that says these 32 rows form cable pattern don't you! Thirty two rows??? Oh boy!

But, trumpet fanfare please, I have completed the back of the garter stitch tunic and the front of the cable sweater.



So now I have one front and one back and my lovely partner is wandering around the house singing, 'put 'em together and what do you get? Bibbidy bobbidy boo' incessantly. I'm loving the cable I have to say - it's a lot of fun, and the garter grows so quickly that I keep having a warm glow of achievement. I'm working on the cable back now, and I can see problems ahead... not with the back, which is straightforward, but when I get to the sleeves... there's this nasty little phrase: keeping continuity of pattern as you shape the sleeve. Shaping the neck nearly killed me so we may yet wind up with stocking stitch sleeves. I'll keep you posted. The other bit that's going to be interesting is the collar, which involves strange stitches I'd never heard of, and diagrams I can't follow. Thank goodness for KnittingHelp.com, which has video instructions for something that seems to be the same. Let's hope it is...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The cabled jumper is divine! What yarn is it?

Just read all your old posts - my four year old says "Actually" all the time too!

Rachel said...

Hey eclair :-)

It's a gorgeous pattern isn't it. I used Patons Zhivago (50% tencel, 50% acrylic) - can't be knitting with expensive real wool when I just know that it's going to be worn to kindergarten and come home covered in sand and paint! But the Zhivago is really soft and cuddly.

You're my first comment and I'm slightly freaked that anyone is ACTUALLY reading this!