Fashion: Yarn Style

Slow Knitting

 

 

There are so many fabulous knitting patterns out there, it is impossible to choose just one! I’ve been knitting several projects just at a time when my knitting has slowed to a crawl. I may have mentioned my neck injury a few times—it is finally really improving, thanks to the miracle of acupuncture. However, strangely, as my neck has gotten better, all of the tension I was carrying in my shoulders and arms, (perhaps I was holding them tight to stop my neck from hurting?) has become much worse. It is a healing progression that will resolve itself, but for now I have resolved to blog, knit, and participate on Ravelry at a slower pace, as a hand injury is the last thing any of us wishes for. So I am back to my heirloom knitting approach, investing my limited creative time in the projects I love the most!

 

La Boheme by Marie Wallin

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/la-boheme-2

 

This is the most intricate fairisle design I have ever attempted to knit. But it is amazing to see the baroque curlicues take shape from one row to the next! My one frustration with the pattern is that Marie Wallin tends to design very loose garments. The smallest size is about 45 inches around! Each row feels endless as a result. I have spent 3 weeks on this project, but I find it takes me about an hour to knit only three rows. Considering that on average I can knit an entire fair isle cardigan in five weeks, this will show you just how time consuming  I am finding La Boheme:

 

 

However, I feel it will be worth it in the end. And I am only knitting as much on the project as I enjoy, which does come down to about 3 rows max a day. To create some diminution for the waist without distorting the fair isle design, I am changing down from a size 3 to a size 2 needle, although this means the knitting goes even more slowly.

 

Silla by Jennie Atkinson

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/silla

 

All my hard work on Silla is finally paying off. I have been working on it since October of last year, and I have finally finished the front, back and two sleeves. I used my stash of Rowan 4ply cotton to knit the opaque portion of Silla, and in order to get gauge, I went down to a size 2 needle, and took frequent breaks to avoid getting hand cramps from working with the fine cotton yarn. After knitting about 3 rows, I would switch to a different project, so Silla advanced in microscopic increments.

 

However, the amount of time I have spent with this heirloom project has been a huge benefit, because I gave myself enough time to think through design details, such as the lovely scalloped border I created along the bottom using a knit two, slip two pattern. This slow pace also allowed me to determine exactly how I wanted the garment to fit into my wardrobe and lifestyle. As a result of these reflections, I changed the sleeves entirely to ensure the garment would be easy to wear.

 

 

The pattern designer, Jennie Atkinson, is a phenomenally talented woman, and teaches fashion history on top of designing her exquisite, vintage inspired knits. She often features what I have come to call a “balloon-shaped” sleeve in her lace pullovers. The sleeve is tightly fitted at the wrist with a ribbed cuff, and then you do one row of increases for the entire sleeve which allows you to knit straight to the sleeve cap in the lace. The advantages of this are that you don't need to fuss with increases to accomodate the width of the arm in kidsilk haze yarn while executing an intricate lace pattern. She used a similar sleeve in Connie, a marvelous design from Rowan 50 which I knitted a few years ago:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/connie-3

 

 I truly love that pullover, but I find that the balloon-shape of the sleeve, all in lace, gives it a Victorian aspect which makes it more appropriate for fancy dress than every day wear. As I slowly worked on my Silla, I had plenty of time to reflect on how I wanted those sleeves to be different in order for it to fit into my wardrobe as an “every day knit”. As a result, I was able to start my sleeve with a clear vision, instead of wasting weeks knitting different versions in kidsilk haze, which is almost impossible to unravel. I defy even my kitten, Miro, to make the attempt!

 

 

My solution to modernizing the sleeve was to knit it in straight stitch, using 4ply cotton, to match the body of the sweater. The lace section at the sleeve cap should match the lace sections at the neck on the fronts and backs, preserving that beautiful detail of the original design. Next week I will assemble the whole top and add the finishing lacework at the neck, and we will see how it all turns out!

 

My inspiration for this modified sleeve comes from the pattern, Madame Butterfly, which uses a combination of opaque and sheer portions in the sleeve to match the body of the sweater. However, it did require a lot of fiddling to get a similar effect.

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yarnstylist/madame-butterfly

 

I am hoping devoutly now that I am ready to assemble my Silla that it will be a perfect fit. I did baste the sleeves in several times to the body of the sweater, but you never know for sure how it will end up until it is finally assembled. And you can see, I am not the only one who is attached to this project:

 

Madeline by Kim Hargreaves

 

Kim Hargreaves’ Spring/Summer book, Honey, is filled with marvelous designs, and Madeline is one of my favorites. It is such a perfect summer sweater, with the short sleeves in this ingenious lace design. I  have knitted the cardigan in Debbie Bliss Rialto dk yarn rather than the required Rowan cotton glacé, as I find the cotton too heavy.

 

 

I added horizontal bust darts to this pattern, which helps create a flattering fit. And I have never been happier that I had wet-blocked my guage swatch before I cast on. The Debbie Bliss rialto dk yarn grows A LOT after washing! So I ended up knitting my sweater in a size small instead of a size medium. Once I washed my pieces, they spread out into the larger size, and the fit was just right!

 

For those of you who plan to knit this sweater, please note that the lace sleeves are knitted sideways, and are meant to fit extremely tightly underneath the arms. Otherwise you get a very unflattering “flap” that sticks out over the arm. In spite of all my work on the sleeves, I will have to use steam blocking to deal with the flap effect which you can still see from the back:

 

 

I would imagine that in the stiff cotton glacé yarn, the lace would stick out even more. I am hoping that when I block my sweater, the steam from the iron will help the lace sleeves soften.

 

I struggled a great deal with the sleeves because I don’t like a tight fit in my armpit, and when I pinned my finish sleeve together and tried it on my arm, it seemed way too small. I lengthened the sleeve on both sides, and then I got the “Dumbo” effect of elephant ears sticking out from each shoulder--the back photo above gives you a bit of a sense of what that would look like, only greatly exaggerated.

 

Clearly, I had knitted my sleeve too long. The sleeves are knitted sideways, so the longer the lace repeat is, the wider the sleeve becomes when you sew it into your sweater. And it is symmetrical, with gradual increases to a point at the cap in the sleeve, so any modifications have to be mirrored at the beginning and at the end. I didn't want to unravel my sleeves and start all over again, and I searched for a solution. Luckily, I had just taken a marvelous finishing workshop from the superstar knitting designer, Sarah Hatton, and she taught us a clever technique on how to cut your knitted fabric and get rid of the bottom section without the fabric unraveling. Here is how it works:

 

Step One: Mark the row above all the parts you want to cut off. Put your needle through one leg of each knitted stitch on the row above the parts you want to cut off. Each knitted stitch consists of two legs and by securing one of them on your knitting needle, you prevent the fabric above from unraveling. You can see that in the photo above, I poked my knitting needle through the right leg of each knit stitch. This secured the knitted fabric above my needle.

 

 

Step Two: Cut through the leg of a stitch in the row below the stitches  on your needle. You don’t want to cut your fabric right at the edge of the row because that will leave you with a tiny end that is not long enough to secure by sewing it into your fabric. Cut into the middle of your row, as I did above. Once you have cut through the leg of your knit stitch, use a needle or pin to continue unraveling the second leg of the knit stitch, and then move to the stitch next door and do the same thing. You will see the entire row unravel before your very eyes! Pull the loose yarn and the rows below it away, and you will be left with your stitches that you had secured to the knitting needle in step 1.

 

 

Voilà! You have shortened your piece! As you can see from the photo above, I am free to knit in the other direction to change the lace band in any way I want or to cast it off. This technique is extremely useful for those sweaters that, when finished, prove to have a bottom that curls up. You can just cut off the bad bottom without having to unravel your entire sweater. The rest of the sweater is saved and, using the stitches above the row you cut that are secured on your needle, you can knit down using a new, curl-proof edge! In the case of Madeline, this technique allowed me to shorten the length of my sleeve lace band until I ended up with a small enough piece that I could ease it into the sweater with enough tension that it laid relatively flat.

 

 

These photos were taken at the lovely beach, Bean Hollow, south of Pescadero on the California coast where my husband and I spent a wonderful day hiking with our god daughter, who was visiting us. The ocean breeze was deliciously refreshing, and it was a wonderful getaway!