Fashion: Yarn Style

Tah Dah! The New, Inverted Interval!!!

 

 

True to my word, I have turned the pieces of my Interval sweater inside out, and seamed the knitted tee up again. Now, instead of a reverse straight stitch sweater, it is a stockinette sweater with purl and garter accents.

 

 

This solved a number of problems with this pattern, one of the worst being the ugly scar-like seam I created when I mattress stitched the reverse straight stitch pieces together at the shoulder. Remember this?

 

 

I kept redoing my mattress stitching in efforts to improve this terrible line, because the pattern explicitly called for using the mattress stitch! But no matter how many times I tweaked or pressed the seams, they looked terrible. A wonderful reader has now informed me that the correct way to seam reverse stocking stitch pieces together is to use slip-stitch crochet. What a revelation! I will definitely try that the next time! In this case, I decided to turn the pieces inside out so that stockinette was facing instead, because there were many other problems with the tee that I could address better by using the stockinette fabric. And you can see that the mattress stitch seaming does work better:

 

 

However, if I compare the line and look of these set-in sleeves to the many other designer patterns I have knitted using Calmer yarn, I feel this Shibui pattern does not stand up. In spite of the fact that this stockinette fabric allows the mattress seams to blend better, the jagged line of cast offs created at the armhole still shows. Compare Interval's shoulder line to that in Cherry, a pattern I recently knitted in Calmer that was designed by Anna Bell:

 

Apart from the seaming, a huge problem of the Interval pattern is the curled stockinette hem!

 

 

My new hem looks much better, don’t you think?

 

 

The advantage of knitting this tee using stockinette is that it allows you to create a reliable flat hem using garter stitch that mimics the purl line at the center front of the top. Horizontal garter stitch and vertical purl rows do not look exactly alike, but they are similar enough to form a recognizable inverted T, which is the point of the whole design:

However, the original pattern, with its stockinette hem, curls up so much that you can’t see the bottom of the sweater so the entire bottom element of the design is lost.

 

How did I change out my hem, you ask? It is an anguishing moment when you have knitted a garment in pieces from the bottom up and discover that even after it is seamed and pressed that the hem is a disaster. Here this blog gets a bit technical. Rather than unraveling my entire sweater in order to fix the hem, I picked up stitches above my curling hem on a needle and cut off the fabric below so I could knit a new one in its place. I learned this technique from Sarah Hatton when I attended her workshop in San Francisco two years ago, and I took in-process photos of how I did this with Interval in case you are curious about this technique. Every knit stitch in stockinette consists of a V, with a right leg and a left leg. Keep this in mind as you read the instructions below:

 

 

  

Step One: Pick up ONE side of the V of each knit stitch across a row.

 

Do this on the first row that doesn’t have a problem above the faulty part of your hem. I tend to pick up the right side of the knit V, but you can pick up the left as well, just make sure you always pick up the same side of every stitch across the row. Beware: You may wish to mask off the upper and lower rows with long post-it notes so it is really easy to see the one row all the way across your knitting and to prevent yourself from picking up some stitches a row above or a row below the one you are focusing on.

 

 

   Step Two: Check to ensure you have picked up all the stitches in your row on the R or L V of the stitch uniformly.

 

 

If you miss putting a stitch on your needle, that stitch will not be secured so take time to check every single stitch is firmly held on your needle.

 

 

 

   Step Three: Cut off your faulty hem a row or two below the stitches that are secured on your knitting needle

 

 

   Step Four: Pull off the cut threads from around your stitches that are sitting happily on your needle.

You are now ready to knit down. It is as if you had been working with a provisional cast on, and now you can knit down as far as you want. In my case, I added 10 garter rows to the bottom of my tee-shirt to ensure that the edges would not curl as much.

 

 

Voila! A new hem is born, and now I can wear this soft, comfortable tee throughout the spring and fall.

 

 

 

 

 

Getting in Deep with Shibui's Interval Pattern

 

 

 

Don’t get me wrong, I know every relationship has its ups and downs. Still, I am beginning to wish I’d never started this fling with Shibui’s Interval.

 

My readers know I only have eyes for Rowan yarn-based designs most of the time. But a girl has to keep her options open, especially when her friends are all whispering about the new hottie in town. I was introduced to Shibui at my local yarn store. The pattern Interval caught my eye and, infatuated, I jumped right in.

 

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/interval-2

 

That was a mistake. You know, how after a relationship, you wish the guy had come with a warning label? “If only I had known X, everything would have been different!” That is why I write reviews on my blog. I don’t know if I’ve quite reached the “it’s not you, it’s me,” stage with this pattern, but at least before anyone else flirts with Interval, I hope they will learn from my mistakes.

 

 

Let us start with the difficulty rating. It should be Advanced. Shibui knits does not seem to rate their patterns according to level of difficulty, but that information would have been helpful. Frankly, any pattern that requires video demonstrations on specialized techniques to execute the neck shaping should be rated difficult. I wish the pattern had included a video tutorial on how to maintain the inset pattern around the V motif so that it were symmetrical.

 

 

I redid mine three times and it still is not quite there, and I noticed many of the projects on Ravelry seem a bit asymmetrical as well. The pattern instructions in this area seemed vague.

 

 

Then there is the curled hem. Personally, I feel that distorts the design, which is a stockinette vertical line that forms an inverted T because of the flat stockinette panel at the bottom. Except that it is not flat. Why should it be? Most stockinette hems do curl without stitching or some other technique to hold them straight. I should have predicted this, except that in the pattern photo, the hem is perfectly flat, so you see the T motif clearly.

 

 

Although I steam pressed my hem, the minute I moved the iron away from one section, it curled immediately. All the finished projects on Ravelry but one that I checked today also have curled hems so I feel this is a problem endemic to the pattern, not the yarn I used. Since the top is so short, the curling edge becomes a main focal point at the midsection, which is not flattering.

 

The other reason that I feel Interval is an advanced pattern is that it requires you to seam sleeves in reverse straight stitch onto a reverse straight stitch body using mattress stitch. My result was an ugly scar line that is visible in front and back at the shoulder.

 

This result really bothers my eyes. I tried to de-emphasize this scarring effect by repeated pressing around the shoulder using little pillows for shaping, a press cloth, and a steam iron. I had kept my eye on the join as I was mattress stitching the sleeve to the body, and frequently went back and redid a few inches worth of stitching in an attempt to make it less noticeable. As you can see, I failed.  I am not sure of what magic was employed to make the sleeve/shoulder seaming so unobtrusive in this pattern photo, but clearly I need to get my hands on this potion immediately!

 

Finally, there is the issue of the neck edge. In spite of all the group therapy sessions the pattern and I attended involving video demonstrations referenced in the pattern, I was unable, surprise surprise, to create a perfectly smooth neck edge out of cast off stitches (!)  I resolved this problem by single-crocheting around the neck edge.

 

 

So, is it time to call it quits, or can this relationship be saved?

 

I have taken out all of my seams, swearing all the while. Calmer yarn is slippery and loose ends can untuck themselves and open up seams, so I seam my Calmer garments like iron. You can imagine what fun I had taking it apart again!

 

Without a magic potion, I just don’t believe I have the skill to seam this reverse straight stitch garment in cotton fabric with mattress stitch. This is clearly an area where I need to improve. Tips, anyone? Apart from the need for help, I am bringing this up because this kind of seaming  is probably an advanced skill other knitters may not have either, so it would be helpful to know that before choosing this pattern. For example, I have seamed about 102 garments using the mattress stitch, but I can’t make this work. Then again, the reverse straight stitch pieces I seamed were in a woolen blend and maybe that made all the difference.

 

My plan is to turn the garment inside out and wear it with the RS showing, and the inverted T design executed in purl. Then I will have to find some way to pick up stitches at the bottom /cut off the curled hem and start over with that. Sigh. This little fling has turned out to be a much bigger commitment than I had bargained for!

 

 

Long-Awaited Chanel Inspiration: Honoured!

 

 

 

After eight long months of work, I have completed my jacket, which is based on Kim Hargreaves’ pattern Honoured

 

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

 

I altered the neckline of the pattern, changing it from a crew neck to a V neck, and shortening the sleeves. I plan for this to be a summer jacket that I can wear comfortably in 80 degree weather to work.

 

 http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yarnstylist/honoured

 

One of the reasons I was bold enough to make extensive modifications to this pattern is that I have already knitted Kim Hargreaves’ Touch, a similar pattern without the peplum that makes Honoured so special:

 

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yarnstylist/touch

 

Since my Touch used a winter color scheme, I wanted to find a light color scheme for my summer jacket, and Chanel’s Paris Soeul collection was my inspiration:

 

www.chanel.com

 

The fabric I created uses dark and light shades of lilac and silver instead of lilac and pink:

 

 

I really have to credit Kim Hargreaves for her genius in imposing a slip-stitch color pattern ON TOP OF a moss stitch pattern in order to create a textile that is stiff enough for a jacket. Only a designer with her depth of experience and skill could pull it off!

 

I would rank Honoured  in the advanced category of knitting patterns. In order to keep both front edges of the jacket perfectly straight (the jacket is fully fashioned, with no edgings added on later), you have to knit the second front piece backwards. This means reversing everything you did on the first front, and slipping the yarn in front of the slipped stitches on this piece only. However, the resulting edges are so perfect that I do feel no additional edging is needed, and that keeps the integrity of the stripe pattern which is very important

 

 

 

I think this is probably the most difficult piece I have ever knitted. Between tracking slip stitches on top of moss stitches, shaping the peplum and waist and bust vertical darts, and knitting one of the fronts backwards, the challenge bar was already high. Add to that the neckline change and the necessity of matching the front, back and sleeve stripes perfectly, and it was a real humdinger.  One piece of advice I would give is to knit the back piece a size smaller than the front to ensure a really good fit there:

 

 

The waist I kept a little loose so the peplum would not look too exaggerated, thus avoiding a Dynasty moment. I would say that the biggest challenge is matching the sleeve stripes exactly to the body of the jacket. When I made Touch, I had to reknit the sleeves several times to make this work, so for Honoured,  I started both sleeves with a provisional cast on right underneath the sleeve cap. Then I knitted the sleeve cap up 'til it was done and basted that part into the jacket to ensure a perfect match. Then I undid the basting and knitted the sleeves down to the length I wanted.

 

 

This is such a thrilling moment, wearing my lilac jacket at last. It feels like there should be a celebration party, with a little cake or something. What do you think, readers? Is it too silly for me to bake a little cake to welcome this jacket into the world?