Fitting feature panels

And.... done!! The Green Chai Cardi is finally off the hook and safely stashed in Mum's birthday/Easter goodie bag. It looks amazing :) Very happy with it.

Finished! The Green Chai Cardi

Just before Easter, one of our regulars brought a top in to be made up. It was a clever design (from the Debbie Bliss Andes book) which included a feature cable that ran around the top of the neck.
The usual way to fit something like this is to:

1. Sew or pin the ends of the band together.
2. Pin the band evenly into place around the neck.
3. Sew the band to the neck edge, using a mattress stitch seam.

Debbie Bliss Andes - top with feature cable

Sadly, in this case, the band was a fraction too long for the neck edge of the garment. You can see the little leftover bit in the photo - barely 2cm long, but enough to make the cable look cramped and bunchy when I set it in using the above method.

I tried to unpick it to pull out the extra bit and discovered that Andes is hopeless to unravel! I couldn't get the knot undone for anything. In the end, with Easter looming, I bit the bullet and contacted the customer: would she be OK if I cut the extra bit off? (I didn't mention that I actually couldn't think of any alternative that would leave her with a sensible looking garment). Luckily, she OK'd it - I cut off the extra and cast off along the cut edge. I could then set the band into place and finish the garment off.

This got me thinking about tricks to avoid the nuisance of feature pieces that don't quite fit. The sideways cable is a reasonably common one - in her early books, Jo Sharp designed cardigans with a separate band and collar that had to be sewn on and one of the recent Rowan magazines has several designs that included a feature panel in a different yarn that had to be slotted in to the final garment.

In a perfect world, we'd all do our tension squares and knit perfectly even pieces that would turn out to be exactly the correct size and fit together effortlessly like a soft, woolly jigsaw. In reality, even quite skilled and experienced knitters can find themselves with a feature piece that is just that little bit too long, too wide, too short or too narrow!

There are a few ways to minimise the nuisance value of the feature piece:

1. Leave a nice, long end and a loose knot when you cast off the feature piece. That way, if it's not quite right, you will easily be able to unravel a few rows to make it a perfect fit - or pull out the whole thing and start over!


2. Intarsia is not just for colour blocks. One of my first Jo Sharp projects was a cardigan with a long button band that was supposed to be knitted afterwards and sewn on. Instead of driving myself mad trying to knit a band of the correct length and fit it into place, I knitted the band at the same time as the fronts, using 3.25mm double pointed needles and a separate ball of yarn. When I reached the end of the band, I twisted the yarn around the yarn I was using for the main body of the garment, as you would for two intarsia blocks. Although it was a bit fiddly, it was worth the effort when I cast off two fronts with perfectly fitted bands and no sewing up to do!


3. Another option (which would have worked well for the cable band above!) is to pick up a stitch into the body then K2tog/sl K1 psso at the end of each row. This effectively knits your band into place as you go. The only disadvantages are that you have the weight of the made-up garment hanging from your needles, and it may not give a smooth/invisible join.

With those options in mind, I might go and spend the last few hours of my Easter break raiding my stash... There are a lot of odds and ends in there that could be used for Rowan feature panels if I find the right base yarn! Happy Easter :)

Sleeves

In the end, I decided to bite the bullet and finish the Green Chai Cardi. I need to have faith in my skills as a crocheter and assume that it will fit - instead of leaving my options open, then spending Mum's entire next visit frantically trying to get it finished.

Did I mention that I hated the sleeves? I hated the sleeves.

The reason was that they didn't come out even. They weren't badly out of alignment, but they were visibly different. I looked at them for a week, then cracked and ripped them out. Then, while the unravelled wool was soaking in a mix of warm water and wool mix to get the crinkles out, I sat down to see if I could work out a way of setting the sleeves straight into the garment. As you may have guessed from the photo below, yes I could. :)

Green Chai Cardi with crocheted-in sleeves

To provide a foundation for the sleeves, I did a row of double crochet into the broomstick lace (one dc for each chain in the foundation chain in the original sleeve pattern). I made sure that the double crochets were evenly spaced to either side of the seam (8 dc each side and 1 dc on the seam). Then I simply followed the pattern, working into the double crochets.

When the pattern changed from rows to rounds, I worked more double crochets to form a foundation for the round. It was actually easier than following the pattern - I found the whole "row of chain and join with a treble" a bit confusing, it took me a couple of goes to get it each time.

I also adapted an old knitter's trick of doing both the sleeves at once. This is a great tip that I got from my great-aunt, who was still knitting strong into her 90s. Her tip was to cast on both the sleeves at once (using two separate balls of yarn) and to work them at the same time. The idea is that you're unlikely to end up increasing on the right sleeve, then forgetting to increase on the left if you have both the sleeves on the needles at the same time.

Shawl Collar Cardigan - sleeves

This also works well for cardigan fronts - in fact, for pretty much anything where you have two knitted pieces that need to be absolutely identical. (Of course, it's no guarantee that they won't be identically wrong - but that is easier to hide that two uneven sleeves or fronts).

The crochet equivalent is to work a round - put a stitch marker or safety pin into the stitch to stop your work unravelling - take the hook out, then work the same round on the other sleeve. It seems to working quite well - I feel like the sleeves look far more even, and this also saves me from having to scribble notes about any 'fixes' that I've needed to make the pattern work out.

Lady Eleanor stole

While I was waiting for the wool to dry out after I frogged the sleeves, I had some time to spend on the Lady Eleanor Entrelac Stole.

Once I'd worked two tiers, the logic of it suddenly clicked and now I'm happily picking the stole up whenever I've got a spare moment and working a couple of rectangles. The Noro yarn is lovely and warm - very much looking forward to having this in my wardrobe by winter time! The pattern says to work 35 tiers, but I'm hoping I might have the yarn to make it 40. Not because I need a particularly long stole, but just because I'm really enjoying the pattern now that I've mastered it. :)

Stop taking photos and give us back our sofa!!

My next step will be to put together a simple entrelac design and block in at least one class for the winter. I'm thinking of doing something with one of the Jo Sharp tweeds... but more on that in another blog post. For now, I need to open the shop and give the sofa back to its rightful owners (see photo left!).

Sleeves and buttons

Well the Green Chai Cardi is officially more or less finished. What this means is, I've done the sleeves and the buttons, and now I can't do any more until Mum next comes to visit me.When Mum visits, I'll pin the thing on her and make sure it fits - if it does, I'll put the button band on. If it doesn't, I'll adjust it to suit.

Things I've learned:

• If this pattern is any guide, American women have no biceps. Mum's a farmer: she does. I am not sure that the sleeve would go over her bare arm, let alone over a jumper as intended. Hint to crocheting body builders and to anyone else who can lift a 10kg sack of horse feed: you will probably need to adjust the armholes and sleeves if you attempt to crochet this garment. I will do another post about this once I find out just how tight the sleeves actually are!
• Covering buttons is fun! This button method would also create a fabric button if you crocheted tightly enough. To make these buttons, I took three wooden buttons from our stock which were damaged (the finish was all scarred and scratched). You could also use a self cover button or maybe some old buttons that you've got that don't match.

Green Chai Cardi - buttons and sleeve

Covering buttons

To make a button cover or a fabric button:

1. Crochet a small centre ring (@ 3 ch), plus chain to start your round.
   These buttons were quite small, so I crocheted a single chain plus two chain as my first half-treble. For a larger button, you might want 3ch + 2ch as your first treble. The goal is to have a fairly tight centre ring, so that the button can't be seen through the gap.
2. Work one round into the centre ring.
   For these buttons, I crocheted a round of half-trebles: for larger buttons, crochet a round of trebles or double trebles. The goal is to create a circle of stitches that is about the same size as your button.
3. Working in the back loop only, work a round of double crochet. This creates a rim which fits neatly over your button.
4. A. To cover a button, fasten off (leaving a long tail) and place the button into the cover. Thread the yarn through the double crochets and pull tight.
   
   B. For a freestanding button, work a second round into the back loops of the double crochet round (creating a flat disc). Fasten off, leaving a long tail to attach the button.

Green Chai Cardi - body all done!!

Well, it looks like I might get this one over the bar yet - Mum's birthday is this weekend, and the body of the Green Chai Cardi is already finished.

As I'd hoped, once I'd worked through the pattern a couple of times, it got into my hands and I could work without having to constantly refer back to find out what a shell was, how to form a cluster, etc etc etc. After I'd joined the fronts and back together and done the A-line increase, I was even comfortable stopping halfway through a row and picking the work back up again - which was good, because even in the smallest size, there's near enough to two hundred stitches from one side of the garment to the other!

Even though I've mastered it, the pattern has enough variation to maintain interest and keep me going for just one more row (or round, in the case of the sleeves). I'm loving the way it's come up in the Aran Tweed too. The fabric is fairly firm, and should be nice and snug as an extra autumn layer. If I find someone else who wants one, I'd be interested to have a go with a DK tweed (or with hooks a quarter size larger) to see if I could get something a bit more drapey, and where the lace pattern in the body is more evident. Although I suspect that the lace pattern is being concealed more by the tweed effect in the yarn than by the fabric density - maybe if I try again, I'll use the Jo Sharp Classic DK or maybe some Merino Magic, instead of a tweed yarn.

Off to finish the sleeves now! Just to be on the safe side, I'll get Mum to try it on before I do anything that might make ripping difficult - like sewing the sleeves in, running in the ends or putting on the button band. Looking forward to putting up a photo of the finished product!

Green Chai Cardi - body

Green Chai Cardi - week 1

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Finding the Green Chai Cardi an interesting challenge! Sadly, I haven't finished as much as I expected, because I'm not game to work on it unless I'm able to concentrate completely - so no crocheting on public transport, while reading or between customers in the shop.  :(

Finished Yoke- Green Chai Cardi

The construction is interesting: I worked the broomstick lace pattern upwards from the foundation double crochet (US: single crochet) row, then worked the crocheted shell pattern downwards from the foundation dc/sc row. I'm now going to start working from the right front to the left front in the shell pattern, joining the whole garment together and leaving an armhole. It should look pretty amazing.

Things I've found interesting so far:

• Working in US abbreviations. Luckily the shell pattern doesn't use many of the standard abbreviations and a chain is a chain wherever you are! However, there is a certain amount of muttering and translating aloud involved in making the shell pattern happen. I'm hoping it will get easier once I've done a few more rows of it and gotten it into my fingers.
• 'Nested' instructions. For example, page 8 says "Work Row 2 of the shell pattern". I go back to page 3 and find the shell pattern, which says (something like) "ch1, sk 3 ch, sh, ch 1". So I go back to page 1 to find out what 'sh' stands for. 'Sh' is the shell, instructions are 'cl, ch (etc)'. So I read backwards up page 1 to find that 'cl' is the abbreviation for a particular stitch - thankfully, instructions for said stitch are next to the abbreviation in the glossary. Then I have to actually crochet the mothering thing, while translating the US abbreviations into English.

This is why 110% concentration is required! An apology may also be required when this arrives in Mum's mailbox around Easter 2014... Particularly if she finds out that I've knitted a Shawl Collar Cardigan for myself during all the bus/tram/train rides when I haven't dared to work on her present!

Shawl Collar Cardigan in Patons Jet

Broomstick Lace - the Green Chai Cardi

Green Chai Cardi (c) Interweave Publications

I've sometimes thought that it's a bit pointless for us to run classes in broomstick lace and tricot/Tunisian crochet when there are so few patterns for either technique. I mean, there's only so many scarves that you can wear/give away as gifts/sew onto street furniture as art - eventually you want to do something with your new skill other than produce a rectangle. Fortunately, over in the USA, they have the same problem, and the kind ladies at Interweave publications have come up with some very nice designs using both techniques. So I shouted myself a Christmas gift of half a dozen downloadable patterns from their website.

The first cab off the rank had to be the Green Chai Cardi. (The logic behind this decision? It's my Mum's birthday soon, and she looks like the model in the photo. Certainly more than she looks like me! So I figured it would look great on her and therefore would be an awesome birthday present).

For my first trick, I had to work out what would substitute for Madelinetosh Tosh Merino DK (yet another yarn that we can't get in Australia! Grrrrr....). I could have tried buying some over the internet, but with a February deadline and Christmas/New Year likely to delay shipping, I didn't want to take the chance. The obvious answer would be 'substitute any DK yarn from the shop' - however, I've tried crocheting US patterns with Aussie DK yarns before, with pretty ordinary results. I tried a broomstick lace swatch with some leftover Jo Sharp DK, just to prove my point, and came up with something significantly smaller than the gauge required.

Previous experiments with US patterns and Aussie wool suggested that an Aran yarn would probably give the right results. Sure enough, I dug out some scraps of Jo Sharp Aran Tweed, whipped up more swatches and it was right on target. It also comes in a colour that looks fairly similar to the Tosh Merino Thyme shade used in the photos (shade 139 Spring). Surprisingly, it worked with the hook and needle sizes specified in the pattern - usually, I need to go down one size to get the correct gauge for a crochet pattern.

Green Chai Cardi Yoke in Jo Sharp Aran Tweed (Spring)

That was the yarn and the hook sizes sorted. My next trick was to work out what size garment to make. Interweave patterns do measurements in inches and work to US sizes, which are larger than the sizes used in Australia. With an Australian pattern, for example, you can safely assume that the smallest size is a woman's size 8. A quick search through the internet left me pretty confident that the smallest size on this pattern was an Australian size 10, which is Mum's size.

I've done the back yoke and the left front yoke already (less than an hour for both pieces - broomstick lace is an incredibly fast technique). More importantly, I've also tried this on Mum just to confirm that I've selected the right size Luckily, I'd guessed right - Mum's a perfect US size 8 and the yoke went across her shoulders perfectly. Off to work the last yoke panel tonight - then onto the shell pattern tomorrow.

Sewing up....

Well, the purple cotton top is finished and I think it's a bit of a winner. 

Supreme Chunky Cotton Top (1)

Supreme Chunky Cotton Top (2)

The pattern was easy to knit once I'd gone through it a couple of times and the yarn knitted up quickly and easily. I think there were maybe two knots in the entire batch of yarn, which isn't too bad, and generally the project was an enjoyable knitting experience.

Then it came time to make it up. The instructions said to top-sew the seams. That worried me, as top-sewing/top-stitching gives a very bulky seam (you are sewing into the row under the cast off or garment edge) and I didn't fancy any idea that might make me look like an aspiring gridiron player!

So I did one shoulder seam using mattress stitch and top-stitched the other.


Top-Stitch Seam  

Mattress Stitch Seam

I was surprised to find that the mattress stitch seam actually didn't look that great. It sat nice and flat, and wasn't bulky, but the the top-stitch seam actually fitted in better with the character of the garment. So I top-stitched the rest of the seams. The lesson for me to take away - even if a pattern cover photo is badly styled, the designer probably still knows more than I do! The top is now alternating between store display and mobile advertisement (i.e. I'm wearing it out). Sadly, I didn't get to wear it at Christmas, as I forgot to pack it, but I did get to spend Christmas finishing off my first ever effort at a yoked jumper (pattern from Men's Jet 20 Designs 1266). Happy combined Father's Day and Christmas Dad!