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january 3, 2006
to be or not to be, that is the blessed question After long deliberation about what sweater I should knit for myself to put an official end to the gift knitting season, I chose to make Bless in the Rowan Cork I received in my subscriber gift packet last year. (NOTE: I bought four more balls, because Bless calls for 8 in total.) I decided that what I really needed was some instant gratification and knitting a stockinette cardigan on US11's was going to be just that. Then I swatched. Well, I didn't like the fabric on Us11's, so I went down to US10 1/2's. Then I didn't like the edging (three rows garter stitch followed by several rows of moss stitch), so I decided to do ribbing instead. I also wanted to add some waist shaping, so I picked out another pattern in the Cork book to crib those numbers from. Okay, finally, the preparations were done. I sat down and blissfully knit a bit.
And it's too small. I'd heard that Cork grows a bit with a wash and wear, and I did see a little expansion in the swatch that I wetted, so although I was knitting the yarn at a slightly smaller gauge, I hadn't changed the pattern size that I was knitting. But this was really way too small. Rather than accept my own responsibility for this mistake, I punished the pattern by putting it back in the pattern library and immediately finding something else. Something I'd be willing to go through all these trials for. Something like the Lace leaf pullover from Loop-d-Loop. (I hope you saw Julia's incredible version of this sweater!) Of course the Cork yarn isn't anywhere near as bulky as the yarn called for in the pattern. And the pattern isn't anywhere near a simple as the Bless cardigan. But I was way past instant gratification on this project, so I pulled out the calculator and started reworking the numbers. New Year's knitting has gotten me this far.
It's coming out much better than I had expected. Frankly, I'd expected it to be too small again. Luckily, knitpal Shannon was with me as I knit most of this to say "no it isn't!" everytime I whined that it was coming out too small. I slipped a lifeline in and tried it on and it is indeed big enough. Phew! Another nice surprise is how the lace leaf detail came out so much smaller in this gauge. I never did quite understand the chunky sweater with openwork thing. Seems like big holes would defeat the purpose of having a big bulky sweater. Doing the pattern in this "small" gauge (I'm still at 3.5 stitches to the inch!) has made the leaves into an almost dainty and delicate detail. Coming up next: reworking all the numbers for the upper body of the pullover, which is knit from the neck down. Why can't I do anything the easy way? posted by alison at 9:37 am | in
cork
Comments
Hee hee. Because you're a thinking knitter. It's a blessing and a curse. Looks great so far! Posted by: Chris at January 3, 2006 10:12 AMWell it looks like it'll be worth it. I love the color and the smaller leaves is a nice touch, even if somewhat accidental. Posted by: Vicki at January 3, 2006 10:41 AMThere's a KAL at Craftster and someone already reconfigured the graphs so that the whole sweater can be knit bottom up. Why do extra grafting if you don't have to? If I ever knit this sweet sweater, I'll do it the simpler way. Check it out. Here's the thread: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=48914.0 Posted by: Karma at January 3, 2006 10:46 AMThe sweater is beautiful!! I loved Julias, but I secretly like yours more! The leaves look great! Have fun reworking the #'s! Posted by: Karen at January 3, 2006 10:57 AMI love that color. It's going to look beautiful. Posted by: Michelle at January 3, 2006 11:27 AMit looks nice! However, Cork really does grow A. LOT. with washing - my sweater went from 3.5 st/in to 3 st/in, so you might want to fully wash a swatch just to make sure it doesn't get enormous on you. Posted by: Jessica at January 3, 2006 11:38 AMI'm amazed at all that you knit. thank you. Posted by: jennifer cappoen at January 3, 2006 11:41 AMThis is a good sweater to re-gauge - it really isn't complicated, and the results are fabby. My only fear would be that you might want to supersize the leaves as well or add a few more? -just a thought. I love how it looks in a finer gauge, and I know you'll make a beautiful version. Thanks for the link and the props - it's a great sweater and I wear it constantly. I might make a second solid one when I wear out the variegated one I have now! Posted by: Julia at January 3, 2006 11:53 AMI just started a sweater with Rowan Cork. I hated the fabric on US11, US101/2, so i am down to a US9. It's giving me 4 spi. I love the feel of this yarn. :) I am doing a k2,p1 rib with a v-neck (was thinking turtleneck b/c it's so snuggly)--- very basic, but I like the color variation I am seeing in the "bug" color I have. Love the leaf pattern...looks fantastic. Posted by: Kate at January 3, 2006 3:03 PMLove the start of your sweater. I did it for dd and she looks beautiful in it. LOVED the pattern. I am getting excited about the boot kal!! Posted by: Whit at January 3, 2006 3:14 PMThe color looks great! And I think the effort in number crunching will be worth the final result. Posted by: jae at January 3, 2006 7:37 PMOh you know I want to knit this too! I can't wait to see how your's comes out... Posted by: Dani at January 3, 2006 7:56 PMthat's a great idea, to use cork for that pattern - i really like the color too - can't wait to see how it turns out! Posted by: anne at January 3, 2006 11:10 PMI am sure it'll turn out gorgeous! Posted by: Emy at January 4, 2006 10:05 AMGreat blog. I want to know more about your Weasley knits. Is this a collective project for several people, or just yourself? Hope that's not too dumb of a question! Thanks! Susannah Koenig it's beautiful so far, so i'm sure the work will be worth it in the end (ya know i say this with "this woman is a nutcase running through my head) ;) Posted by: rebecca at January 4, 2006 11:47 AMAlison- Hey Debi, I found four more balls of Cork in the same color and dyelot on sale at my LYS in the summer, so don't go thinking that I'll be making a whole sweater out of just four balls! I'm pushing my luck probably with the eight, but I'm thinking positive! Posted by: alison at January 4, 2006 6:08 PMHi, Great job on all the number crunching though! Posted by: Jade at January 5, 2006 10:20 AMJade, check my comment right above yours. I have 8 balls in total. Posted by: alison at January 5, 2006 2:13 PMBeen reading your blog for a while now and just wanted to say I love the color you chose for this sweater. I am currently knitting it with rowan cork too, though to get gauge I've doubled it up Cheers to you for reworking the math--I dared not. :) Yours looks terrific so far. I'll be checking back can't wait to see the finished product. Posted by: aquaknits at January 6, 2006 3:49 AMIn my rowan subscriber package I got 4 skeins of tan cork...yup that caplet would great in tan...not. I wondered if they just suckered you in with the dark red and then substituted with the yarn they couldn't sell....but you've proven me wrong as the blue is not bad. I used most of mine on the log cabin socks from holiday knits. PS. There is a reason why the model is wearing a scarf with Bless....the neck line is odd...but I wear my bless all the time anyways. Posted by: ingrid at January 7, 2006 6:33 AM |
