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Growing A Better Knitter….

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daniSo one of my daughters decided she wanted this, from Nashua Handknits, City Streets Pattern Book from the Autumn 2008, Winter 2009 collection, but, and here’s the kicker, she wanted a cardigan, not a pullover.

How hard can it be? Just knit in a button band and we’re good to go right?

Wrong. As usual, I didn’t take into consideration everything when I went into my “pattern alteration” mode.

The sweater itself turned out beautiful, in a gorgeous bright blue, but, see the cable band across the shoulders? It’s too heavy to support itself since it wasn’t joined together.

Several options. I could “winch it up”, with a strand of yarn run up both sides of the front before I put on the buttons, but that resulted in a “bunchy” area, not very pretty. So, what I ended up doing is just sewing it back together and putting buttons up the front, just a if it were really a cardigan, but it’s not.

Looks great, she likes it, all is well, but I sure wish I could forsee these things!

What would you have done? (other than the obvious, duh, what did you think would happen when you left that much cable unsupported…)…

Looking for knitting patterns for knitted Cardigans? Check out these Knitting patterns we found on Etsy.

Looking for pullover and sweater patterns? Check these books out.

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Comments

  1. Wow, that is a heavy cable – so beautiful. Your “winching up” involved just sewing a single strand of yarn up to create some tension. The winching I’ve done involved crocheting a chain up the saggy part. This means that there are two strands of yarn doing the work. I’ve done this on neckbands, when the designer thought having a continuous neck to body stretch was great then the whole thing started sagging around the neck.
    On my sweater the sagging was vertical, so I crocheted a horizontal line about where the neckband should have been picked up if it weren’t continuous. I’m wondering if your winching could have been done in a star pattern following the lines of the sweater from the neck down to the bottom of that beautiful cable yoke. That’s what I would have tried. I’m glad your daughter was happy with your solution too.

Have you read?

Stitch Your Favorite Fruit on a Sweater

The other day I saw a post from Pinterest about trends for summer and it said one of them was “cultivating whimsy.” 

Well, I don’t know where Pinterest has been all this time, but we’ve been cultivating whimsy here at Craft Gossip for a long time. I love sharing projects that are a little different, things that make you smile when you see them, and will make you smile when you knit them and wear them or use them. 

Such it is with the Tutti Frutti tee knitting pattern from Bea Creative Knits. 

This cute little baby tee is worked top down in the round with contiguous shoulder construction to shape the sleeve caps. There are short rows for the neckline and folded hems with picot edging at the hemline, neckline and edges of the sleeves. 

All of this would be great on its own, but then there’s the addition of a super cute fruit icon, which is added with duplicate stitch. There are a lot of options, including strawberry, banana, orange, cherries, watermelon, lemon, blueberries, kiwi, peach, dragon fruit, apple and pear, so it’s likely you can add on your favorite fruit. 

It is offered in eight sizes, to fit a bust measurement ranging from 28-30 inches (71-76 cm) to 56-58 inches (142-147 cm). The design is meant to be worn with around 6.3 inches/16 cm of negative ease, but you can choose the fit you prefer. There’s also optional bust and waist shaping included in the pattern if you want to make it even curvier.

This is considered an advanced beginner or intermediate project because of all the skills involved, but it’s sure to be a lot of fun even if some of these techniques are new to you.

Grab a copy of the pattern for yourself form Bea Creative Knits on Etsy. 

[Photo: Bea Creative Knits]