Margaret - Chapter Two

I have Margaret back on the needles. Even though I was a little reluctant to return to Margaret at some point, I am very pleased that I did return and that I made the top again.

When I finished the top for the first time I knew what was wrong but I did not right away know what I was to do with the mistakes and how to improve the fit. I was concerned that if I rip the upper part I would repeat the same mistakes since I would not have anything to compare it with. I would have good pictures and some notes but then would that be enough.

I am really slow and realizing the solutions that seem to be very obvious from the very beginning takes time but it did occur to me finally that I called the old top a swatch. Now that I had really done a swatch of serious proportions I would be fool to ignore it and toss it away.

So I took the scissors and cut (felt good!) the old upper part off and after some tedious cleaning of the cut edge, I had the stitches back on the long circular and I had a swatch to work with. I could have snipped the yarn and carefully just picked one row. Actually I tried that, but this yarn is not smooth and stitches tend to grab strongly onto each other making this method very difficult. This is like Shetland wool, perfect for steeking.

Now it was easier to focus on the improvements.

The armholes were too big or too long and the shoulders too wide.

Elizabeth Zimmermann advises in her book "Knitting Without Tears" to knit 1-2 inches straight without any decreases after the sleeves and the main body are on the same needle to give enough room for the arms. I eliminated all that and started my decreases straight away. This time around I was careful with the stitches and paid attention to EZ's instructions about the direction of decreases and had the decrease line continue nicely from one part onto another. I did a couple of more decreases in the main part in the beginning and also in the sleeves in order to have narrower bands on the shoulders.

I have been thinking about the shoulder construction a bit. I have been considering of adding some extra support there in some way and I think I found some kind of a solution: I knit the bands with smaller needles; where I in the body knit with 3 mm's, I knit the shoulders with 2,5 mm's. Now they have some added strength without having any added bulk in the form of seams.

The fit this time around is a lot better and somehow this returned my faith in this cardigan and I am happy to continue with the skirt.

Which really will take a very long time to knit.

Lene

PS: I did nothing fancy with the Trystero Socks toes, except purled one row with red, where in the original pattern the purl row is done with the same yarn as the rest of the sock and I added few rows to the toe in between the decrease rows to accommodate my long and pointy toes.

Blame Ranco

Last December when I was down in Helsinki for a bit I came across some new (to me) and beautiful yarn. I don't remember what I was thinking when I bought it. Since sock mojo was kicked out last July I don't think I had socks on mind, maybe mittens or gloves. But as soon as I had DPN's at hand I cast on for a sock. I think I did this unconsciously... I finished the first sock quite quickly, but as so many times before, the second sock got stuck somewhere between the cast on and the heel.

Then I hit this unhappy spot with Margaret and I had to clear my mind and get rid off the bad thoughts to be able to continue happily and I also needed some time to think over how to accomplish the necessary changes for the second time around. To keep my hands busy I picked up the other sock.

It was such a good experience. The yarn, Araucania Ranco, was so pleasing to knit with. The sock was finished in a few hours instead of a few weeks.

plain socks from Araucania Ranco with 2 mm DPN's

And then I had to go to look for some new sock yarn from the pile and I knit another pair. Although this time around it took a lot more time but the result was so worth the effort.

Trystero Socks by Cookie A
2,25 mm DPN's
Fortissima Socka (75% wool 25% polyamid) colour 1075

Knitting these socks and taking a break from Margaret was a clever move. While battling with little needles and twisting the cables, Margaret started to feel appealing again and last night I took it out of the basket and she is getting lots of attention right now.

But socks? Yes, I am sure they will happen from time to time and my feet feel very fortunate.

Lene

Margaret - the story continues and gets long

I knit the body until underarms. This was an easy part, just few increases thrown here and there and I was done. I knew that I should not have felt quite so lighthearted and reminded myself of the fact that when ever I think or rather say that something is easy, a disaster lurks around the corner. And I proceeded onto sleeves.

I cast on with tubular cast on (I just love how professional it looks). I centered the ribbing in the sleeves so that when it would continue on the shoulders, it would look symmetrical and congratulated myself for noticing that. I should have seen it coming then and there. It all started to feel a bit too easy.

Then I united the sleeves with the main body and kept on going. And finally the unavoidable happened.

This was late last night, or rather very early in the morning. I finished the upper part and tried it on the dress form and then on me. It was ok, barely ok, it was just about here and there but it was far from good and I was not pleased with it.

I went to bed defeated and thinking that I had three alternatives:

1. Carry on as it is now, try to save it by good blocking, and have one more cardigan for the closet to wear - and frankly all my closets have enough wool to keep them happy and warm for years to come.

2. I could rip all of it, turn it into neat little yarn balls, and go fishing for another sweater design.

3. I could rip it as much as needed and then re-knit it, as simple as that.

I think that I am going with the option three. It was not an easy decision. But then I reasoned with myself that it is good to have a swatch of this size, now I know (I am on my steps here since I have been reminded again of the powers of the knitting universe, I am not taking anything for granted) how to improve it.

I am not happy with the saddles. They are too wide.

I am not happy with the decrease stitches, the stitch does not carry on beautifully from one shaping portion to another; this I knew all along but just pressed forward, just how stubborn and stupid I can be amazes me at times.

The shoulders are too wide, or the straps are too long, so I will need to shorten them.

So this is what I will do. I will take it down to underarms and then will slowly and carefully knit it again. I would hate to give up now and this design is beautiful.But it would be nice for once to knit something from start to finish without any difficulties or would it? I remember writing that I am looking forward for a challenge. Here I have it now, and since I wished for it (maybe not quite this way) I should be happy. I do not feel that joyful right now and I am not bearing this with a broad grin, but once I get past the ripping and have the stitches on the needle again, I know, I will forget the misery. I have not regretted the yarn choice and I like my 3 mm*s and the color is perfect so how bad could it be to spend just a little more time with them.

Be a persistent knitter, be careful and act on the mistakes right on the spot, be humble and never underestimate the powers of the knitting gods and feel too confident, take nothing for granted until the last stitch is done and the last end woven in.

I am trying to be all that. I am trying hard.

Lene

PS. I am happy that it is the upper part of the cardigan that needs to be redone; just imagine if it had been the skirt... Come to think of it, do you suppose the gods will be favorable to me now and let me knit the skirt only once? I will hope for the best and prepare for the worst. I guess that is the only way to go.

PS. Thank you Cornflower!

Margaret - the introduction

When I first saw Mason Dixon new book Knitting Outside the Lines in a bookstore, I immediately loved this design and I bought the book just for it, but there are many more beautiful and interesting things there (like Belinda). The silhouette of this very feminine design and the possibility to add words to it was love at the first sight. I did realize quite quickly though that the skirt part of the cardigan was going to take – not forever but – for quite some time to knit, but then, I have never feared of spending long time knitting and I did not let it intimidate me.

I love thin yarn and small needles. I have often said that my favorite needle size is 3 mm and since Margaret will take long time with even bigger needles, I was determined to spend the longish time with my beloved gear. I have an ongoing love affair with Studio Maisa Tikkanen Finnwool and I happened (!) to have enough yarn in color 240 for this cardigan.

It is woollen spun yarn and reminds me of Shetland Spindrift but Finnwool might be a bit softer. Since the pattern is written for heavier yarn I will need to figure out the pattern for thinner yarn but I will try to keep the outlook the same as much as I can and am able.

“My favorite sweater is the (a) seamless one.”

These are words by Elizabeth Zimermann, but could be mine as well and I will try to get rid of all the seams.

The cardigan has saddle shoulder construction. At first I thought that I would knit it top down with Barbara Walker’s Knitting from the Top by my side, but raglans and seamless yokes are the only sweaters I have done top down, so I did not dare and turned to EZ and Knitting without Tears. I will follow her advice for saddle shoulders and knit it her way from the waist up.I have cast on with provisional crochet cast on for the upper part of the cardigan and have done one full repeat of the write-on lines pattern. I had to adjust the row count for my pattern but I am hoping this will be close to the one in the book. The waistline is above the natural waistline what means that it is short and quickly done (if anything knit with 3 mm’s can be done so) and I will need to get busy with the sleeves to be able to knit the upper part.

I have been considering different options with the skirt part. If I knit it top down, I will need to increase at certain intervals and I have been trying to find a way to do the increases so that they won’t be visible. None of my methods have worked out. I have swatched.I know I am too fussy and maybe you should pay no attention to the next blabber but let me try to explain. The skirt is done in ribbing and the increases are done alternatively in the purl or knit parts and the problem is in the knit parts. I don’t like the little steps or slightly distorted stitches or tiny holes I get when I make the increases in the knit rows. If these increases were just occasional I would not worry, but there are so many that these increases form almost patterns.

In the purl rows this is not a problem, because ribbing pulls in and hides the increases while the knit rows step forward. Even though the increases are sort of hard to see in a finished cardigan which is knit with small gauge I will need to stare at them while knitting and big part of the enjoyment lies in the knitting and seeing the cardigan take shape. I know I could talk me into ignoring this for a while, but I am a bit worried of doing that, because the skirt will take weeks to knit and I am afraid of getting wild ideas when I am knitting: I know no matter how much I love the cardigan, at some point I am going to feel frustrated and will be on the lookout for mistakes and for a good reason to abandon the cardigan I don’t want to give myself any kind of justification to rip the skirt having done more than half of it and blaming it on the wonky increases.

If I knit the dress from down towards waist, I will be decreasing instead of increasing and decreases are easier to hide. Also if I start from the bottom my rows will be getting shorter and then they will go quicker and this for sure would lead to less frustration and that is an advantage to consider.

I have not made up my mind yet because figuring out how many stitches is needed requires some calculating and judgment and then after that finding out how many hundred stitches should be cast on in the very beginning is a bit daunting. But then, again, knitting makes me happy and time spent creating stitches is well spent, so I really should stop this procrastination.

Margaret is a beautiful design and one that I hope to be able to wear when it is done. The main reason why I find this very appealing right now is the challenge of finding my own pathway in the making of it. I have never done saddle shoulders without seams and I can’t wait to be able to try it out. I am going to learn something new again. And I just love it.

Lene

Kingscot – the final episode

December just flew by. The girls came home and before I was fully aware, the house was bursting with life and running a house with many adults from different generations (we had grandmothers for Christmas as well) with varied needs was a full time job, but it was a job I enjoyed. The knitting time was limited but once life is slowly returning to normal, I am having more time with the precious wool again.

Kingscot is finished and has been waiting on a dress form to be photographed. The rest of the cardigan proceeded easily; the sleeve heads were easy to adjust to my gauge and were sewed with ladder stitch without any difficulties. Now, I am so sorry that I can’t credit the source… I was reading blogs some time ago, following links and ended up at the site where I saw how the buttons were attached so that there is smaller button in the backside. I have seen this done in sewing but had never thought about bringing this to knitted garments. As soon as I saw this done, I realized its benefits in the knits. Somehow this stabilizes the buttons and they don’t seem to drag down since the weight is distributed evenly in both sides. All in all, knitting Kingscot was a very good experience. I think I learnt a lot, or rather, I got to use all kinds of little tricks I have learnt over the years and most of them from reading blogs and searching internet. Using big needles, 4 mm’s, was not – after all – such a bad experience.

I know I was worried from the very beginning of the color, or rather colors, of the yarn but now that the cardigan is finished, it does not look bad. Certainly if I were to start all over again, I would pick plain yarn, but I will let the cardigan be the way it is now. So I’m not over dyeing it just yet.

I am glad I decided to skip the seams where it was possible and the adjustments (you can read them from the previous posts) proved to be good. I am really happy of knitting the button bands simultaneously with the fronts. I made the sleeves a bit skinnier around the wrists, to make them more wearable under coat, but maybe this was not such a good decision. Somehow the wide sleeves belong to the design and maybe I should have left them the way they are in the original. What I love most in the design is how the back looks; the way the pattern pulls in lightens the back and makes it to drape even and it looks lovely.

And then few pictures of me in Kingscot…

… and the final verdict:

It is too big for me. But I like it anyway!

(I have three volunteers waiting for me to decide whether or not I will keep it myself or if I will pass it on.)

I have been planning plenty of knitting for this new year. I have a very long list but I am sure most of the items will be dropped off the list while new patterns start arriving with inspiring spring issues. I just can’t wait to see what is coming up next.

All kinds of resolutions have been made in this new year but I’ll talk about them later if I am able to keep any of them, too embarrassing to share them now, if by tomorrow or by next week they are forgotten. But somehow this year the feeling of a fresh start and the new set of 365 days were very welcome.

So it is January, in the good old times it used to be very cold month and today was just like the good old times. I took the dogs for a walk on ice and the wind was strong and the temperature was maybe –15 ºC and the walk against the wind forced me to cover my nose and the cheeks with a scarf and that did make me very happy.

After all these years knitting and wearing wool still makes me very, very happy.

A very happy new year to You too!

Lene