Monday, February 23, 2009

Totally Unravelled

I have signed up for Ravelry (I know I'm behind the times) ... but it seems to be a bit dangerous. On my first little Ravelry outing ... before I knew it ... half a day had passed by ... and that is dangerous!

I have added a couple of my knitting projects to my profile and I hope to make my Hugs, Kisses and Cables pattern available soon. It seems to be a wonderful forum to find out tricks and hints from other knitters - over come those parts of a pattern that you might be struggling with ... alternative ways to use patterns ... I fear there will be many many more hours (erm days) spent perusing the information available ...

I'm really struggling with the Sylvi pattern from the Twist Collective. My gauge was perfect with size 10 needles ... but then when I began knitting the pattern the sizing was totally off and the size small was turning out to be smaller than an extra small. After 60 rows or so I decided to unravel my knitting and start again with a bigger needle size (US 10.5) and try the size medium pattern. But it is still knitting up too small. It is really hard to know whether to keep going and see what happens or start over yet again ...
... and if I start over again - how do I start? Bigger needles? Bigger size?Maybe using my own choice of yarn was a mistake ...
Maybe I knit super tight (I think I do) ...Maybe I should just stay clear of trying to make clothes (maybe I'm wimping out too soon) ...
Or maybe it is the reason why hand knitted things are so special and unique - they all turn out a little different?
Do you just learn how your knitting style will change a pattern? Or will I have these endless debates with myself for ever more ...

Monday, February 2, 2009

Little Rose Cardigan

It never ceases to amaze me how much I learn from each new project I tackle. And I might sound a bit simple - but I was really beginning to think I might know how to knit. So I felt probably over confident when I decided to knit my first piece of clothing (admittedly - a very miniature clothing for the little bunny.)
It didn't take very long to make all the pieces ... learning to make cute edging was fun ... ... but learning how to sew together the shoulder seams using a grafting technique - that was a serious mental effort (especially when your pregnant brain is functioning like a peanut) ...
... and realizing that in order to make my seams beautiful and neat on the inside of the garment I really need to adjust the way I "dec2" ... lets not share photos of the dodgy bits!

I only made one little rose for the front of the cardigan. I followed the instructions making the rose with the specified US6 needles - but it was really too big - so I unravelled and remade the rose using US3 needles. Putting 3 additional roses down one side still seemed too much - do you think I was wrong to leave it at one rose?
I found the perfect colored pink button from my recycled button stash ...... although I wonder if pink was the wrong color? (Cascade Yarn - Cash Vero DK 036) Pretty predictable for a girl bunny ... but I felt knitting in white cashmere for a little one was just asking for trouble!