Saturday 5 February 2011

An End to Plain Knitting

Knitting
There's been a bit more finishing. The little pink shrug / ballet cardi worked out very well. It's Debbie Bliss's Molly from Junior Knits. The Rowan Kid Classic was a perfect sub for the Cashmerino Aran. Everone says this comes out big so I skipped one set of increases in the sleeves, and I did 1 x 1 rib on the cuffs to make it look a little daintier.

I couldn't see the point of doing the collar and back ribbing in two sections and then sewing the side seams, so I did it the other way round and did the ribbing in the round.


I winged the picking up and the short rows and it came out a little bit wonky, but you can't see it in wear.

Not unless you pay her extra to stand still.

Anyway, it's a success and some of the other ballet mums want to place orders so I must have done something right.

I dashed off another infinity scarf, this time from the GAP-tastic Cowl pattern. It's Rowan Cocoon in Bilberry. The Cocoon is as lovely to knit with as I hoped it would be, and has a lovely silky drape owing to its untwistiness. Sadly no model shots this time.

This is an excellent pattern, a simple idea very effectively executed. I cast on fewer stitches because the recipient isn't a tall girl and I didn't want to swamp her. While it was on the needles it kept looking as if it would suit being narrow, but every time I cast off it started to look skimpy instead so I used the whole two balls. It's about 40 inches by nine.

I posted it off and got a delighted email this morning, but apparently it started to unravel shortly afterwards. Ooops.

That's pretty well the end of the knitting-for-other-people for the moment and I cast on for the cardi for me that's been in my mind since I scored that Debbie Bliss Denim Cotton on eBay last August. It's the Lace Edged Cardigan in her Denim book. It's very simple and I think it's something I would get a lot of wear out of: at the moment I'm planning to do the lace but one Raveller left it off so I'm keeping an open mind.

I'm currently on a stretch that consists of knitting garter stitch for 50 rows.

So it's time to look around and see what I was doing before that Christmas Blitzkrieg started, and to think about what else I want to do. I really, really, really want to make a Shadow[]box, but the thought of starting another garter-stitch project just now makes my brain bleed, so I think it'll be that Swallowtail Shawl in Schaefer Anne that I set down in November, and back to the second Venus de Merino, the Venus de Mud, and time for some counting and cursing and maybe even a few nupps. Can't wait.

5 comments:

Mette said...

Your ballet girl is so adorable.

Mary Lou said...

What a happy little pink person - and isn't Cocoon luscious? Now go watch Big Night while you finish the plain stuff.

Knitting Linguist said...

What a happy ballet wrap! And it's clearly the perfect color for the recipient :) I love that lace-edged sweater - clearly another one to add to my queue.

Anonymous said...

Wonky short rows are not your fault. There's a mistake in the set up for the short rows. Drove me nuts two years ago and I worked out the set up stitch by stitch, sent the corrections to DB....and when I last checked, no errata had been posted.

Janet said...

Success with the pink shrug - and its wearer. I want to brag here - your shrug is inspiring me to knit one for my eldest grandaughter who recently gave her first solo performance at her school concert. Would she wear a piece of my knitting for her next performance?? I can fantasize.