A wearable piece of simple knitting…at last! After a couple of huge knitting disasters this winter, I sorely needed a project which would reassure me about my knitting skills.
The disasters happened even after I knit a swatch and got the right stitch and row gauge as stated in the pattern. What I had not done, and which I am going to do every time I knit with pure wool, is to wash and block the swatch and then measure the gauge after waiting patiently for the dry patch to happen.
Patience has never been a virtue of mine, but it looks like knitting with wool is going to make it enter my DNA. Especially when I get it right, like this one!
The pattern?!….This unusual pattern crafted and published in my favourite online knitting magazine..with modifications in yarn, gauge, measurements, sizing and final pattern regarding the front panels. This vest is knitted longitudinally, and has the ability to scramble the brains completely.
I am in the process of trying to create a wearable sample which can be knitted by the women. Deepa, with intelligence and common sense aplenty, has already ripped out parts of this vest four times, given up and slept for an entire day, woken up and tried again, and I have a feeling that I will see her completed sample this week.
The yarn?!…Two skeins of this lovely wool which were presented to me by a dear niece, four years ago. I had knitted a rather edgy vest with the yarn, 3 years ago. It was too edgy for my liking and that was enough for it to get ripped back to the original yarn.
The blue and orange yarn is from two precious balls of pure wonder, which my daughter picked up from New Orleans. This yarn is so lovely and unique, that knitting a hat or a cowl seemed like demeaning them to mediocrity. The lines of color lift up the pattern, accentuate the curves, and the pockets were the final touch!
Lessons learnt?! Knit a swatch, wash it , block it and WAIT, patiently, for it to dry.
After all the swatching and measuring, be warned that pure wool just grows and grows–so go for a smaller size than your usual one, or knit a pattern with no positive ease.
Go with your mojo. I love patterns with unusual construction, hidden grafting, live stitches..the works! This pattern gave me a good dose of all that!
What next?! Scrambling the brains of my knitters and producing these shapely, smart and slightly different waistcoats for my discerning customers.
Watch this space!
Didi- you look so elegant in this uniquely patterned waistcoat!!
thanks Dolly!! that poor wool had been waiting for so long, to come out and drape me! 🙂