Time flies
I can't believe that tomorrow is October 1st. Where did the time go?
A woman at work is having a baby in a couple of months and the shower is soon approaching. Last week I realized that I had to finish whatever I was going to make in a little over a week to allow for mailing and such. What I thought was "plenty of time" turned out to be no time at all.
LK-150 to the rescue.
I ran across this pattern and thought how interesting it would be to make Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Surprise Jacket on the knitting machine. I did a test run in 2 colors of cotton to practice the mitered corners and to understand how it came together. I could not get my mind around how the sweater folded into shape until I had the actual sweater in front of me. Armed with an iron, I folded and pressed and soon had this.
What an ingenious design!
Believe it or not, I couldn't find the right yarn in my stash so I had to go shopping--and I came home with Rowan Cashsoft Baby DK.
I planned and charted, then I swatched (man, that Cashsoft is like butter!) and planned and charted some more. Yesterday I was knitting, and today I'm blocking.
The 2x2 cable goes down the front, through the mitered corner, across the back (changing twist direction at the center back), and up the other front.
As I'm pinning it down, I'm stretching one front and compressing the other to make them match. What gives? I used the row counter--it should be completely symmetrical. Huh. Let's count the cables.
Aargh. 10 on one side, 11 on the other. A few rows before the neck decreases will have to go before the ribbing is done.
So how did it happen? I felt something was wrong when the top cable didn't cross on the same row as the cable on the other side, but I thought the cables were offset by a row. Unfortunately that's not the case. I think there's a flaw in the adapted pattern. You can see in blue & white practice sweater that one front is longer than the other.
But the good news is that I should have this finished in time. Unless of course I just jinxed myself by saying that!
A woman at work is having a baby in a couple of months and the shower is soon approaching. Last week I realized that I had to finish whatever I was going to make in a little over a week to allow for mailing and such. What I thought was "plenty of time" turned out to be no time at all.
LK-150 to the rescue.
I ran across this pattern and thought how interesting it would be to make Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Surprise Jacket on the knitting machine. I did a test run in 2 colors of cotton to practice the mitered corners and to understand how it came together. I could not get my mind around how the sweater folded into shape until I had the actual sweater in front of me. Armed with an iron, I folded and pressed and soon had this.
What an ingenious design!
Believe it or not, I couldn't find the right yarn in my stash so I had to go shopping--and I came home with Rowan Cashsoft Baby DK.
I planned and charted, then I swatched (man, that Cashsoft is like butter!) and planned and charted some more. Yesterday I was knitting, and today I'm blocking.
The 2x2 cable goes down the front, through the mitered corner, across the back (changing twist direction at the center back), and up the other front.
As I'm pinning it down, I'm stretching one front and compressing the other to make them match. What gives? I used the row counter--it should be completely symmetrical. Huh. Let's count the cables.
Aargh. 10 on one side, 11 on the other. A few rows before the neck decreases will have to go before the ribbing is done.
So how did it happen? I felt something was wrong when the top cable didn't cross on the same row as the cable on the other side, but I thought the cables were offset by a row. Unfortunately that's not the case. I think there's a flaw in the adapted pattern. You can see in blue & white practice sweater that one front is longer than the other.
But the good news is that I should have this finished in time. Unless of course I just jinxed myself by saying that!
Labels: baby, Elizabeth Zimmermann, machine knitting, Rowan, sweater
7 Comments:
That is adorable! You're making me want a knitting machine. :)
By
Abigail, at 9/30/2006 9:17 PM
ok my knitting macine is on a clost shelf never used...i'm impressed
By
kat, at 10/01/2006 7:51 AM
Oh, that cabled one is beautiful! I wanted to order that pattern, but the shipping was something crazy like $7 for a $3 pattern!
By
Erica, at 10/01/2006 1:24 PM
hey, this might sound dumb, but.. are the two sides of the neck opening the same height? is there any chance that the total row count is right, but the neck opening is too short because of that extra cable? Maybe I'm rediscovering what you already said. Anyway, good luck with the re-knit, this is a lovely little garment.
By
spinnity, at 10/03/2006 10:20 PM
people totally rave about the cashsoft--nice choice!
By
Anonymous, at 10/05/2006 3:18 PM
OOOH the blue and white is adoreable.
I am machineknitter to, and I have been knittet two of this jackets. But I can´t figured out where I have to change colour in order to get them symmetrical.
Can I ask for a tip -please
By
Unknown, at 10/26/2008 4:55 AM
The blue and white sweater is just a practice piece. I did 1/2 of the miter (where you move needles into the hold position) in one color, then switched to another color when those needles were brought back into working position. That way I could understand how the mitered corner worked.
By
Bogie, at 10/27/2008 4:47 PM
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