I knitted new leaves for my Wooly Pears, stitched up and stuffed the final two, fulled the leaves for the already-felted ones and stitched them on. Now all I have to do is felt the last 2 and the odd green one again. Then I will have 5: one for my guild exchange, 3 for me and one more to give away to someone. I was really surprised how much of the original dye had come out when I put the felted and un-felted ones side by side:
Yes, that was the same wool! used for both those pears! It might be because it wasn’t fixed properly to the wool when I dyed it or because I used an alkaline detergent on them when I put them in the washing machine. This time I plan to use Orvis and see if that makes any difference. Otherwise I actually like the faded colour better. It’s more pear-ish. I took the photo on my vintage washboard that came with my house. It does come in handy occasionally — but I’m glad I don’t have to use it for the laundry.
I modified the leaves for the smaller pears to make them fit the size better. The wool I dyed was quite thick and the original leaves came out huge. So I left out 4 rows (an increase and a decrease and their corresponding purl rows) in the middle of the leaf for ones that fit much better in scale. They probably don’t even need leaves to look realistic. Or maybe one would do. But I gave every one the two leaves that the pattern called for.
On Saturday when we went for our rather soggy walk to the magazine shop, I got the new Winter issue of Interweave Knits. Why is it that the fall and winter issues are always my favourites of any knitting magazine? This is a wonderful issue with at least 3 or 4 sweaters that I would make, with the cover cardigan my absolute favourite of the bunch. Plus the article on designing sleeve caps was very informative. I’ve already considered armholes and sleeve caps as a dressmaker would but it’s good to have that pattern drafting knowledge translated into knitting. There are a few different aspects to take into account when building a shape with stitches and rows as opposed to just snipping it out of a piece of fabric. You can’t just take in a larger seam allowance or let it out a bit to compensate for bad fitting. And then there’s thickness, stretchiness, drape and a number of other factors to take into consideration. I sure love the way so many sweaters are fitted properly to the body. Too bad I don’t have the body that the models have, darn it! I know I need to learn how to adjust the sweater to fit the body I do have.
Speaking of sweaters, there’s one in IK that might work for my Backyard Sweater. It’s a cardigan with a feather and fan lower section on body and sleeves. The colour changes every 4 rows and it has a lovely bit of curvy laciness that I like and that shows off the different yarns. It will have to be fitted a bit differently though because I need sloped shoulders (the pattern has them straight across) and a somewhat more closely fitted upper arm (they are much too baggy on the model). It seems too wide through the upper chest as well because the armholes don’t indent very much making the top section nearly as wide as it is at the bust line. It shouldn’t be too hard to adjust thanks to that article on sleeve caps. But first I need to have some yarn instead of a heap o’wool!
Yes, that was the same wool! used for both those pears! It might be because it wasn’t fixed properly to the wool when I dyed it or because I used an alkaline detergent on them when I put them in the washing machine. This time I plan to use Orvis and see if that makes any difference. Otherwise I actually like the faded colour better. It’s more pear-ish. I took the photo on my vintage washboard that came with my house. It does come in handy occasionally — but I’m glad I don’t have to use it for the laundry.
I modified the leaves for the smaller pears to make them fit the size better. The wool I dyed was quite thick and the original leaves came out huge. So I left out 4 rows (an increase and a decrease and their corresponding purl rows) in the middle of the leaf for ones that fit much better in scale. They probably don’t even need leaves to look realistic. Or maybe one would do. But I gave every one the two leaves that the pattern called for.
On Saturday when we went for our rather soggy walk to the magazine shop, I got the new Winter issue of Interweave Knits. Why is it that the fall and winter issues are always my favourites of any knitting magazine? This is a wonderful issue with at least 3 or 4 sweaters that I would make, with the cover cardigan my absolute favourite of the bunch. Plus the article on designing sleeve caps was very informative. I’ve already considered armholes and sleeve caps as a dressmaker would but it’s good to have that pattern drafting knowledge translated into knitting. There are a few different aspects to take into account when building a shape with stitches and rows as opposed to just snipping it out of a piece of fabric. You can’t just take in a larger seam allowance or let it out a bit to compensate for bad fitting. And then there’s thickness, stretchiness, drape and a number of other factors to take into consideration. I sure love the way so many sweaters are fitted properly to the body. Too bad I don’t have the body that the models have, darn it! I know I need to learn how to adjust the sweater to fit the body I do have.
Speaking of sweaters, there’s one in IK that might work for my Backyard Sweater. It’s a cardigan with a feather and fan lower section on body and sleeves. The colour changes every 4 rows and it has a lovely bit of curvy laciness that I like and that shows off the different yarns. It will have to be fitted a bit differently though because I need sloped shoulders (the pattern has them straight across) and a somewhat more closely fitted upper arm (they are much too baggy on the model). It seems too wide through the upper chest as well because the armholes don’t indent very much making the top section nearly as wide as it is at the bust line. It shouldn’t be too hard to adjust thanks to that article on sleeve caps. But first I need to have some yarn instead of a heap o’wool!
1 comment:
Watinhell do you do with a knitted pear????
I agree with you - I prefer the fall & winter knitting mags too - could it be because we associate wool with winter????
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