(click any for larger)
The yarn and needles I ordered earlier this week came in yesterday, and faster than you could say 'SPRING BREAK!!!,' the bolero was done. Seriously, I know that all I had left to do was the ribbing and the collar, but I definitely thought it was going to take longer than it did. I think one reason it got done so fast was that Jon rolled the skeins of yarn into balls for me. He loves doing it, and claims it has a calming effect on him. I hate it, and readily admit that if I had to wind the yarn myself, this bolero would not even have been touched again for a couple of weeks. So, many thanks and much credit to Jon for making this overnight completion possible.
I really like the way it turned out. It's warm and snuggly without being too heavy, and I think it's going to look just as nice when worn with jeans s it does with that dress. It didn't come out quite as I'd planned, but I like it anyway. I'm actually impressed that it turned out as well as it did considering, I just kind of winged it. I sketched it, took a couple of measurements, and then just started knitting it without writing out even a skeletal pattern. I also like that there was enough natural sunlight today to have the bolero's debut photo shoot without the flash on. Considering the constant bleak cloud cover we've been suffering round these part, this was quite the lucky break.
Now for the gory knitting details:
Here's the obligatory laid-out-on-the-floor shot. Kindly ignore the weirdness on the carpet.
I really like the way it turned out. It's warm and snuggly without being too heavy, and I think it's going to look just as nice when worn with jeans s it does with that dress. It didn't come out quite as I'd planned, but I like it anyway. I'm actually impressed that it turned out as well as it did considering, I just kind of winged it. I sketched it, took a couple of measurements, and then just started knitting it without writing out even a skeletal pattern. I also like that there was enough natural sunlight today to have the bolero's debut photo shoot without the flash on. Considering the constant bleak cloud cover we've been suffering round these part, this was quite the lucky break.
Now for the gory knitting details:
Here's the obligatory laid-out-on-the-floor shot. Kindly ignore the weirdness on the carpet.
Now, the collar is what I'm proudest of. I'd originally envisioned it as a shawl collar where the ribbing folds up and over (like this), but after blocking it, I noticed that the back of the neckline was really low, much lower than I'd anticipated. Which is what I get for not writing out a pattern.
Anyway, I decided to use the ribbing to make the shoulders of the bolero and then continue the ribbing into a cute stand-uppish collar that frames the throat just so. So, I worked a 10 or so looooong rounds of 1 x 1 ribbing, and made decreases along the raglan seam every other round Then, I made a buttonhole, stopped doing the raglan decreases, and worked a bunch of short rows to lengthen the collar without messing up then ribbing along the rest of the opening.
I feel weirdly empowered that I kind of pulled all of that out of my ass with no planning this morning. It makes me feel like I have some sort of sixth sense for knitting, and that I can go about merrily knitting awesome sweaters by instinct alone, untethered by earthly patterns. Which is just foolish, and asking for trouble.
Here's the last little detail I wanted to show you:
I got this button (from Ballostring designs) for free with an order from Kpixie awhile back. How awesome is that? Almost as awesome as it looks on the bolero.
Yarn - 5 skeins of Malabrigo worsted merino (100% merino wool, 215 yards) in Bobby blue. In actuality, it took 4 full skeins and maybe 1/4 of the fifth skein. I alternated skeins every two rows for the body and the ribbing/collar, but was lazy and just used one skein for the arms. I've used Malabrigo before, and found out the hard way that two skeins of the same color and dye lot do not match, and that you have to stripe them in order for the resulting garment to not look...well, striped. In any case, I absolutely love this yarn. It's incredibly soft, and the colors are beautiful. The one downside to it is that it pills like crazy and therefore doesn't show stitch work terribly well. But, whatever.
Needles - I worked the body on a 16" size 9 el cheapo bamboo circular, which was actually the first knitting needle I ever bought. I've made a bajillion hats on it, so the smooth coating has rubbed off, making the needle really grab on to the yarn. Knitting the body of this thing on that needle was a nasty business, full of frustration, little progress, and the occasional splinter. I switched to size 9 bamboo dpn's for the sleeves, which was markedly better. For the ribbing and collar, I used a 32" size 9 addi turbo (which I'd ordered for Jon's sweater), which made finishing the sweater a very quick and much more pleasant knitting experience.
Pattern - My own! I worked it all in once piece, using the top-down raglan technique, and knit it flat. The sweater is worked in an all-over slip-stitch braided stitch, and features 'purled' seams on either side. The cutaway front panels were shaped by increasing and decreasing along the outer edge. The ribbing around the opening was worked after the body had been completed. Stitches were picked up and knit in 1 x 1 ribbing, with short rows added to the collar portion. And that's all there was to it.
Anyway, I decided to use the ribbing to make the shoulders of the bolero and then continue the ribbing into a cute stand-uppish collar that frames the throat just so. So, I worked a 10 or so looooong rounds of 1 x 1 ribbing, and made decreases along the raglan seam every other round Then, I made a buttonhole, stopped doing the raglan decreases, and worked a bunch of short rows to lengthen the collar without messing up then ribbing along the rest of the opening.
I feel weirdly empowered that I kind of pulled all of that out of my ass with no planning this morning. It makes me feel like I have some sort of sixth sense for knitting, and that I can go about merrily knitting awesome sweaters by instinct alone, untethered by earthly patterns. Which is just foolish, and asking for trouble.
Here's the last little detail I wanted to show you:
I got this button (from Ballostring designs) for free with an order from Kpixie awhile back. How awesome is that? Almost as awesome as it looks on the bolero.
Yarn - 5 skeins of Malabrigo worsted merino (100% merino wool, 215 yards) in Bobby blue. In actuality, it took 4 full skeins and maybe 1/4 of the fifth skein. I alternated skeins every two rows for the body and the ribbing/collar, but was lazy and just used one skein for the arms. I've used Malabrigo before, and found out the hard way that two skeins of the same color and dye lot do not match, and that you have to stripe them in order for the resulting garment to not look...well, striped. In any case, I absolutely love this yarn. It's incredibly soft, and the colors are beautiful. The one downside to it is that it pills like crazy and therefore doesn't show stitch work terribly well. But, whatever.
Needles - I worked the body on a 16" size 9 el cheapo bamboo circular, which was actually the first knitting needle I ever bought. I've made a bajillion hats on it, so the smooth coating has rubbed off, making the needle really grab on to the yarn. Knitting the body of this thing on that needle was a nasty business, full of frustration, little progress, and the occasional splinter. I switched to size 9 bamboo dpn's for the sleeves, which was markedly better. For the ribbing and collar, I used a 32" size 9 addi turbo (which I'd ordered for Jon's sweater), which made finishing the sweater a very quick and much more pleasant knitting experience.
Pattern - My own! I worked it all in once piece, using the top-down raglan technique, and knit it flat. The sweater is worked in an all-over slip-stitch braided stitch, and features 'purled' seams on either side. The cutaway front panels were shaped by increasing and decreasing along the outer edge. The ribbing around the opening was worked after the body had been completed. Stitches were picked up and knit in 1 x 1 ribbing, with short rows added to the collar portion. And that's all there was to it.
1 comment:
ooooooooooooh. it's so purdy. I envy your 1337 knitting skillzzzzzzz. That braided thingy looks awesome - I'll have to learn to do that sometime.
- Tamar
Post a Comment