That is really exciting news, Catriona. Take good care of yourself, now.
I think my recommendation for a shawl might be this one, a Gladys Amedro pattern although it doesn’t say so, sold as a leaflet by Jamieson & Smith. It's called the "My Weekly Baby Knits Shawl" and its code number is L252. I have scanned this image from a brochure I got with some yarn last month, so we can be pretty sure it’s up to date and available. The knitting is pretty easy, but the result is a bit fancier than a simple hap shawl. It’s knit in lace-weight yarn rather than cobweb weight, which makes the whole project a bit less daunting. It's knit in one piece.
I knit it for Archie Drake of Thessaloniki (as he turned out to be), 11 years ago. It was my first venture into lace-weight, which I then thought was as far as I was ever likely to go in that direction. I was surprised and pleased about how straightforward the whole thing was.
Jamieson & Smith are 01595 693579. They have a website, but I don’t think it’s orderable-from. I could be wrong about that. I have always found them very prompt and efficient. They’ll sell you lace-weight yarn as well, of course.
The Calcutta Cup Sweater
I’m getting pretty near the armhole steeks.
As I was falling asleep last night, I thought about attaching the sleeves, and realised that I have made a fundamental and thoroughly stupid mistake. I’ve chosen a pattern, as I keep saying, which is both vertically and horizontally symmetrical, with the idea of taking advantage of the squareness (rather than rectangularity) of a Fair Isle stitch to make the sleeves look as though they flow continuously from the body, although in fact knit at right angles to it.
All well and good – but that idea depends (obviously, Jean) in knitting in two colours only. And I haven’t done that. Here’s a picture from a couple of days ago, to remind us.
The stripes won’t be continuous. I think the only way to achieve that, in multiple colours, is to work everything carefully out in advance like Eunny Jang in her recent IK pattern, and knit the sleeves in the same direction as the body. Could I still do that?
I think my recommendation for a shawl might be this one, a Gladys Amedro pattern although it doesn’t say so, sold as a leaflet by Jamieson & Smith. It's called the "My Weekly Baby Knits Shawl" and its code number is L252. I have scanned this image from a brochure I got with some yarn last month, so we can be pretty sure it’s up to date and available. The knitting is pretty easy, but the result is a bit fancier than a simple hap shawl. It’s knit in lace-weight yarn rather than cobweb weight, which makes the whole project a bit less daunting. It's knit in one piece.
I knit it for Archie Drake of Thessaloniki (as he turned out to be), 11 years ago. It was my first venture into lace-weight, which I then thought was as far as I was ever likely to go in that direction. I was surprised and pleased about how straightforward the whole thing was.
Jamieson & Smith are 01595 693579. They have a website, but I don’t think it’s orderable-from. I could be wrong about that. I have always found them very prompt and efficient. They’ll sell you lace-weight yarn as well, of course.
The Calcutta Cup Sweater
I’m getting pretty near the armhole steeks.
As I was falling asleep last night, I thought about attaching the sleeves, and realised that I have made a fundamental and thoroughly stupid mistake. I’ve chosen a pattern, as I keep saying, which is both vertically and horizontally symmetrical, with the idea of taking advantage of the squareness (rather than rectangularity) of a Fair Isle stitch to make the sleeves look as though they flow continuously from the body, although in fact knit at right angles to it.
All well and good – but that idea depends (obviously, Jean) in knitting in two colours only. And I haven’t done that. Here’s a picture from a couple of days ago, to remind us.
The stripes won’t be continuous. I think the only way to achieve that, in multiple colours, is to work everything carefully out in advance like Eunny Jang in her recent IK pattern, and knit the sleeves in the same direction as the body. Could I still do that?Blogging
Thanks for continued favourable comments. Sogalitno, I’m surprised and interested that you can tell the difference between Flickr pictures and one’s like yesterday’s which are directly in Blogger. I prefer it too.
The one thing I don’t like about the new regime is the small type size. I might have a look around the templates today to see if I can find a slightly larger one. I don’t feel quite brave enough to try adjusting it myself.
Nephew Theo weighed in yesterday to suggest that I use Google's own hit-counter. I’ve inserted the code successfully (gold star on my homework) and now I have pie-charts and a world map showing, among other things, a reader in Istanbul!
Thanks for continued favourable comments. Sogalitno, I’m surprised and interested that you can tell the difference between Flickr pictures and one’s like yesterday’s which are directly in Blogger. I prefer it too.
The one thing I don’t like about the new regime is the small type size. I might have a look around the templates today to see if I can find a slightly larger one. I don’t feel quite brave enough to try adjusting it myself.
Nephew Theo weighed in yesterday to suggest that I use Google's own hit-counter. I’ve inserted the code successfully (gold star on my homework) and now I have pie-charts and a world map showing, among other things, a reader in Istanbul!
well, since your Google program is going to out me, Hello from South Carolina! :) I really enjoy your blog, and probably should say so more often. Have a wonderful weekend!
ReplyDeleteEnjay
I firmly believe that almost anything can be done in knitting, if you are determined enough and have peace and quiet and total focus and concentration.
ReplyDeleteIf I were knitting the Calcutta Cup sweater, I think I'd try to cast on the part of the underarm seam that would deal with the upper sleeve which is full width, and knit up from it on both sides. I'd have to cast on more stitches as needed (reverse short rows, sort of) to get the shaping for the forearm, which is narrower. The cuffs would be knitted on later.
Once I'd worked the front, I'd pick up from the underarm and work the back, and work a three needle bind-off at the top. (Weaving would require an obvious offset of half a stitch.) Of course, you lose the Prince of Wales joke because the fabric _is_ made in one piece.
The other way to do it would be to knit the sleeves as the vertical stripes from Hades. Still, I think Sheila McGregor's book shows a competition winning sweater that used that technique. Since I don't mind having to untwist multiple strands (much), I might try that first, putting the body of the sweater on hold once I get to the decision point. Then if the vertical sleeves don't work out, I could try the horizontal ones.
Or just knit a beautiful sweater and do the Prince of Wales trick on the next one - disappointing, but easiest solution.
Jean, thank you - that shawl is absolutely gorgeous, and looks manageable if I do NOTHING else for the next 6 months or so! Which I am more than willing to do...
ReplyDeleteThanks again for taking the time to look up so much info for me.