Here’s where I am with Round-the-Bend – about to start the top mitred square which will finish off the first half, but for replacing the sleeve. The pattern is certainly a lot of fun. It would be better in a heavier yarn.
This is intended to be a close-up of the false seam which is being created up the side.
Tamar, it was you I think you asked how many stitches there are in the sleeve. My notes say 98, although I wonder is that is a mistake for 96. I started with 48 and was supposed to double the number after the cuff. It would be interesting to know if other Lorna’s Laces sock yarns stripe so neatly on that number of stitches.
(The experience has rekindled my interest in trying to create ikat out of space-dyed yarn. The instructions I earmarked long ago seem to have gone down. Jackie E-S sells a lace pattern that sounds as if it incorporates instructions in the technique. It was something about laying out the yarn in loops on the floor in such a way that the colour-repeats were repeating in the same way in each loop, and then seeing how long the loops were and casting on that many stitches. The knitting had to be done circularly. I wish I had printed the instructions.)
You will have seen Helen C.K.S.’s exquisitely courteous comment yesterday, identifying herself as the owner of the book by Setsuko Torii which turned up here so mysteriously the day before. (Dawn, thank you for that search technique -- it's going to be invaluable.) I am still puzzled and alarmed that the book and its contents were so completely unfamiliar to me, but Helen and I are going to have lunch next week so that is a happy ending.
The Japanese knitting group on Ravelry is very helpful – they say that if I scan some Japanese instructions and put them on my project page, someone will help. Someone has also said that the pattern is written for machine knitting and in reverse st st. I hadn’t grasped either of those points. I had figured out that the yarn used is very fine: I would have to re-write the pattern for my yarn anyway.
The Sally Melville shirt pattern doesn’t help – it’s hourglass-shaped, to begin with. No, no, no. I love the prison-issue straightness of the Japanese one. My Ravelry search on “shirt” brings up a Debbie Bliss one (Ravelry link). It looks very dull to me. If I went to all the trouble of re-casting the Japanese pattern and knitting hems and facings and wretched buttonholes, would my result just be dull, too?
There is a Ravelry group called "Pooled Knits" where people specifically get their yarns to pool in wonderful ways. You might check in there about the Ikat knitting.
ReplyDeleteBeverly
If the shirt style cardigan on the Ravelry link fit better it might not look so dull. I love the looseness of the Japanese one. The finer gauge helps I think
ReplyDeleteI, too, really like the shirt/sweater and would like to produce something like that as well. However, I think the simplicity of the garment would be the hardest thing to achieve. It could be worn by a man as well as a woman. I would probably use shetland wool. EZ has a pattern for a golf shirt in her Knitting Almanac, and I wonder if her comments on the construction of the collar and facings of the placket would be helpful. Are you familiar with it? Will have to reread it today.
ReplyDeleteRon in Mexico
Re: searching on Google. One can also choose the "Advanced search" option (to the right of the text entry box) to narrow in one's search. Dawn's wonderful tip would be replicated here by filling in the "search within a site or domain" field.
ReplyDeleteI find these "advanced" options most helpful.
Just dropping by to recommend the Pooled Knits group on Ravelry only to find Beverley beat me to it! Definitely worth checking out.
ReplyDeleteAs I see it, the shirt is utterly plain (boring) knitting except for the larger collar on the woman's style. But your mileage may vary.
ReplyDeleteIt could be a shape on which to work designs in fine textures, and that's beginning to sound like a Guernsey or Fairisle-inspired design.
Thank you for the stitch count. 96 or so stitches would make a nice hat; 48 could make mittens and arm-warmers. Ideas...