I have been struggling with my fear of sweater knitting. I am not sure if it's the idea of taking on a task larger than what I have tackled thus far or my fear of gauge. It could be my aversion to seaming. Perhaps it's the realization that I will work very hard on something that isn't flattering and end up tucking it in the back of my closet behind my Hershey's Kiss costume, Lillith Fair ringer t-shirt and a pair of pants that I hope to fit into again one day.
I decided to overcome this fear by choosing a simple project, one that I felt I would wear at least once, one that didn't involve seaming, one that was bigger than a bread box, but smaller than an actual sweater. I present to you Matador from the Fall 2006 issue of Knitscene. (Yes, that's an open drawer. In my haste to find a straight pin and photograph it immediately after binding off, I snapped the photo without considering the context. Sloppy photograher! Sloppy photographer!)
I made some minor modifications, but still came out using less yarn than I expected. I made the bottom a little longer than called for and when it came to the neckline decreases, I made them on a knitted row before beginning the ribbing. The pattern, if followed step-by-step, ended up putting two purl stitches next to each other in the 1 x 1 ribbing and that just didn't make sense to me, so I improvised and made sure my decreases were evenly spaced on either side of the arms and it came out great.
I tried it on and it did fit. Whether I wear it in public remains to be seen. I don't think, however, that it will be snuggled next to my Lillith Fair t-shirt. Today a mini-sweater. . . tomorrow the world.
(By the way, there are a few other newly knitted items in this section. Sweet little baby kimono, an incredibly soft alpaca scarf and a few Christmas gifts.)
Friday, August 25, 2006
Sometimes you gotta purl and purl and purl outside the comfort zone
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10 comments:
I love it, too. So in style! No wonder you've been thinking about fall. You've been working with this wonderful orange yarn.
Love It great job
No one noticed the drawer until you said something! I was looking at the picture.
What is the name of that color? Is the yarn varigated? It looks like it has a bit of red mixed in.
You do good work!!! Are you happy with the outcome?
What drawer? Honestly missed it on the pic. The sweater looks Awesome. You did a good job using your noodle to improvise. Who wants to follow the status quo. Be the REBEL that you are. ROCK ON!
Why thank you. Thank you very much. *blush*
You guessed right on the photo. It is of me, but many, many, many years ago. Hairstyle is long gone.
The color isn't variagated, it's actually solid and called Tigerlilly, it is a great muted orange/coral color.
I am pleased. I think I need to find a clasp however.
Wow! That looks great! My only attempt at a non-scarf item didn't turn out nearly so well. My shrug turned out GI-NORMOUS!!! I even did a swatch and everything. After seeing your Matador, I may have to give it another whirl.
Dayum! You cranked that out fast, missy! I didn't even have time to email you back to tell you how cool I thought it was that you were starting on it...lol. I'm impressed! Its way cute. You can wear it to Stitches next year!
I agree that the drawer, while artistically a faux pas, wasn’t what I saw either. The sweater is beautiful. I like the style. You’re very talented. I’m jealous!
Beautiful sweater! Gosh! I wish I could knit half the items you crank out. I can't wait to see you in wear it!
Oh wow, that's a totally awesome sweater!! and you were worrying about what? ;) Certainly you must wear it several times, don't even think about shoving it in the back of the closet with momento t-shirts! (I have a LF tee, too somewhere back there).
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