Category: project – Wine and roses

Wine&Roses cardigan, no pattern.  Mixed yarns. 

Admittedly not the best photograph.  Matilda’s lack of arms does nothing to enhance the shaping at the sleeve cap or the sleeves themselves, which nicely hug the shape of an actual arm without being tight.  The problem here is the differing gauges and natures of the multiple yarns.   Unfortunately although the sweater shows off some of Matilda’s asymmetricalities, mine today are even greater, so you will have to live with the armless wonder. We all have our vanities after all.

This cardigan started with several skeins of Indecita Alpaca Boucle in color #19 fuschia.  George and I were out driving around one day when we stopped at a little Alpaca shop and saw the yarn.  We both really liked it, but they only had a few colors, mostly brows that would have been unattractive on me.  The fuschia was the only color of which there was more than a couple of skeins in stock, and I thought I liked it so I bought a few skeins with the idea of making a vest.  As I knitted the vest I realized that I really hated the color knitted up; it was much too vibrant and strong, still, since George had picked the yarn I didn’t want to totally abandon the project so I started thinking about what other options were available.

I looked through the orphan yarn bucket. And found several skeins of this Gedifra Cicco, left over from another project.  The color was much more muted than the alpaca boucle and I thought it might tone it down.  I placed the Alpaca and the Cicco in a pile and then added everything that looked like it might blend in from the bucket.  After winnowing things down I ended up with 16 different yarns and it was time to start sequencing the stripes.  I had more Alpaca and Cicco so they got used more than once in the sequence.  Basically I used a six row pattern using  Cicco in the  3rd and 6th rows and  the Alpaca Boucle every 5th.  The other three yarns in each sequence would rotate between the other 14 yarns in the sweater for a total sequence repeat of 27 rows.  Sounds complicated but it actually worked very well

Needless to say, weaving in the ends was a daunting task and it took me six hours to finish just that portion of the sweater.  Even then, I did not weave in all the ends, but used a technique of knotting and making a short fringe, as discussed in Montse Stanley.   I also sewed a piece of one of the ribbon yarns used over the piece over the seam allowance on the fringed seams just to keep things flat, neat, and well secured.

It also took me a long time to settle on the button band.  I swatched many combinations of the component yarns before I found the perfect combination, using the Alpaca Boucle and this pretty bobbled yarn.  I have no idea what it is. 

The button band ended up being the perfect finishing touch, especially since I already had the perfect buttons.

It’s hard to believe that this sweater is actually going to fit, or look good.

It almost looks like there is half a body in there already, especially in the sleeve, which seems to have a life of its own. 

This picture on the carpet has no relationship to reality.  Does this fit a human (yes) is the arm too narrow (no).  Will it all work?  Well, I believe so as I have been trying it on as I go.  Of course I still have all the ends to deal with but I am growing much calmer about the prospect.  Right now it is just the seaming that is slowing down my progress.  There is so much "spaghetti" to work around that I have to be pretty meticulous in the seaming, not something I always feel like fighting my way through at the end of  the day.

I finally made a decision on how to proceed with Wine&Roses:  I am using a seaming technique from The Principles of Knitting by June Hemmons Hiatt.  I can’t post a link to the actual instructions and the book is out of print.  I am appalled at how much copies of this book are selling for on Amazon.com  ($225.00 and up).  It is a great book, but not for beginners, and June Hiatt is extremely opinionated, but then, aren’t we all?  Still, whenever I am not sure what to do in a given knitting situation, she always provides food for thought, if not an outright solution.

I have not used this particular seaming technique before, but so far, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!  The sweater is pretty bulky and the actual guage varies row by row, but the seam is flat and small and quite attractively almost invisible.  The pieces are seamed right-sides together, and sewing up is actually a bit of a challenge because I have to get all those loose ends out of the way and try to detrmine the difference between the actual selvedge stitches and the knots tying the yarns together.  (Yes, Virginia, there are knots).

Here is a picture of me sewing the seam:

As you can see the edge is a tangle of yarns and it is quite difficult to see where I am working, of course my eyesight is not great in the best of circumstances. The good news is that it is equally hard to find the seam once it has been sewn.

Here is the finished seam from the outside:

Can you see the seam?  The stripes on the sweater are horizontal.  The picture is not.

Here’s another picture, this time of the inside of the same seam:

As you can see, the ends are still hanging free.

I haven’t completely decided what to do about them yet, but the seams look pretty nice, even with the ends still attached.  Montse Stanley, in The Knitters Handbook  recomments knotting the yarns and leaving a short fringe as one of the alternatives seam finishes.  Originally I thought this would be far too bulky in this sweater but I am beginning to revise that opinion.  A short fringe might be quite attractive.  I might just tack the seam and fringe edge down lightly with a little hand sewing just to keep everything under control.  Or I might still work out some other way to deal with the ends.  I still have a lot of seaming ahead so there is plenty of time to make up my mind.