Knitting lady Mabbott part 3

So, it is finished; my very first seamless set-in sleeves cardigan. I had to make a few adjustment down the road. In a slim fitting cardigan or sweater the size of the neck to the body will be relatively big, so I couldnt use the EZ ( Elizabeth Zimmerman ) formula the neck being about 40% of the Key number. I even wanted the neck to be generous, so I Drew the neckline on gtaphic millimeter paper and since I was knitting it forth and back on the needles, I had no problems adapting this to the actual knitting

Just a little note here before we go on with the technical stuff: I love summer, but I have to admit I don´t really like being in the sun. The picture is on the lawn in front of the studio and I am hoping that the apple trees will grow very fast to provide shade for me, my coffeecup, my knitting and all the people I love... And the rabbits...




I basically followed the instruktions in Elizabeth Zimermans book "Knitting Workshop" ( for the set-in sleeve sweater ) but made a lot of changes to fit the technique I was using and the design I wanted. I guess that is just what she wanted me to do. Providing me a frame to creative within.





So here comes the story from the notebook. Please bare in mind that this is not a recipe but more my reflections on Lady Mabbott.

Before I knitted this I transformed EZ direktions for the sweater into a diagram. I found that very usefull for my understanding of the principles involved and also made it possible for me to draw the neckline I wanted.

My shoulderwith is 35% of the key number

June 7. join the body to the sleeves leaving 18 stitches at each underarm on pieces of wool. Knit 6 rows with no decreases. Now start decreasing at every row at the four points where the sleeves joins the body. It is important to make the decresing on the right and on the wrong side in such a way that it looks the same. I found out that knit two together on the right side is the same as slip slip purl two together on the wrong side and that slip slip knit two together on the right side is the same as purl two together on the wrong side. I knitted 8 rows this way decreasing 4 times 8 stitches.

( Knowing a few things of pattern construktion for sewing, I would have started to decrease right away after joining body and sleeve and only made the decreasing every other round. I even think that most sewing patterns can be adapted to this basic idea just with a few calculations )

Note I started the shaping of the neck four rows after these decreases. I made a pretty wide neck but will spare you the details...

June 8. now start the decreasing that eats up the sleeve stitches. The decreses are only on the right row being at the four point : 1) SSK2tog 2) K2tog 3) SSK2tog 4) K2tog.
Knit 18 rounds this way decreasing on every other round.

June 11. Now speed up the decreasing to every row and knit 14 rows this way. There is 12 stitches left at the shoulder.

June 17. Start knitting forth and back on the one side of the front. Decreasing 1 stitch at the end of each row ( Shoulderpoints ). Continue like this until 6 stitches remains at the sleeves. Work across the shoulder and apply this principle to the back and the remainig front piece. I also made a couple of short rows to shape the shoulder a bit more.

I grafted the shoulder stitches together and found out that it is important to be precise at this point making sure, the spot where the shoulder seam meets the actual sleeve, is precisely made.



I made the borders but I have never really been satisfied with the way the wrong side of the knitting looks at the neckline, so I used the same technique as I used on this cardigan but I crocheted from the right side through the fabric making a line of chain stitches. I really like the way this look and I will probably do this a lot with future projects. It looks especially good where the neck line border is not the same colour as the body.



The flat seam also feels very comfortably to the neck and I think it is the right neckline finish for a seamless cardigan or sweater. When picking up the stitches for the front border, it is important to go as close to the edge( 1 stitch from edge ) as possible to make the seam as flat as possible. I tink I might have 1½ stitch which shows a bit... Next time just one stitch... Do I hear you saying "does it matter ?" I can only say with a smile on my face "of couse it does, it makes a HUGE difference"... No, not really, but it is always good to see the things that can get better, but at the same time be aware of all the things that went really well.

Bottonline ( yes there is one, and this is it )...I do like this cardi...a lot...

Knitting lady Mabbott part 2

I wanted Lady Mabbott to be a tight fitting cardigan in thin yarn. I decided to make it very simple so I wouldn't complicate things too much for my first seamless set in sleeve cardigan. The instructions in Elisabeth Zimmerman's books are for a sweater and she would probably have made the cardigan by knitting in the round and then cut it up later. Since I like my knitting to not be "broken", I decided to knit it back and forth on circular needles. This also gives me a lot of freedom when it comes to shaping the neck. Luckily, I don't mind to purl... I hope that knitting this cardigan will teach me to transform future design ideas into actual knitting.

So this is how it is progressing: I am ready to join the sleeves to the body and start knitting the seamless set in sleeves and body all in one... jubii !

Here are the mainlines from the logbook:

Body:
18 April: Cast on 235 stitches( This number is the Key number ) with cream coloured yarn using the long tail cast on and needles size 2 mm. Start knitting the first row ( being the wrong side of the cardigan ) purl 2, knit 1, purl 1......knit 1, purl 2. Knit this ribbed edge for 12 rows.

Change to the orange yarn and knitting needles size 2,5 mm. Start knitting plain stocking stitch, first row being the rigth side of the knitting. Knit 59 stitcehs place first marker ( side seam ). Knit 116 stitches place marker (Somewhere on the back knit two stitches together so the total amount of stitches will be 234 ) Knit 59stitches. Continue in plain stocking stitches for 140 rows.

Sleeves:
With four needles size 2 mm cast on 60 stitches using long tail cast on and knit 13 rounds of ribbon. On the last round increase to 78 stitches ( 33 % of the key number ). Change to the orange yarn and needles size 2,5 mm. Continue in plain stocking stitches for 151 rows.

Now make phoney seams on body and sleeves ( see pictures )

To be continued...

Note to myself:

Try using the knitted cast on or maybe long tail cast on with double yarn.

Learn a good and easy way to get those sketches in the computer and maybe do collages; does anyone know ... ?

Knitting Lady Mabbott part 1

I started a new knitting project. Lady Mabbott is an orange cardigan with offwhite ribbing's. So far she has been a nice project... I will tell a bit about how I organize my knitting.




First I set up my knitting bag: The bag is a basic drawstring cotton bag. I find it very easy to find things in the white bag since the light shines a bit through the cotton. I have one bag for each project making it easy for me to quickly bring the chosen project to where ever I am going.

So whats in the bag... ?

one pair of Scissors.
Notebook.
Calculator.
Crochet needle in the same size as my knitting needles.
All the knitting needles to be used, circular and straight.
Measuring tape.
Special sewing needles for knitting.
Little Zip lock bags with little loops that I use for row and stitch markers.
Pencil ( forgot that on the picture... )




For every project I start a little notebook. One part of the book is general info. In this project it is:

Yarn bought: 300 g of Duo in color 550. Price kr. 130 ( $ 24 )/ 100 gram
Besides, I use a bit off white Duo from the stash.

Little knitting test:
Cast on 35 stitches on needles 2,5 mm ( long tail cast on ), 4 rows garter stitch, 44 rows of stocking stitches with 2 garter stitches on each side, then 4 rows of garter stitch where the last is also the cast of row. Wash the swap, let i dry, then count the gauge: I ended up with 15 stitches to 5 cm. , and 22 rows to 5 cm.

In this part of the notebook I also wrote down my reflection on what should be in my knitting bag.

I also keep the diagram of the cardigan folded up inside the notebook. It is drawn on millimeter charted paper where every square on the paper equals one stitch and one row.

Another part of the notebook is the actual log of the project. What I did and sometimes I even write down the date for whenever a sleeve or something else was started, mostly because it is quite fun to see how fast the knitting is moving.

To be continued...




Today I did a little ( late ) spring cleaning here in my blog. I found out that the labelling was in quite a bit of a mess, I cleared out all the labels and in the near future I will try to get it sorted out starting today with the knitting related stuff. Now it is possible to look at all the posting of a specific knitting project since in the future they will all be given a name. It is still possible to see all the knitting under the label "knitting" - what else.