Progress on the "George" cardigan has been super fast, super fast for my standards anyway. Finishing in the same year would be fast. Anything above and beyond that, I would consider "super fast".
It did take me several tries to get the right number of stitches added on to the front for the button border, though. It's kind of tricky to get them equally spaced apart and to end up with the right amount by the time you get to the end. I don't know if there's a more organized way to do this. Perhaps you're supposed to count up the number of rows and perform some kind of mathematical formula, but I just used the frustrating and time consuming method of trial and error.
Before this, I had to do the blocking. A term with which I'm only vaguely familiar as I've only done it twice before and with enough years in between to really be a novice at it every time I try. I followed the pattern instructions and did it with the steam iron. Which is probably not the best, especially with cables. Because although it seems fairly fast and efficient at doing the job, it kind of flattens out the cables. I did come to the realization afterwards though, that when the instructions tell you to use a steam iron, they probably mean to just use the steam from the iron and not to actually compress the knitting by putting the iron directly on it which is what I did.
I don't know if true knitting experts would be horrified with this method, but this is what I did. I used pins somewhat sparingly, I guess, and put the pieces wrong side up on the ironing board. I put a damp flannel receiving blanket on top and used the steam iron, gently placing it on top, picking it up, repositioning it to cover the whole piece. It was fast. I re-pinned the piece usually one more time to get the edge nice and straight without the poking and steamed again. I used the tape measure to make sure the arms where ending up the same and the two fronts.
Once, I was done with this, I started piecing everything together. It's been a while, so had to re-learn how to do the mattress stitch. What seemed like a good effort at first, left me with an invisible flat seem on the inside but with three rows of the little braid stockinette stitch on the outside. So I started over and quickly got it figured out.
Now, I just need to finish the collar and pockets.
It did take me several tries to get the right number of stitches added on to the front for the button border, though. It's kind of tricky to get them equally spaced apart and to end up with the right amount by the time you get to the end. I don't know if there's a more organized way to do this. Perhaps you're supposed to count up the number of rows and perform some kind of mathematical formula, but I just used the frustrating and time consuming method of trial and error.
Before this, I had to do the blocking. A term with which I'm only vaguely familiar as I've only done it twice before and with enough years in between to really be a novice at it every time I try. I followed the pattern instructions and did it with the steam iron. Which is probably not the best, especially with cables. Because although it seems fairly fast and efficient at doing the job, it kind of flattens out the cables. I did come to the realization afterwards though, that when the instructions tell you to use a steam iron, they probably mean to just use the steam from the iron and not to actually compress the knitting by putting the iron directly on it which is what I did.
I don't know if true knitting experts would be horrified with this method, but this is what I did. I used pins somewhat sparingly, I guess, and put the pieces wrong side up on the ironing board. I put a damp flannel receiving blanket on top and used the steam iron, gently placing it on top, picking it up, repositioning it to cover the whole piece. It was fast. I re-pinned the piece usually one more time to get the edge nice and straight without the poking and steamed again. I used the tape measure to make sure the arms where ending up the same and the two fronts.
Once, I was done with this, I started piecing everything together. It's been a while, so had to re-learn how to do the mattress stitch. What seemed like a good effort at first, left me with an invisible flat seem on the inside but with three rows of the little braid stockinette stitch on the outside. So I started over and quickly got it figured out.
Now, I just need to finish the collar and pockets.
looking very good so far! Beautiful colour.
ReplyDeleteWow! That is stunning! I can't wait to see the finished product.
ReplyDelete