December 15, 2020

My best tension is on Addi 3.5m circular.

Found a formula for calculating tail for long tail cast on: stitches X needle size divided by 8 + end tale. So for this 390 X 3.5 / 8 + 10 = 180 (8 remains constant - something to do with pi) I laid my yarn, relaxed, over my 5 foot sewing tape 3 times. Like magic. After casting on I had a 10 inch tail. Yay.

I put the first row on straight needles so I could join without a twist. Then joined and worked 6 rounds Definitely not twisted. I think I am launched. REMEMBER TO KEEP CHECKING TENSION.

Dec 27 2020: Christmas and Boxing day I worked on the Cloak instead. Back on Tapestry today. Hated working rows 30 - 36. Just not a pink person. Back on a brown/pale blue combo tomorrow. Yay.

Tension check: I think the stitch tension is pretty much on 29 sts to 4”, where it should be. The row tension is slightly big. At 84 rounds I have 12.5”. Tension should be 30 rounds to 4” so I should be at 84 / 7.5 or 11.2”. I am happy to have garment a little longer so no worries. Also I have large arms so if arms a little large probably a good thing. All in all I believe I am on track. I may have to work back and side panels with a few extra stitches so they will fit into body that is elongated by larger row tension.

Dec 31 2020: Finished row 91. Row 92 is that pinky/mauve combo that I dislike :- Think I will do a switcheroo with mulberry and foxglove replacing blossom and thistle. If there has to be pink, let it be assertive pink. If I am short later I can dip into my boxed set of 16 base colours. Especially as this next colour set is right where fronts cross over my bust. This is a prominent place to have a colour set I don’t like.

Jan 4 2021: Finished knitting the body. I do have to add a few stitches to the back panel so that it will be long enough for my back with the slightly bigger row tension. It seems that I have one extra inch on the body so I have reworked the panel with 5 extra stitches each side. I will exchange Limeflower in place of Blossom.

Jan 5: Dusted 3 years of dust from sewing machine and machine sewed centre back steek, cut it open and picked up 141 stitches for back panel. The panel length seems to match length of body. Yay. This is my first machine sewn steek and I am very happy with it. Quick, secure, no bulk and no tacky ends to darn down. Also much faster than crochet method.

Jan 2022: Interjecting a note about steeks. Since Tapestry I have tried and am now totally committed to needle felting steeks before cutting. Have used on both Magnolia cardis and anywhere I need to secure stitches Can’t over-emphasize. They are a game changer.

Jan 6: Just passed halfway point of panel. So far looks good for size and colour. I am happy with the Limeflower in place of Blossom.

Jan 6: Finished back panel insert and attached it with a 2.5m crochet hook. Machine sewed the side and front steeks then cut open.

First time for machine sewn steeks. Whenever I cut steeks open I feel a moment or two of queaziness. Something about seeing your precious knitting cut into pieces. Panic attacks aside, I think sewn steeks are good. They seem strong, fast to do and no bulk.

I seamed the shoulders and picked up stitches across top of shoulder edge for first sleeve.

Jan 8: First sleeve started
Jan 9: Just over 6” of sleeve done. Starting to take shape.
Jan 10: Switched from 3.5m to 3.25m needles on sleeve round 50. The width seems generous and I believe sleeves will be too long. (again cursed with large row tension.) After completing first 73 row repeat I worked out final sleeve length including change to 3.25m needles. Looks like I should be just at wrist bone when pattern done then there is 4 rounds of rib and cast-off. Looking good…
Jan 12: Finished first sleeve leaving stitches on holder so final edging can be done later. Did not work last blue/purple motif. I don’t need the length and I love that final flowery motif and will leave at bottom for prominence.
Picked up stitches for side panel. I used my modified back panel with a few more mods. Again I needed a few more stitches to accommodate extra length due to my body row tension being a bit large.
Jan 15: Left side panel complete and attached to back.
Jan 16: Starting right sleeve.
Jan 20: Should finish 2nd sleeve today. (I am thinking I may turn one of the sleeve motifs into a ribbed border for bottom.) Second sleeve done and side panel started
Jan 22: Second side panel complete and attached.

Jan 22: Now I have big dilemma. I actually do not like the garment on me. It is absolutely huge at the bottom. (74” around) That is partly because my row gauge was large throughout meaning back and side panels were wider than designed.
Nor do I like the open design at front with just a ribbed small band under the collar. I love the collar. I think I am going to go rogue. Maybe chop off a few inches of the front so that the front is straight down from ‘V’d’ neck, work a collar all the way down to the bottom so it really becomes a front border rather than a collar.

I machine sewed a line from top of neck straight down to bottom. This line leaves 2 stitches beside half of the 8 point star so that left and right sides between them show a complete star. On my piece that was 4.5” off each side. This cuts the sharply curved part at the bottom. The machine sewed line acts as a cutting line and stabilized as a steek.

I love the little flowery motif used at bottom of sleeve. I think I will work it as a ribbed border around the entire bottom. Then the front border last going right down to bottom of ribbed bottom border.

Jan 23: I worked a swatch of 3/3 rib plus 1 stitch in the flowery motif with waste yarn to see how it would look. I think it is good. A little of the green disappears into purl bumps but motif is discernible. Going for it.

Jan 25: Finished my flowery border rib and I like it. (Worked on 3m needle) Adds a little length to balance the excessive width. It is more to my taste than the monochrome brown rib in the pattern.

Sleeves end on that same flower motif as I am skipping the purple/blue motif at end. I will add a simple two colour rib to pull in a bit and that will be that. OK done and I reduced the stitches from 78 to 76 to accommodate 2/2 rib and I don’t need the width.

Last I must work the ‘collar’ which will actually be a collar and band from bottom front, up to and around neck and back to bottom front on other side. I have been considering whether to to put in buttonholes and I think I have decided not to. Will only use pin closure.

Jan 26: picked up nearly 400 stitches for front border/collar band as described above. I changed the colours used to emphasize blues and greens. All was well with equal number of stitches on each side, stitches marked off for one motif centered at back neck, 7 complete 24-stitch motifs down each side and 17 sts at bottom left front and bottom right front. I worked the 2/2 blues for edge then next one solid colour row. As I began the 24 stitch border pattern I realized my stitches were not distributed exactly even on each side so that the borders did not exactly match the body motifs on each side. Pulled the 394 stitches off needle and ripped out plain row. Starting from bottom on each side, with 2 separate balls of yarn, I worked up both sides simultaneously ensuring that each 24 stitch repeat were same on each side relative to body motifs. Phew, 6 hours later ready to actually knit the border TOMORROW.
Jan 27: Coming along nicely now. Have decided I will do buttons, and do I have some juicy buttons for this. My large Schwarovsky green crystals have been waiting for something over-the-top and I believe this is it. (If not now, when?..)Therefore I will need 5 buttonholes on middle row of right border.

Jan 28: Front side of border done, complete with 5 buttonholes. Still have to knit reverse side or facing. The bottom of facing will be stockinette but I will rib the top portion to give extra support and stretch to the collar area where it will have to curve. I am certain that is why Marie designed her collar with rib back.

Jan 29: Working my way across the plain one colour stockinette and rib of the front border/collar facing. Boring but necessary.
Jan 30: Finished the facing and realized I forgot to leave large openings in the facing where the buttonholes are on the border. F$%&&!!! Never mind. I will reinforce area where I should have knit a square opening with machine zig-zag stitches and cut the inside open. I never like to have actual buttonholes piled right on top of each other. I find that it is too much fabric for the button shank to go through. If you extend the shank to accommodate the buttonhole the buttons look odd when not buttoned because they droop. Ever onward.
Jan 31: Before dealing with buttonholes I finished the raw edges at front which would have been the front steek cut but I cut off an extra 4 1/2” off each side before I picked up stitches for the front borders. I might have taken more but wanted to leave some of the large star motifs. So there is still a raw edge about 3/4” out from stitch pickup. Today I ran another line of machine stitching right beside the cuts. Then I pressed the edges out flat, and whip stitched them flat against the back of the border. They will be sandwiched between the border and the border facing.
Then I pinned the facing down, stretching the ribbed portion around the neck curves.

Once pinned I marked off an area 1 1/2” X 1 1/2” or so out from the buttonholes with thread. I ran a line of zig zag on top of the marking thread going twice around the circumference. Then I cut out the small pieces in the middle and stitched around the square holes so they are flat against the back of the border stitches.

Then I whip stitched down the facing around the neck first, then up both sides of border. Neck first because the shaping there is trickier. Then I sewed on buttons with an extra thin flat button reinforcing on wrong side.

I wanted continuity between the bottom of my front facings and the bottom of the rest of the sweater which is cast off in Limeflower. With 3.25m needle and Dark Apple I picked up 22 stitches across the bottom of each front border. I worked one row of K2, P2 rib in Limeflower then cast off in all knit with Limeflower. Then darned in ends catching the bottom of the border facing so there is no opening at the bottom between the border and border facing.

The End!

Final dimensions: width buttoned 55.5”
Length 35”
Sleeves measured cuff to cuff through back 60”

Note re yarns: I used 1 extra Limeflower and 2 extra Mallard.
I had leftovers of 1 Blossom, 2 Wood, 1 Chestnut, 1 Rose, and 1 Pale Oak

There doesn’t seem to be an official Ravelry space to rate the yarn. Marie Wallin’s British Breeds yarn is an exquisite wool lovers dream. Soft, strong and just ‘sticky’ enough for fabulous Fairisle garments. It is pricy but worth the money for that special garment or treat for yourself. This sumptuous yarn can easily be worn next to your skin. I hope she adds a few vibrant colours to her palette.