Initial Thoughts:
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I’m surprised that there aren’t more versions in the project pages, just given how chic and useful this type of garment is. All of the Scandi elegant with the practicality of a poncho :-) Admittedly, this is my jam - and I don’t see a zillion knitters making these sorts of fitted ponchos. I find them totally wearable - even under puffer coats (just lift it up a bit in back and it becomes like a cowl). And I tend to wear them inside in winter to give a bit of extra warmth.
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I’m no expert on half-fisherman’s rib (HFR), though I’ve made at least one project that uses this tuck stitch. I bought this pattern a while ago and, even though I’m totally into it as a finished object, it took me till now to decide that I was going to wade in. It’s not a hard pattern but does require full engagement, at least for the first 30ish rows, which are knitted flat before joining in the round. Those double increases take some dexterity and there are quite a of them front-loaded at the start of the project. So you jump into rows that increase 8-12st at a time.
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My gauge is a bit off, even having gone down a needle size to a 3.25mm. I may knit this shorter given that my row gauge is still longer than instructed. Note however that I only blocked my first swatch (see details at end of post) and I’m using pre vs post blocked info derived from that swatch to estimate what will come of my knit, post-blocking. Effectively, the garment is my second swatch so I’m paying pretty close attention to it while I’m getting a sense of how this is going to knit and fit.
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I find both ribbing and tuck stitches tricky in terms of determining gauge - esp when fibre weight and 3D shaping are added into the equation. This fabric has a LOT of give so I’m inclined to go smaller (some mash up of size 1 and 2, as necessary - not that I have any sense, right now, of how I’ll do that). I don’t know how my last (brioche) project managed to be so tight that I had to go up 2 needle sizes (when everyone says to go down 2 needle sizes in brioche). At least, with this knit, I didn’t have to increase the needle size to get gauge. And the fabric is much less stiff than my last (brioche) project, even after going down a needle size.
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After joining in the round, I opted to block my work (on the 3.25mm needle) to see how things were looking gauge-wise. It seems that my post-blocked gauge grew more than on the swatch that was made with a larger needle - though it is a bigger piece of fabric. It’s hard to tell what’s going on here size-wise.
Working the Collar:
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Go down 2 needle sizes.
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I opted to start working the collar after joining the body, to confirm that the neck would fit. This is definitely the weak element of the pattern, at least from an explanatory perspective. I don’t feel that the instructions are particularly robust and, if I weren’t a long-time knitter I’d probably have given up trying to align everything.
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Note that the only places wherein you can reduce stitches (given that you need to pick up stitches so that they align/stay in pattern with the HFR on the body) are the sides that abut the front 13 stitches that are cast on when you join the body in the round (aka the front neck).
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Alas, there are many stitches to reduce when making size 2 - 62, to be exact - over two rather short segments on either side of the front neck. It is exceedingly fussy and it takes time to pick up the correct number of stitches in pattern. It does work out but the instructions provide no support.
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Point is, this isn’t like picking up a regular collar wherein you can work a 2:3 ratio - and then adjust that rate, if desired, to make things snugger. To a large extent, you are limited by the size of the neck opening, specifically the zones where the stitch count can be adjusted to ensure that you have the instructed, or desired, number of stitches.
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It’s also tricky to figure out how to pick up the stitches on those side zones (that abut the 13 front stitches). If you pick them up such that you can’t see the purl bumps (garter edging from when knitting flat), then there will be a flap edge of fabric hanging on the wrong side. If you pick up close to the cast on edge (what you’d do with all of the HFR stitches), then you see a bunch of non-HFR stitches that really aren’t improving the look of things because they only appear in these zones).
Working the Body
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About the M2 Before the SM: I have to say that I don’t like the look of this double increase, which instructs that you pick up the yarn over from the previous round (as the increase strand) and that you do this by putting the needle from back to front (the pick up mechanism when you M1R). It leaves an observable strand from the raglan line to the increases.
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I opted to work this differently and I prefer the look: I actually picked up the strand as if to M1L and the strand I picked up is not the YO but the one below the yarn over. Note that I made sure to put the yarn over strand in back of the picked up strand. That creates a more invisible pick up that hides the YO behind the newly picked up 2 stiches. FWIW, I picked up the lower strand back to front but that required me to knit the second stitch (purl) through the front loop.
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I used exactly 100g (of the 261g of handspun) as of the point where there are only 2 more increase rounds over 20R, i.e., when there are 228st on the needles. This includes the collar (minus the bind off and potentially a couple of additional rounds) which I had already worked. Oh, and my swatch (5.75g).
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I’m trying to determine whether I need to do the final increase round instructed for size 2. If I don’t I’ll be at 236st which is 40” unstretched and unblocked (and this stitch stretches a LOT). My swatch on a US4 did grow by 10% after blocking. Admittedly, I have worked this garment on a US3 needle, so the stretch and post-blocking growth might be less that 10%, but it’s still going to grow to some extent. I don’t want this to be tight, but I also don’t want it to be loose, so I’m walking a line… I’m going to measure it against my Comfort Zone, a stockinette poncho that I wear all the time (and it fits well). Update: I opted NOT to do the final instructed increase because I can stretch the garment to the widest circ of my Comfort Zone and I don’t want this to be loose - esp as I still need to block it AND with wear it will also likely grow over time, given the HFR stitch that’s used. I’m working the body with 236st on the needles.
Useful Facts:
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Note that, as of the depth at which the final increase is recommended for size 2, I have 8” of depth from the back neck (unblocked).
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1.5” of depth or 26R of body (R1 and R2 repeat worked 13x), at full circ, took 62g of yarn (161g-99g remaining as of completion of the 26R). So it’s taking more like 2.38g to work each round - a lot more than I originally estimated by doing a bit of math with not a lot of length to work from. It’s prob more accurate to say it’s taking 4.75g to work one repeat of R1 and R2, both of which are required to complete a round. Update: While this makes sense on paper, I just worked 4R of the pattern at full circ and I think I used 4g. I’ll just keep weighing as I go…
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I’ll leave 8g of yarn to complete the neckband and to work the final 2 rounds of tubular set up plus Italian bind off (which provides a scant 0.5” of depth). So, having 91g available (99g-8g), I should be able complete another 19 2-round repeats - or 38 rounds in total.
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The pattern indicates that the garment in the marketing photos was worked 5” as of the point at which one begins knitting without any additional increases. As such, I estimate that the length of the sample is ~12-13” in depth from the back body cast on edge (but I this is based on my row gauge, which is larger than the pattern recommended gauge). Having tried this garment on, I think I want to work 13.5” depth from the back neck cast on. Update: After 28R more / 14 Vs, I think I like the length just fine - and it’s only 11.5” in depth from the back neck, and 10” depth from the front neck. I still need to do the tubular set up and bind off so it will gain another 0.5” and then, on blocking, it may get longer still. I’ve also determined, on trying this on, that I want 2 more Vs of height/length in the collar before I Italian BO without doing the tubular set up, my general preference for a collar. At this point, I have 64g remaining. I really overestimated how much yarn I’d need, even if I did decide to BO with 1.5” less depth than I originally thought I’d want. I estimate I’ll have about 55g when I’ve completed this garment.
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My unblocked row gauge is 48R in 4” (24Vs). That’s 12R per inch (which equals 6 Vs, given that each HFR V takes 2 rounds to create).
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In the end I worked 8 Vs on the collar (16R plus cast on and Italan BO). My neck isn’t that long and I don’t want this to feel like it’s choking me, esp in my hot flash era
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Cost: $28CDN all in, for the fibre that I spun myself. Of course it took dozens of hours to spin the yarn
Final Thoughts:
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Alas - I’ve just blocked this and it didn’t turn out as desired but I’m not panicking yet. The current issue: the yoke aka the length between the neck and the part at which the shoulder incs stop, is very long - like 9.5”. I did note this when blocking and wondered how it would work out because that’s way more depth than I require with a narrow frame and shorter vertical measurements. I did pin the garment but not between the collar and the point at which the body is full circ. Nonetheless, there’s a steep diagonal that stops at a curve and that curve is in the wrong spot for me (3” below my actual shoulder joint, over which this garment is designed to fit). The potential solution: I think this is one of those cases when blocking might actually fix the issue because the garment fitted me well before I blocked it. It’s currently being reblocked without any pins, with intent to shorten the span between the cast on edge and the length at which the increases cease (effectively the diagonal sides of the yoke). I also want to reduce any sharp curve shaping and situate a gentle curve closer to my actual shoulder. If anything, I want to shape that curve 3” higher/closer to shoulder than it is was after blocking, but doing that may be tricky as that point falls midway through the increase section. I did follow the instructions but my row gauge is obvs notably longer and the dimensions of the design are also playing a part. A schematic would have been helpful.
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How did the Second Block Go?: Well, it fixed the issue by about 95%, which is good. But this yarn has a lot of memory and I blocked it hard the first time. So I think I’ll need to steam block the shoulders again to remove the remnants of the problematic shoulder curve that I blocked in first time around. Note to anyone thinking of making this, you def want to block such that the shoulder curve is gradual and even.
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In the end, I don’t feel that this yarn created the optimal version of this shrug, and it’s unlikely that I will try again cuz frankly, it’s just too much work for the outcome. I’ve made other shrugs/ponchos that I like more and that are probably more versatile. I sense that I’ll be giving this one away, which is just fine…
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This exercise has taught me a little bit more about tuck stitch patterns and how they cohere to create a finished fabric. Experience counts. I’ve knitted a zillion stockinette-based sweaters so I can interpret things while I’m working. I’ve made a handful of brioche/HFR/FR patterns and I don’t fully understand their properties as yet.
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The designer is correct when she suggests that this is an intermediate pattern. If I were a newer knitter, even with some experience, I’d probably have given up on it fairly quickly because it’s tricky knitting and, while well-written, the pattern does not provide adequate context in a certain respect (see all of my info about the collar…)
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It’s inevitable that one will need to ladder down to fix errors in the HFR over the course of the process. So I recommend practicing how to do this - via helpful YouTube videos - on the swatch.
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The pattern instructs tubular set up followed by Italian bind off of edging (which it calls tubular bind off and which it doesn’t explain how to do. While this information is easily available - and I personally am familiar with it - when I buy a pattern, my expectation is that techniques referenced will be explained.
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This knitting was a bit hard on my hands, which might be because I’m working with handspun yarn on a fairly small needle and there are 236st per round. Of course, every 2R = 1 V. Knitting twice the number of rounds to get to the desired depth can take its toll.
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My yarn did not grow nor shrink on blocking- neither vertically nor horizontally. I’m pretty sure that it will relax as it’s worn and gradually get a bit bigger, but I didn’t experience a change in size - esp given that I didn’t pin it at all, second time blocking. This isn’t consistent with my swatch but, hey, whatcha gonna do?
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I ended my increases 10R sooner than instructed and I used 204g of the handspun yarn, leaving 57g for another project…
Preblocked Measurements:
Length from base of collar to hem (front body): 10”
Length from base of collar to hem (back body): 12”
Circ at base: 40” (unstretched)
Depth of collar: 1.5” (scant)
Width of neck opening: 5.5”
Depth of yoke from base of collar (raglan/diagonal segment): 7.5”
After Second Block (as the first one was problematic, see above): I did this second block without any pinning to allow the natural shoulder shape to unfold / to keep the shoulder curve at the appropriate height. All of the preblocked measurements were retained after blocking EXCEPT for the depth of yoke, which was what I aimed to modify. This definitely worked - though I think I’m going to need to re-steam block the side body to get rid of the shoulder curve memory from the initial block.
Note that the front neck is 2” lower than the back neck which is why the length on the front body is 2” shorter than on back body…
Gauge Swatching:
Preblocked Gauge - US4: 25st and 48R in 4”
Postblocked Gauge - US4: 22.5st and 44R
10% wider and 15% longer than instructed. I’m going to go down a needle size to a 3.25mm