Sunday, August 20, 2006

Blood-Sweat and Tears!

I'm not quite sure I can express the relieve I feel that this cardigan is done. But I'll try. Knitting was the easy part. If you are partial to a glass of wine (I'm not) you would have needed a whole bottle to get going. Me? I've knit quickly a pair of socks to calm my nerves (and cleaned a little) and played with the dogs and listened to music and cleaned out my car and organized my books alphabetical (just kidding) ... Anything to avoid this nightmare. I've found a video online to learn how to do the mattress stitch. They show it with a piece of stockinet stitch, which looked easy enough. My sweater was not knit in stockinet stitch. Nevertheless, I think I did pretty good. (I don't care if you don't think so)


The picture to the right comes close to the actual color. You would think the outside light might give you a better result, but no. This cardigan is for my daughter Hannah. She's picked it out of the book "Knitting Nature" by Norah Gaughan, I think by now everybody knows that book. She also picked the color and the buttons. I never read all the instructions before I start and so I didn't know that the buttons where supposed to be 1 ". Mine are 1 1/2 " big. When I knit the button hole the one YO made me laugh. How the hell ..... I did 3 YO's in the end and the buttons get trough the holes but with a little force. Oh well.
I made a mistake in the pattern on the back, if you want to look for it, be my guest. I didn't want to tink back a few rows and no way was I letting all the sts off the needles!
The pattern was very well written. I did everything (except the button holes) exactly as in the book. But I found a mistake in the pattern. On page 14, Back: Shape Sleeve: it says to work even for 13"" which would make the back 3 " longer. Stop at 10" because you are going to knit 3" ribbing and that makes up the whole length.

So now to the specifics:
pattern: asymmetrical Cardigan "Knitting Nature" by Norah Gaughan
Size: petit
yarn: Gems Sapphire Chunky Weight, 100% merino wool, 1 skein = 100gr= 103 yds; I needed 8 balls
needles: 5.5mm for ribbing, 6mm for body
error on page 14: Back: Shape Sleeve: work even for 13" (do not) work only 10 ".

It was also the first time I used a chart for the pattern or lets say I could read it.
There's only one thing left to say : I hope it fits Hannah!


These are the socks I made to avoid starting the sewing together. I used Gems Pearl yarn, self dyed it (in June I think). I never get them to be twins. The better looking sock is on top. It did stripe, the second one did a lot of pooling, but I don't care too much. They are for myself and as long as they'll keep me warm....

Helga: I would like to answer but I don't know how to get in touch with you. Maybe you could leave me an e-mail address. You can use my e-mail in my profile to write to me. Thanks.

To conclude this tale - it was a CHALLENGE to make this cardigan. I'm not sure I'll repeat this experience any time soon.

Somebody asked for a link to see how the mattress stitch is made, have a look here http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/basic_techniques/misc.php

19 comments:

Martina said...

You did such a great job! Congrats!

Anonymous said...

The cardigan is absolutely stunning! It's one of my favoutites in the book, I would love to knit it for myself!

....but right now I'm busy with a certain afghan that you tempted me with 'lol'

Anonymous said...

The sweater looks fabulous! You did a great job!

Anonymous said...

WOW!!!
hannah is one lucky girl!!!
you did a great job!
and in my opinion you should do something very similar right away.
(it's like getting back on the horse, so to speak).
truly you did well! doing more will just increase your confidence!
take care,
helga

Violiknit said...

That is a gorgeous sweater! I love those socks too; what is that pattern?

Carrie K said...

Oh, Monika it looks fabulous! Wow. Just wow.

Abigale said...

I sure hope Hannah likes it and wears it every single day! That was a lot of work, and it sure came out great! Finished my p90, have pics - need to get them on the old blog, but I'm sure pleased with it (not so pleased with the pics of me - my boobs are not really that big!!)

Have fun!!

Abi

judith said...

Hallo Monika,

die Strickjacke sieht wunderschön aus, einfach perfekt! Ich bin schon ganz gespannt, wie sie angezogen aussieht

liebe Gruesse
judith

Anonymous said...

Now, this cardi is amazing, absolutely amazing, I'm totally impressed by it! I'd actually try my hands at it right away if I had the pattern! Fantastic job!

jillian said...

Your cardi is gorgeous!! It sounds like it was a trial - but the end result is wonderful! You should be so proudl. BTW - I like the larger buttons!

Carol said...

Stunning cardi! And now you have inspired me. To finsh the cardi I started quite a while ago? The one that is half sewn up? Hmmmm, I'll think about it....

Marji said...

I think you did a great job and it's really pretty

Brigitte said...

Hi Monika... The sweater is lovely! You deserve all the compliments you get. Your daughter is very lucky!

Brigitte

Abigail said...

Amazing! Bravo! Cheers! Well Done! The sweater is perfection. The color perfect for the pattern. I might have to make one some day....sigh.. for now I'm just happy to look at yours

Sunflowerfairy said...

Good JOB! You should be proud of yourself.

I just discovered mattress stitch too and it's wonderful!

gretchen said...

it may have been painful, but that sweater is beautiful...almost makes me want one.....almost....

Glaistig said...

Wow. You should be so proud of yourself!! Congratulations on a beautiful creation :)

And thanks for the errata note.

Anonymous said...

Hi Monika,
Great job on the asymmetrical cardi! Just wondering, as I am working on mine right now, is there another error in the "Right Front: Shape front neck" section that you noticed? It says to BO 18 sts once, 4 sts TWICE, 2 sts twice, decrease 1 st twice, whereas the Left Front: Shape front neck secion only calls for BO 4 sts once, 2 sts twice, 1 st twice.... And if you do what it says for the Right Front BO's, you come up 4 sts less then it says you should have! Maybe this is an error, maybe it's not? Thanks, jackie

Monika said...

To Jackie,
it's been a while and I don't remember the exact sts count. I only know that besides the back length in the size petit was wrong. Other than that, I did exactly as in the book and it turned out fine. Sorry, I couldn't be of more help.