04.15.07

Knitting With Disaster Part 2

Posted in Knitting at 7:19 am by Lynette

In a past post, Knitting with disaster, I talked about a vest I was knitting without a pattern.  I also mentioned how sometimes I amaze myself.  This vest was a combination of several parts.  A pattern from felted accessories, wool from Shaniko’s own Columbia Sheep, Ashford acid dyes and large beautiful button  from Ah Kimono!  I guess you could say I’ve combined the old, new and Asian all into one article.  The best part about the vest is it actually turned out how I envisioned it.  This, in it’s self is amazing considering all the different stages it/I went through.

First the knitting…a very basic k3,pl pattern with purl row after 6 rows which gave a window pane type look.  Then I had to rip out the arm binding twice because I didn’t like how it bunched up the arm.  Finally I added the collar/front band after the vest was felted and the band was felted.  One think I realized just in time is do not lay it out to dry in the sun, the dog will help with the drying process.  I learned several things one very valuable.

When felting an item you will be adding knitting/embellishment to later, always finish off the edge with a row or two of cotton yarn.  The item will felt but the cotton won’t and you can easily pull out those stitches after the felting and drying.  What is left are nice little holes to pick up stitches and add your embellishment.

So show us the picture already. Here you go.  And the Back.

And thanks to Linda for suggesting I add another color to the dye pot.  I initially wanted to dye it brown but she suggested the brown dye over the grey wool would be dull.  So I added equal parts of Brown and Purple.  What came out was this beautiful mahogany.  I love it, it fits and I feel I’ve made a giant leap in my confidence.  All these years of following patterns have paid off.  I can actually design an item and have it turn out the way I want.

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