Damn, Knit & Blast It

It seems like ages since I’ve been able to show you a finished garment I’ve made for myself.

**Imagine sounds of frantic typing and checking***

Hmmm – it has been months! Back in February, I showed you Branwen!

Time to rectify that shameful situation…

Hildegard is finished and she is lovely!

I finished sewing her up last week, sitting in my sister’s garden, basking in sunshine, sipping coffee and swinging in her garden swing seat – Heaven

Here she is…

The fit is super, mainly because the chevron pattern acts a little like rib and stretches over all the bumps, making it look like I’m a shaping guru. Be warned though – the more this stretches width ways the shorter it gets! The sleeves are a little long – I think because I allowed the same volume of horizontal stretch as I did for the body and I have skinny arms that really didn’t stretch the sleeves much at all.

On the topic of sleeves, I have a real soft spot for sleeves that have this kind of pointy edging and the cuff…

Cute huh?

I made this Hildegard quite a bit longer than my last one, the one I showed you here. In fact I did 6 more pattern repeats before starting the armholes. I’m glad I did! This Hildegard sits just below my natural waist and really doesn’t want to be any shorter. I’m betting on the silk dropping a little too.

Considering that I made it longer, I was very pleased with the number of balls of the Pure Silk it took. I got the whole garment out of 10 balls! That means I have another 10 in stash to make something else. Thinking about it though, I might Ebay those 10 and buy a different colour – two tops the same colour might be a bit much??

Oh! I nearly forgot to tell you about the last finishing touch – the buttons.

I decided to recycle the buttons from my old Hildegard – I loved that top so much I had to save a little of it and I think they are the perfect match.

There are button holes for them to go into but they really don’t show and I don’t do them up – I think that little V is very cute as it is.

So what to knit next? I think I’ll have to think about my Ebay Boo Boo…

Completed Knit Report
Name:	Silk Hildegard
Pattern:	Jaeger JH0029 (from 1997)
Yarn:	Jaeger Pure Silk
Pattern Problems:	None
Pattern Modifications:	Made it longer than the pattern said in the body. Short rowed shoulders.
Washing and Wearing:	Pattern works like rib – stretches over your curves and makes the fit look flawless! I don’t think the Silk will like any rough handling though.
Knit It Again???:	OhYes! This is the third Hildegard I’ve made…
Difficulty:	3/5 The difficulty is in “keeping the pattern correct” when shaping.
Rating:	5/5
Other Postings Relating To This One:	Goodybye old Favorite and Hello new version Knit for Victory The Return to Hildegard

Have you ever had a yarn related accident?

Have you ever had a yarn buying accident?

I have. I made big Ebay boo boo

I occasionally sell unwanted yarn on Ebay and often browse the knitting section just to window shop. I need more yarn like a hole in the head

Sometimes, if I spot a real bargain, I’ll put in a bid to see if I “get lucky”.

On one of these window shopping expeditions, I spotted 14 balls of Black Rowan Kid Classic, complete with the pattern book.

“Oh, what a bargain! There’s a super pattern in Kim Hargreaves’ Heartfelt called Emily I can make with that!

I bid, a very reasonable amount and won! I paid and a couple of days later my yarn arrived.

Hmmm….That’s a bit fuzzy for Kid Classic…

The ball bands said Kid SOFT!!

I must stress at this point – the seller (who was completely honest and above board) had described the Yarn as Kid Soft. And shown a picture of 14 balls of Kid Soft. And shown a picture of the Kid Soft Booklet. And the title of the Ebay listing said KID SOFT.

So why the bloody hell did I read KID CLASSIC?? I am an idiot – it’s the only possible explanation!

Here is the mountain of fuzzy blackness…

For those of you confused by the difference between Kid Soft and Kid Classic (or if like me you read them as exactly the same thing!)…

Kid Classic is

• Lightweight Aran
• 70% lambswool, 26% kid mohair, and 4% nylon
• knits to 18-19 sts x 23-25 rows
• on 5-5.5mm / 6-5UK / 8-9US needles.

Kid Soft is

• Heavier than Aran (but lighter than Chunky)
• 35% extra fine Merino, 40% kid mohair and 25% nylon
• knits to 15-17 sts x 20-22 rows
• on 5-5.5mm / 6-5UK / 8-9US needles.

Weirdly, Kid Soft and Kid Classic were launched at the same time (about Winter 2000) – subsequent Rowan magazines are chock full of patterns for Kid Classic but there is not one pattern in the Rowan Mags for Kid Soft?? Why launch a yarn and not put it in the mags?

The extra mohair in the Kid Soft makes is very fuzzy and “mohairy”. The differences with gauge will make it hard to swap for kid classic without getting a very dense fabric. And the fuzz would disguise any pretty stitch patterns or detailing.

I looked through the accompanying pattern book – It’s by Kim Hargreaves too! The pattern book was published in 2000 but as ever with Kim, several of the designs are very wearable – who wouldn’t need a plain fuzzy black jumper huh?

With 14 balls I have enough yarn to make a huge coat and a shorter jumper…I’m going to be knitting a lot of black this summer…

That title is too good for a blog post!

It should be an action movie, maybe an archaeology professor fighting Nazi baddies and hunting for the lost knitted treasures of Hildegard? The sequel could be “Raiders of the Lost Stash Box”??

But I digress. Back to reality – which isn’t quite as exciting. I have finally been able to pick up my Silk Hildegard again. That’s the old favourite that I’m reknitting that I told you about in Goodbye Old Favourite, Hello New Version and Knit for Victory.

The return to Hildegard has reminded me of yet another reason I don’t like having multiple WIPs (Works in Progress). I have kinda lost the initial enthusiasm for Hildegard. I love the pattern, it’s knitting up a treat, the yarn is yummy and I really want the finished garment. Now though, after leaving it for a while, it just feels like a chore to get through before I can get onto a new thing.

There’s only one sleeve left to do and I’m 2/3 of the way up it so not much of a slog, I know. I’ve remembered the pattern OK but I can’t quite remember how I worked all the increases into the pattern for the first sleeve. I think I’ve got them the same and, lets be pragmatic here, who the heck is going to be comparing my sleeve decreases? But it still niggles at me. Hmmmm…I never thought I’d be a closet perfectionist!

Here’s the pattern in case you’ve forgotten – I love this !

The good news is the yarn quantities I’ve used. I’ve just started my 10th ball of the Jaeger Pure Silk so I might be able to get Hildegard out of 10 balls, 11 at most – that leaves me with another 9 to play with! (Did I confess I had grabbed two bags of pure silk in the January sales?)

So, as I don’t like blogging without showing you pictures too – want to see the knitted bits so far?

After all these years of knitting – I am still always surprised at just how long sleeves are! I think that picture really shows it – before you ask they are supposed to be that long – I’m not a chimp!!

Hmmm….finish the sleeve, sew up, do the neck – Go Shopping for buttons! That should spur me on

I’ve just had the phone call I was expecting from birthday boy, Steve – His Bowie fits!

I was pretty anxious about it – I had measured Steve carefully before I started but there was the grain of doubt. I am relieved and pleased.

Steve really liked Bowie and was genuinely chuffed with it

Unfortunately for Steve, my sister Carol was allowed to try Bowie on and has refused to take it off, despite it being a hot sunny day.

Don’t say I told you but apparently she was trying to stretch it over her chest to put boob shaped bumps in the front so Steve can’t wear it…..Sometimes I wonder if we are really related… I’d never do a thing like that..OK, maybe I’m jealous because I didn’t think of it first… and I lack some of the essential equipment to carry out that plan!

Steve will have to fight to keep Bowie to himself!

Want to see a picture before I tell you about the modifications I made?

Clearly, it is floating in mid-air with no help at all from my glamorous assistant, Ben

When I made Ben’s Bowie, one thing that niggled me was the picked up stitches for the collar. There was a hard line around the bottom of the collar. See what I mean?

On Steve’s version, I didn’t cast off the centre neck stitches on the back and the front – I left them on a stitch holder and completed the rest of the neck shaping according to the pattern. When I picked up the collar stitches, I just knit across the stitches on the stitch holder. You end up picking up the same number of stitches that you cast off so I couldn’t see why it wouldn’t work!

Also, for Steve, because he doesn’t like high neck lines, I made the collar shorter – 4cms not the 9cms decreed in the pattern.

Here’s how Steve’s looks…

What do you think? I think it looks better

Next time I visit Carol and Steve, I’ll try and get a photo of Steve wearing his Bowie – That’s assuming Carol hasn’t stolen it by then!

I want to don’t bore you with my rapid but visually unexciting progress with Bowie, so I thought I’d show you what everybody else at “The Guilty Knitters” is making. (Click the link to see why we are Guilty!!)

These ladies are unbelievably creative and prolific. The wonderful thing is that we all like knitting different styles of items – the variety is fabulous

I’m storming along with Steve’s Bowie - back front and one sleeve done. If I get my head down, I think I’ll make my deadline of his birthday – 9th May – I might need express post to get it to him though

First Janie’s Gents socks with Lozenge Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks. Janie has recently discovered the “Joy of Socks” and has become a hopeless sockaholic

You need to see a close up of the pattern on these…

Our next sock obsessed knitter is Judie, experimenting with toe up

That yummy yarn is Socks that Rock, Watermelon Tourmaline. Judie insisted on showing us how well her sock fitted, right there in Starbucks!

Anita is making a “Claplette” (That’s a mini Clapotis ) as a gift using Sari Silk – making the dropped stitches run down the knitting is a bit of a swine with this yarn!

Jane has the beautifully coloured Rowan organic cotton to make Potpourri, from the Rowan book to accompany the yarn – how she is managing to do this pattern and gossip with the rest of us and drink coffee I don’t know!

Lastly Jeni – This is “Ladies Shrug” by Kay Jones – Jeni is the fastest, neatest crocheter I have seen…

Lastly as Jeni was getting up to leave, I insisted on snapping a pic for you of her gloves – made with opal sock yarn

Now you can see where my inspiration comes from – It’s like this every week – a constant parade of knitted and crocheted loveliness – heaven!