I think someone has put a “Kim Hargreaves Curse” on me!
I love her designs but I keep on getting it wrong with stupid errors when I knit them! It’s not like I’m a beginner either is it?? They all turn out OK in the end but if I’m going to mess up it’s on a Kim pattern….
First there was Maria – a lovely favourite top of mine – but I sewed the left sleeve into the right armhole <Slaps forehead>
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Then there was Emily – This time I managed to get the edging different lengths and forget to do the decreasing on the sleeves…
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The Haven scarf??? That turned out really well but I made a huge blunder and messed up the pattern (with associated embarrassing shot of me being unhappy about it…)
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Turned out OK after some frogging though…
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And of course there was the memorable Ronnie – the sloppy Joe in Rowan Big Wool. I struggled with the tension, made it was too large and end up looking like a Dr Who alien and promising a “big wool bonfire”!
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Ronnie has escaped the bonfire and has now been rehomed to a friend of mine – She looks fabulous in Ronnie – maybe because she’s a foot taller than me!
So what Kim Hargreaves related disaster has prompted this “Susan’s Screw-up Retrospective”??
I’ve had some pretty red Rowan Summer Tweed in my stash for some time – another John Lewis Rowan sale source of guilt 😳
I had always intended to make Elizabeth from Kim’s Heartfelt book with it. With the sun shining and the air-conditioning at work blasting so I need a jacket in the office it was calling to me.
This is the piccy in Kim’s book…
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Beautiful huh? Love that curved peplum 🙂 I would even knit moss stitch (which I don’t enjoy much) to own that beauty!
I happily got out my swift and wound the hanks of Summer Tweed into yarn cakes – I love this stage of starting a new project 🙂
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So off I started knitting the back….
….I found that the pattern was complicated and had lots of shortrow shaping to make the curve – a common technique Kim uses…But the Knits and Purls were in the wrong place for the moss stitch – that’s not like a Kim pattern….
One ball of yarn later- looked back at the pattern, relieved I had finished the short row shaping….
A word caught my eye at the top of the page….
Elizabeth is knitted in DOUBLE moss stitch throughout….I had diligently corrected the pattern to single moss stitch. I hit myself in the face with the pattern several times to try and beat some sense into myself. I only do this type of screw up with Kim’s patterns!!
Rip…Rip…Rip…start again…
I finished the back without drama…
It did seem a bit large…..
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But the DOUBLE moss stitch looked super in the red…
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I’m half way up a front – the fronts and the notched collar are supposed to be the hard bits….
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I was a happy little knitter….then, in a quite coffee break at work, I thought I’d show a colleague what I was working on and looked at Kim’s site…..
….and found the errata….
ELIZABETH
Back – Length to the beg of armhole shaping should read 38.5 (38.5: 40: 40: 40: 40) and not 42 (42: 43: 43: 43: 43) as stated.
Left front – Shape armhole should read as folls:
Cast off 4 (4: 5: 5: 5: 6) sts at beg of next row. Work 1 row. Dec 1 st at armhole edge of next 5 (5: 5: 5: 7: 7) rows and 2 (2: 3: 3: 2: 3) foll alt rows, and then on foll 4th row.
Size diagram – garment length should read 56.5 (57.5: 59: 60: 61: 62) cm – 22 ¼ (22 ½ : 23: 23 ½ : 24: 24 ½) in
I had knit 3.5 cms too much before starting the armholes! All that knitting wasted 🙁
So tonight I rip a large chunk of the back out and do it again.
I suppose it’s not too bad – that’s the first time in my many Kim Hargreaves’s cursed garments it’s not been my fault!!
Oh wow, I’d not seen that pattern before, I think I’m in love. That is going to be gorgeous in that yarn. I can’t wait to see you in the finished garment. At least Summer Tweed actually improves with frogging (in my opinion it softens it up and gets rid of the crackliness of the unworked yarn).
Oh no! What a bummer! It’ll be worth it in the end tho’!
Don’t you just hate it when they put in errata and don’t point it out in the main text. I’m good at messing up patterns too and I hate pulling back! That pattern is gorgeous and will look lovely in the red. I’m very tempted but have a cerise top to start when I have finished my four-ply cardi. Nearly there – just got the cable button band to do.
x Tricia
Gorgeous jacket, so elegant, I’m sure it will be worth it.
Whether I’m knitting or sewing, I’m always either unravelling rows or unpicking stitches! Persevere – that top is gorgeous!
I have seen this jumper in its knitted stages at Knitting Group and it looks gorgeous. The colour really sets off the pattern.
The top is really lovely, knowing you you’ll get there!! A well deserved mention in Woman’s Weekly under “blog inspiration”
Hi Kathy
I’m in Woman’s Weekly??!!! I didn’t know!
Do you know what issue? I must get a copy for my scrapbook (and for my Mum!)
Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Susan
Hi Susan
You are mentioned in this weeks issue (31st May) and it will be on sale till Tuesday 31st May.
It just shows how popular you are and how we all love to see your fantastic work!!
I have made so many mistakes like that. Some of them moulder in a bag somewhere, I can’t bear to look at them again. Others I have ripped back and bravely restarted. I am also totally lacking in will power in the face of a John Lewis yarn sale. I love the red jacket, it will be beautiful I’m sure you will love wearing it
Haha! I have had exactly the same experience with Kim Hargreaves Ronnie. It is now referred to as ‘the tank’ it is massive and so heavy to wear!
I am knitting this and am totally confused about the left front I am at Nest row (RS)(dec)(inc) The large section right before shaping the armhole. I dont understand the front shaping!!! Have you completed the project?
I’m a beginner to the world of knitting. I’ve found it is therapeutic. A while back I found a Kate Buller book that has been good for newbies like me, e.g., split pages that show “how to” examples that can be easily positioned under the pattern being worked. Lot’s of the designs in this book are Kim Hargreaves. I found what I thought was going to be an easy project, a camisole, but it has taken me a while to work through some of the pattern instructions. I finally got out paper and wrote instructions down and worked it out like an algebraic equation. Thankfully, it worked and all the bits are lined up. But it took two days and lots of gnashing of teeth to get there. Just ask my husband who kept asking one night, after midnight, “are you ever going to turn the light out?” And me? I’ve never been so relaxed!!
This jacket does look beautiful even as you have already knitted it. I think it might have inspired me to give it a go as my next project. As it is I’m finishing up a cardi at the moment. It’s good to know that a project can be finished even if it takes a long time. Well worth it and your jacket looks great!
I’m just starting to knit Kim Hargreaves patterns. I’m currently on the Cerulean jumper – but stumped at her explanations on knitting sleeve increases. they just make no sense to me whatsoever – so if anyone has any advice……!
Thank goodness I’m not the only one! I’m knitting Kim’s Wave in silk mohair. The instructions are so sparse that I’ve had to go to knitting forum for the first time ever for interpretation. Now I have no idea how to construct it all. I think I’m just going to have to wave my hands like they do in a Charlie Brown Christmas and hope it magically comes together!