Archives for September 2019

Thank you for all your lovely comments on m y Beadwork Cardi. It has not yet been cool enough for me to be able to wear it, but hopefully soon.

I had so much fun knitting this cardi that I decided to knit another project using guensey yarn. This time I am using Frangipani 5-Ply Guernsey Wool, in the olive colorway. And I am making Alice Starmore’s Margaret Tudor pullover. This sweater has an interesting construction — the front and back are kn it in several panels that are then sewn together. Definitely not a project for seam-haters!

Here are the center front and back panels.

Here is a side panel.

This sweater has a lot of decorative buttons sewn on. I found some pewter buttons in the shape of, appropriately, a Tudor Rose.

This is another extremely labor-intensive knit but is it ever fun! I really love the thistles.

Loki, on the other hand, doesn’t “get” it.

I finished my Beadwork Cardigan Monday night.

To recap, this is the adult version of the child’s cardigan that was originally published in Jade Starmore’s book A Collector’s Item. The pattern for the adult-sized cardi appeared in the Fall 1999 issue of Interweave Knits magazine. I’ve loved it since I first saw the pattern 20 years ago. It took me long enough to get around to knitting it, didn’t it?

The pattern called for Alice Starmore Scottish Fleet 5-ply guernsey yarn to be knit with a 3mm needle. I used Wendy 5-ply Guernsey in the cream colorway and went down to a 2.75mm needle to get gauge.

I pretty much knit it as directed without alterations, apart from a couple of small mods on the sleeves. The cardi has a drop shoulder and there is a narrow shoulder strap that features the small cable that runs up the center of the sleeve.

Rather than bind off the stitches on either side of the shoulder strap and then sew the top of the sleeve to the sides of the body, I put the stitches on holders. After working and sewing in the shoulder strap, I picked up stitches along the edges of the front and back of the body and attached the sleeves using a three-needle bind-off.

For the shoulder straps, the pattern directs you to work on the 8 stitches of the cable motif for the strap — that’s k1, p1, work a 4-stitch cable, p1, k1. I worked my shoulder strap across 10 stitches, so I had one less stitch for the sleeve seam on either side and I worked k2, p1 and p1, k2 on either side of the cable motif. I did this so that I had an extra knit stitch for seaming — I think it looks much neater to have a whole knit stitch on either side of the cable.

I chose pewter buttons with a thistle motif.

I love this cardi! I can’t wait until it is actually cool enough so that I can wear it!

It’s all over apart from the neckband and front bands, which are in progress now.

Loki’s contribution:

I finished the left side front of my Beadwork Cardi on Friday. Here are both side fronts:

I am pleased to report that they match. 🙂

I am now working on a sleeve:

The sleeves are far less labor-intensive than the body of the cardi because there is none of the complicated twisty stitch pattern. This cardi features a saddle shoulder, so that small center cable will extend up along the shoulder after binding off the stitches on either side. I’m thinking I will not bind off the sleeve stitches, but rather pick up stitches along the front and back sides and attach via three-needle bind-off. It will make for a much neater seam.

While I knit, Loki is relaxing on the floor, watching a tiger on Animal
Planet.

Last week I showed you the back of Beadwork that I had just completed. Here is the left side front:

It looks like I’ve not made much progress since last week, doesn’t it? Psych!

I finished the right side front yesterday. 😛

It took me two weeks to complete the back, and a week to finish the right side front. Therefore, I’m hoping to get the left side front done this week so that next Sunday I’ll be starting on a sleeve.

While there is nothing inherently difficult about this pattern, it is extremely labor-intensive. Worked on small needles at a tight gauge, it has patterning up the wazoo, worked on both the right and wrong sides.

That said, I am loving knitting it.

And Loki has been no help at all.