Wednesday, January 16, 2013

hybrid knitting?

The practise of cross-breeding knitting patterns - using the shape from one pattern and the yarn, stitch and gauge of another design to make a new model without all the swatching and testing!!!
I love the shape of ‘Geezer Chic’ but how many times can I make it without getting totally bored – it is a long, A-line cardigan in stockinette with full needle rib bands from Knitwords No. 50 and I have remade it same as the original in stockinette in a burgundy cotton which I gave away and then regretted so I remade it again in WCD in a chocolate brown – kept it and love it!! I have used the same shape other times, but experimented and swatched and did ‘Dreamcoat’ and the ‘Tuck Rib Cardi’ (Serial Stuff #2 using green Panama) to name a few.
So, I wanted to mix it up a little without all the trial and error. I have 4 ply wool that I’d like to use so I check out the KNITWORDS index and find some patterns using that yarn – sure enough, ‘Caped Wrapper’ (KW#43) comes up – another garment that I love – the fabric and bands are beautiful! I can take the same stitch pattern (a one-row-tuck), same tension and gauge as in CR - set up my ‘geezer’ shape on the KR11 (my charting device) - it automatically converts the stitches and rows to the new gauge and Bob’s your uncle!
I can use the same stitch size and number of rows from the bands from CW because they were FNR, same as ‘geezer’ but not as deep. When it came to the front band, I checked the index again and sure enough, I had used this yarn in ‘Uptown’ from No 28 and made the front band vertically with FNR, yes! – what a piece of cake!
This is too easy!!

well, the knitting was anyway - for some reason blogger has changed something and I can't get it to load photos here, sorry - check back later to see if I got it fixed...

oh, Valerie, thanks so much - nailed it! - MAO