analyzing...

OR, how many swatches does it take to steal an idea?

I’m ripping off another design – well, whatever…it was originally done on the bulky machine and I always thought it would make a nice standard gauge cardigan – ‘Rib’nShrug’ by Alice Tang, from Knitwords #53. My niece, Wendy modeled it and it looked so nice on her – really, I have been meaning to make it for her – she’s coming over next Friday, the 15th, and I’m going to commit to it right now.
Now, how do you take something designed for one gauge and re-design it for a finer gauge? We have the schematic but obviously swatches need to be made and new calculations for the new gauge. The body seems pretty simple – it’s actually a ribbed rectangle used sideways – can’t get much easier than that. The rectangle works simply in this design because of the ribbing – it will make a flat piece with no need to worry about facings or edgings as long as the cast-on and cast-off, which form the front opening edges, are done properly and kinda sorta match. Ouch? Not much information in the pattern – it just tells you to cast on and cast off – how did I let this get by? Oh well, sorry…
So, the original is K3, P1, K3, P2, K3, P1, K3, P2, K3….
Swatch #1 (right) To start, I arranged the needles and did a wrapped cast-on, hung the comb and T7/9, knit 20 rows. T10/10, K1R. Transferred sts up and chained off. My thinking was that I needed to have a  looser stitch on the rib bed to match the main bed stitches so it wouldn’t pull in too much – wrong! – the rib bed stitches distorted and looked ugly. And the cast on and off were bad. Swatch #2 (centre) I chained on, main bed only, knit one row. Brought up the rib bed and transferred to my needle arrangement. Had a time hanging the comb, not acceptable – work on that later.  T7/7, K20R. Transfer up. T7, K1R stockinette. T10, K1R. Chain off.
Well, the rib is better, but maybe it should be thicker/wider and the start and finish need some work.
Swatch #3 (left)  - K3, P2, K3, P3, K3, P2, K3, P3, K3…
Just on the main bed, cast on with waste yarn and put in the ribber comb – (see how to do it – wasted…not! Nov 25/08).
Then with main yarn doubled, I chained across loosely. T7, K1R. Transfer to new needle arrangement. T7/7, K20R. Transfer up and knit a row of stockinette. Main yarn doubled, T10+, K1R and chain off – too tight? Huh! Actually the cast-off is good (it’s holding the length of the rib better), the cast-on side is too loose (it’s waving with the rib), but we’re on the right track!
I chose this pretty seafoam 4 ply wool – I think it will look good on her – I made an executive decision to widen the background for the ribs and I’ve changed it to K4, P3, K4, P2, K4, P3, K4, P2, K4 etc…oh, and side away is right side, shown in blue swatch - talk to you later!