to plate or not to plate...

‘member last week, I mentioned plating? Said I didn’t do it but I’d ‘splain later. I am knitting the Oxymoron Cardi with two strands of yarn, one is a greyish mid brown and the other is a darker, olive colour. I threaded them up without plating because I was sure I’d like the tweedy look that would result, and truth be told, I was really taking the easy way out because I had no idea where the ribber plating feeder was.

I am at the point of finishing the pocket, an inside patch with a ribbed top using the knit side as the right side for a contrast to the purl side of the main fabric. I generally have a fair amount of confidence and I think I know what I am doing, but even I know to make a swatch of a new technique to be sure. And, it will be another sample to take to my next workshop. WooHoo! I’ve been invited to do a two-day seminar in Pigeon Forge, TN  for the Tennessee Valley Machine Knitters at the end of March 2019! So excited! I’ve never been to Tennessee – just think, the Grand Ole Opry, maybe a little Graceland, Dollywood…

finished plated swatch

Anyway, back to the swatch! Was remembering the plating thing so, after searching high and low to find the plating feeder for the rib arm, I knit the swatch. It’s a little finicky to thread up for plating, but for the first half of the swatch, I had the dark green in feeder B (it shows predominantly on the purl side) with the lighter shade in A (shows on the knit side). I swapped them for the top portion so you could see what happens. And I am even more happy that I decided not to plate. ;-)


inside of plated swatch

Made the sample pocket top 14R – the 2 cm one on Milky Way is a bit skimpy. And the inside patch is just stockinette – notice how it is random stripey  - not plated and that’s what happens with two colours in stockinette and maybe why you might want to plate that fabric....
More on the actual pocket execution later, I promise.