that hole theory...

Got the rose hoodie put in the mail. Dee got it and she loves it! Called to say how pretty it was and the best news, it fit perfectly! I was so happy!

I wanted to tell you what I learned on these last three – they were all the Bonita cotton, so all knit at the same stitch size. I had swatched the floral mesh stitch pattern in the rose and swatched the red mesh in the actual colour, same stitch size. The gauge was a bit different, rose floral was 26 sts and 40 rows and the red mesh was 25 sts and 45 rows to 10 cm/4 inch. http://knitwords.blogspot.com/2021/07/whoops.html

The blue was made first. I liked it but on the red one, wanted it longer, added 12 rows of faggoted border (3 cm) and the sleeves a bit longer (15 rows plus the faggoted border, 10 cm). http://knitwords.blogspot.com/2021/06/you-know-i-didnt.html

Thought the red was perfect so made the rose one same size but because of the gauge difference, less stitches and more rows. At the end, after washing and drying, buttons on and done, they weighed within 5 grams of each other! So much for my hole theory! The red mesh one looks very airy and full of holes – the stitch pattern is 6 rows X 4 sts, 24 sts total and 4 of them (6%) are holes. The floral design is 60 rows X 60 sts, 3600 sts total repeat with 351 of them being holes (10%) … so the way I see it, the holes have nothing to do with it!

Anyway, I’m still working on it! ;)

Back to things I’ve learned – record the yarn amounts used in each piece – this will help if you get into a yarn crisis and must adapt the plan (more on this next time!).

Yarn marks are essential – hang one for the centres of each piece too, as well as the 10 cm increments for seaming at the edges.

Another thing, you know, you start out with a plan - for example, the sleeve having an underarm length of say 45 cm and you knit that according to your swatch (if you  made one) but how does it turn out when the whole thing is assembled? For future reference, I always record finished (after wash and dry!) measurements so I can judge just how accurate the final garment is to the original plan. When making for someone else, especially when sending away, this can be very important if, say, they want another one but maybe the sleeve shorter – you’ll know what they have and how to change it!

what I’m watching…Marvelous Mrs Maisel – love seeing the ‘50s and ‘60s fashions – that girl can rock the swing coat and it’s fun to see who shows up in each episode – that was Lord Merton from Downton Abbey who played Jane Lynch’s butler and that’s the guy who played Christy’s (Mom) ex-boss… OMG, is that Mr Monk?

And, so excited! Crave just put up Season 19 of Project Runway! Can`t wait to get into that – love me some Christian Siriano!

PS - Dee sent a thank you - 3 full cones of Yeoman's Cannele in 'marsh' - green!!! I must have died and gone to yarn heaven! Now, really excited!!