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swatch! Look at the cast-on first. The chain cast-on, double-stranded, alone, can be a tough one to knit over and when you have a somewhat soft yarn like this, expecting it to knit over those picot knots…hum-m-mm. (Tip: if the yarn breaks easily when you yank it between your fingers, it will likely break when there's extra pressure when knitting across the row.) Sometimes it will work but when you’ve invested the time in doing something fancy like this over the whole 200 needles wide who can afford to have the yarn break on the first row? It pays to knit it manually rather than hoping you can fix the broken yarn scenario because the yarn break may not actually release until the 4th or 5th row and then you’ve really invested some time that you can’t get back. Just saying…
20 stitch repeat, right? Place the picot knot away from the end needles, centring the pattern/picot knot at #11 right instead of #1 right and remember to flip (#11 left instead of #1 left) that in the layout of the second piece so it matches better at the side seams. Both sides won’t be perfect on 200 needles wide because you’ll be one stitch short, but it’s not worth making it 9 stitches less wide.
In the swatch, I experimented a bit with that garter stitch ridge – did one as the tuck rib like in Hodgepodge but I thought, over the 20-st repeat, there are less garter stitches to reform across the row than in the 12-st one and if you can’t go the extra mile for something for yourself when will you? I really liked the extra definition that the garter stitch added – maybe just the colour difference makes it show up better?
When I was making the second piece/Front, I remembered something!
I had a seed stitch tool - would it work for garter stitch ridges so I could save some pain? I knew I had a standard gauge one somewhere… the jury’s still out on that issue, but it did work!
Back to the swatch, used two different stitch patterns just to see if the width changed greatly with more tucks per row – 2.4 sts to 10 cm as opposed to 2.5 sts on the one with less tucks – not really a factor and the row gauge was the same on both swatches.
P.S. The mid gauge seed stitch tool is great, it’s worth having! Tell Lea-Ann I said hi!
P.P.S. When you have two cones, you don't have to worry about measuring out a certain amount and doubling that over - you can just use 1 strand from each cone! Breakthrough of the century! ;)!!
that’s me! Hot off the success of the denim tunic, I
quickly moved into my next one, for friend, Vickie. She has just moved into new
digs so this will be like a little house-warming thing. I say quickly because
it would be the same size and yarn as the denim one, so no extra figuring or
anything, just choosing a new trim for the hem and another 1RT pattern. I had
in mind to use #10, Triangles of Lace, the beige one https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2020/07/getting-my-moneys-worth.html
from Knitting on the EDGE, but
adding the picot knot to the cast on row instead of the double chained lines.
Again, without stopping to check, thinking it was a 12-st repeat, chained on with
the picot knot on every 12th needle, which I didn’t even have to mark because I
have it already on my number strip! Paused to grab the orange book and what
the?? Rats! It’s a 20-stitch repeat! Oh well, you know how I hate ripping out
or admitting a mistake! I’ll use a 12 st-repeat – kind of obvious, right? That
cute little one I used on the poussin/lemony tank will do! https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2020/05/still-cheating.html
I found I really dislike doing that reformed garter stitch continuously , so I'll change it into something not so labour-intersive. Here’s what I
did:
#151 HODGE
PODGE.
Chain with
picot knot, hand transferred lace scallop with tuck rib. 12 stitch repeat, side
away is right side.
1. Cast-on
waste yarn, ravel cord. Mark every 12th needle, starting with #1 right. RC000.
CAR. Measure out MC 6X width of ns in work, plus 8-10 inches. Double it over on
itself to have 2 strands together. This will make a long-enough double strand
for the chain cast-on with 3 st-knots. Bring ns to D/E.
2. With mid
gauge latch tool, chain loosely from left to right,
to 3 ns past 1st marked
needle.
3.
Make knot: Hold loop on
tool. Remove chain from last 3 ns (draw ns back to drop chain, but not ravel
cord st behind) and return ns to D/E. Put loop from tool into hook of last needle(the
marked stitch) with chain on and knit loop through. Take that loop off needle
and put back on tool, to resume chaining.
4.
Take tool with loop to right of marked needle and
strands of MC on left, chain 16X. This should be 3 ns past the next marked
stitch.
5.
Repeat #2-3 to end of row.
6. Anchor last loop on end needle.
Close latches. Single strand, MT+1, knit 2 rows.
7. Using
5-prong tool, transfer as in chart, starting with#1 right as the centre with 3
stitches together. Knit 2 rows. RC004.
8. Transfer as
in chart to RC012 – leave the tuck rib business until this row – because the
stitch drops down and is reformed on every other row, it can be done in one
operation, instead of every other row!
9. T10, knit 1
row. RC013, CAL. Take yarn out of feeder.
10. Leaving sts
in hooks, carefully bring ns out and single strand, with std gauge latch tool, chain
across loosely behind work.
11. Push ns
back to WP, pulling the chain knit through the sts.
12. MT, K1R.
Continue as desired!
In the original instructions for that #34 ‘chained picot
knot’, there were 2 extra needles chained over and dropped to make the ‘knot’.
Looking at my original swatch, because this top is more of a tunic, I thought
it might look nicer with a bigger knot, so added an extra needle/stitch to the
mix and I like it. Be sure to add a little extra to the amount pulled off for
the double-stranded chain – you really wouldn’t want to run out of that extra
strand before the end on this one! Notice I also added that chained line above
the transferred stitches that make the scallop, to divide the trim from the
tuck pattern – I think of this as a row of top-stitching to add an extra
defining detail and so happy with that too!
Oh man, I’m such a greedy little thing! Joined the shoulders,
finished the neck and slipped it on and this is too cute! So what if it’s a
little big? An oversized sleeveless tunic is perfect for this way-too-hot
weather! And I love the colour! Quickly decide she would prefer a short sleeve,
work those up and get them on before I can really fall in love with this!
