Sunday, February 20, 2011

My capella, a longer version

This garment was inspired by a short sweater on Ravelry, the pattern was titled a, "capella wrap". I thought, why not make it longer, like a car coat? It would be that much warmer.

Here is the result of my work on that idea,




A back view of the collar,


And how the entire back looks.



I worked a panel first that was long enough to go from one knee, round my neck, and down to the other knee. It was about 20 inches wide, ribbing K2, P2 on the starting edge, then knit to define the lacy row of wrapped stitching with a blue yarn added, the rest is done in seed stitch.

After casting off, I crochet-grafted a panel in the middle of the piece making the grafted piece as wide as my back. I knitted it, K2, P2 ribbing, for about five inches and then added four inches onto either side of the ribbed panel for ease under the arms. I continued to knit entirely in ribbing until the back panel came down to one inch beyond the knee of the 'knee, round the neck to knee panel'.

I added a blue stripe to turn up as a hem then I cast off n hemmed in the same operation using the sewn cast off. I stitched up the sides and you see the results here. The hem on the back panel keeps the ribbing from pulling in to much at the bottom. A bit of blocking will fix the 'sway' in the front sides.

There is very little shaping involved, just two rectangles; other then adding to the sides for ease under the arms.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

A Shrug, no matter how you wear it

I was inspired to create my shrug by this website; http://www.stitchdiva.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=SDS-055.
I did not use the pattern that is offered on this site but I used the pictures and the video as a jumping off point for this shrug;
front and back


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This is how it looks when you turn it the other way up (I do not want to call a it upside down becuse there seems to be no right side up, it is right both ways).

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This is a peak under the collar to see how it is seamed up.

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It is done mostly in seed stitch with a ribbed edge and two rows of wrapped needle stitches. It is knit from side to side the long way, not from end to end. It is warm, interestingly fashionable and so versitle, everyone who sees it loves it. I used Wenseydale yarn from Crimson Shamrock in West Virginia. A lovely long staple yarn that knits up beautifully.