Plan B

I finished knitting the button and arm bands for Rosemarkie.

I tried it on and as I looked in the mirror, traditional costumes of Japan flashed in my brain.

I knew the shoulder were going to be a bit big but…

Oh well…

This is not the fault of the pattern, it has more to do with my hips/shoulders ratio.

So I decided to finish the silk Moonstone that was on my wheel.  I also spun some sample baby camel silk blend.

The silk is a 2 ply while the camel/silk is a 3 ply.

Spinning (which is very calming) gave me a chance to contemplate my options for resizing Rosemarkie.  I knew frogging (and that word actually stuck in my throat) was not going to be part of the plan.

More contemplating…

I dyed some silk hankies (from left to right) Lilac, Fuchsia and Purple.  It’s been very gray for the past week so these colours are a pleasant change.  I’m going to spin the hankies at the demo in March.  For me they are very easy to spin so I’ll be able to talk/answer questions/spin at the same time.

So I came up with Plan B. 

I am going to… ahhh… cut new arm holes.  To secure the edge since there are no steeks, I will machine sew the salvage.

If anybody has a Plan C, I’m all ears.

Button Band

Now its time to pickup stitches for the button band.

OK… how many and what method?

The pattern states the number of stitches to pick up but I have made some alterations.  It appears that for each stitch, you pick up one.  When I picked up stitches (using the same size needle that I used for the corrugated ribbing along the bottom of the vest) along the corrugated ribbing, it seemed like too many stitches so I decided to knit a small sample button band.

I picked up a stitch for every other stitch along the ribbing and then every stitch along the body of the vest.

The resulting band along the ribbing pulled and curled.   Along the body of the vest the band laid flat.  So I decided to pick up at every stitch for both the ribbing and the body.

The two resource books I’m using for the vest;  The Art of Fair Isle Knitting by Ann Feitelson and Alice Starmore’s Book of Fair Isle Knitting  suggest two different methods for picking up the stitches.

For the group of stitches on the left, I used the Ann’s method that she said was widely used in the Shetland Isles and for the group on the right, I used Alice’s method.  I decided to go with Ann’s method which I’ll try to explain.

The stitch in between the white lines in the pic below is an edge stitch and where I’ll be picking up the new stitch.

I use a crochet hook to pick up stitches. 

I inserted the hook into the stitch below the line and stuck it up through the stitch above the line.

I would then wrap the yarn under and over the hook and then pull the new stitch onto the needle.  I’m sure that’s clear as mud.

On the sample button band I also knitted a button hole to see if it was the right size for the buttons.

After I picked up the stitches and knitted up the band until the button hole row, I then decided where to place the buttons.

I used 3 circular needles to knit the band, this way I thought, I would better be able to evaluate how the band is laying.  So far it seems good.

I’m still a bit nervous, but I am enjoying this project.

My First Steek

“I’m going to cut this.”

“Are you out of your mind?”

“Take a deep a breath, you’re prepared, you know what to do.”

“No you don’t.”

“Hush up!  You’re not helping”

Well, that was the conversation I had with myself before I did this.

It didn’t unravel.  I touched it and poked it and it still didn’t unravel.  I started to breath again.  I continued and very slowly finished cutting the front steek on Rosemarkie.  I inserted a book in between the front and the back of the vest so wouldn’t accidently cut the back.  I got this tip from Claudia.

I stood back and marveled.