Wednesday, July 30, 2014

You gotta have that swing

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Just at the start of the summer, S asked me if I could make a type of waterfall cardigan for her. One of those cardigans that you could wrap yourself in and feel good, but for the summer and to go with a summer dress or so. We did a bit of browsing suitable patterns on Ravelry and she choose the Hitofude Cardigan which was kind of unexpected. Unexpected since I had it in my queue for myself, basically from the first time I saw that pattern. I have even some Madelinetosh merino light in a nice light-brown colour reserved for it, but it had been in that queue for some time…. I am one of these people whose queue gets longer and longer and never any smaller. And then there are also ideas popping up in my head, so, queue reduction, it will not happen. So I thought, OK then, I’ll make a Hitofude for S. Now she asked for a summer version, if possible not wool. When Sparrow was introduced I bought quite a bit of it, 19 skeins I had at a moment. I still had 7 left, and as it is a lovely 4-ply linen in a neutral colour that goes very well for this pattern, I felt that those last skeins could go for this cardigan. 

Roko, the designer of the pattern, has a summer version in which the lace repeats for the body are slightly different and I did like that very much. So I used that modification. I did one extra repeat at the end to make the cardigan a bit longer. The original pattern ends with a 1k,1p border, but I felt that might make the swing actually less, so I decided to use an I-cord finish instead. Linen is very nice in the sense that when blocked it keeps shape very very well, so just the I-cord in combination with the lace pattern and the yarn would prevent curling. It was quite a finish (boring and time taking) but it proved out to work. So I am happy with it. S as well, and for once I wished she wasn’t since then I could have it after all….

Maybe that TML will be used for a 2nd one…. as it was actually a very fast knit (apart from that I-cord).

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Saturday, July 12, 2014

Very Cool Crochet

 

Brilliant art installation in an open air museum in Hakone. And it is interactive , hands on for the under twelve year's old. The teenager was "annoyed" since she fancied a swing and climb too, but no....