Miette Number Two

Since finishing my first Miette Cardigan a little under a year ago it has been in heavy rotation in my wardrobe. It was an incredibly successful knit and very quickly I knew that I wanted to make another version of the pattern. Thank you to everybody that chipped in with an opinion of which colour yarn to use when I asked, I ended up choosing the "Flourite" colour.



Most of the cardigan was knit while I was on my holiday in Europe. I cast on while we were waiting to leave Melbourne Airport, and had got quite a lot done before we even got on the plane due to a 4 hour delay. I was impressed how much I was getting done and started worrying that I hadn't packed enough yarn in my carry on bag, only to find that my stopping factor was that I had packed my extra cables in my checked luggage, so when I got to the point where you have to split for the armholes I was forced to stop.

I made some alterations to the pattern, based on my last version. The first alteration was to start the bust decreases about an inch lower than the pattern states, so that the 'dart' starts just below my bust, rather than higher up (similar to the principle you would have with darts on a sewn garment).



I also lengthened the cardigan by one pattern repeat This was so that it would finish slightly below the waist rather than right on it, allowing me to wear the cardigan with skirts that sit on the waist without getting a gap between the top of the skirt and the bottom of the cardigan.



However, as this would mean that the ribbing would sit below my waist, and as the ribbing was quite tight on my first version, I added some increases in at the side to bring the lacework around the bottom of the cardigan and the ribbing up to the next size in the pattern so that it wouldn't ride up or be too tight. These increases aren't ideal as they actually start slightly above my waist, but that was necessary to get them in before the lace and ribbing started, as I didn't know how to do the increases once I got to that point.



The last change that I made to the pattern was to lengthen the sleeves to be full length rather than 3/4, as I thought that this change would make the cardigan more wearable as it would be that little bit warmer. To do this I just kept knitting, and trying it on intermittantly kept decreasing the sleeve as I thought I needed it, making sure that I ended up with a number of stitches that worked with the lace repeat.



I've said it before, but I'll say it again; this pattern is really well written and it yields a fantastic cardigan! I really want to knit some more of Andi's patterns, the problem comes with choosing one! Have you seen her newest pattern, the Hetty, it's just as gorgeous as all the rest, making the decision even harder.



Anyway, now I have stopped cheating on my Parcel Sweater with this Miette, I need to get that finished too! So much for getting it finished before winter is over. I don't think I'm cut out for having more than one knit on the go at a time... but then I think I used to say that about sewing too...

Indecision Strikes Again... Help Me Choose Please!

With the end in sight on my current knitting project, I'm already thinking ahead to my next project (that I'm hoping to take with my on my holiday). Since my first Miette cardigan was so successful, I've decided I want to knit up another one (and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't slightly influenced by the Handmaker's Factory knit-a-long going on at the moment)

Around clockwise from the top: Flourite, Turquoise, Azurite, Antimony, Garnet, Sapphire, Tanzanite. and Corundum in the middle.

However I can't decide what colour to make it. I am going to use the same yarn again, Avalon from Morris and Sons, and have managed to 'narrow down' (in the loosest sense of the term) the colours from the 47 options down to 8...

Top Row L-R: Corundum, Azurite, Turquoise, Flourite
Bottom Row L-R: Antimony, Tanzanite, Sapphire, Garnet

Which of these 8 colours do you think I should choose? (bearing in mind that my current knit is a jumper that's a dark teal colour, despite how it appears in some of the photos).

Top Row L-R: Garnet, Tanzanite, Sapphire, Corundum

Bottom Row L-R: Azurite, Turquoise, Flourite, Antimony

I have sort of narrowed down this list of 8 to 3 or 4, but really haven't decided yet, so all opinions and suggestions welcome!

Miette - Finished!!

Guess what I finished last weekend?? Yup, that's right, my Miette!! And since Claire and Mindy were kind enough to assist me as photographers I have some pics to share too.

The knitting portion had been finished for a bit over a week, and the cardigan was just waiting on buttons. I bought some buttons that blend in with the yarn, and also added some ribbon to the back of the buttonband that has the buttons on it.

Hopefully the ribbon will stabilise the front of the cardigan. I wasn't sure about adding it to the button band with the buttonholes, so have left it off for now and will see how it goes.

Overall I'm really happy with the cardigan. I love how simple it is, but also really like the lace detail that stops it from being boring. The fit is pretty good. It probably could have done with being a smidge bigger (there's a fair bit of negative ease!). The shoulders look a bit lumpy in these pics, but that's not the cardigan it's because of the sleeves on the dress I'm wearing under it.

If I were to knit up this pattern again I think the only thing I'd change is to start the bust decreases about an inch lower than they are on the pattern - they start a bit too high on me I think. I'd also possibly consider adding one more repeat of the lace to add a couple more inches in length, but i'd have to decide on that after seeing how wearable this one is at this length.

In case you're wondering if I went back and fixed the sleeve lengths - I did! Below is a pic of the very scary process of cutting off the cuff (easier as I'd already weaved in the ends), ravelling back and picking up the stitches again. I cut the shorter sleeve and re-knitted it to match the length of the longer one.

And just to finish this post, I wanted to share a couple more of the pics taken during this photoshoot. Encouraged by my friends behind the camera to try some silly poses, I channeled my inner Amanda as best I could...

  

Nowhere near as crazy as some of her photos but a galant first effort I think.

(apologies if this has appeared in your feed again, and for the lost comments, I accidentally deleted the post)

Miette - Tiny Whoops!

Not one to only show you my successes, I thought I'd share with you a failure / oops today.

This little tale begins last night when I was tidying up my knitting stuff. Earlier yesterday I had finally gotten around to looking up how to do a stretchy cast off, and had cast off the bottom edge, and ends of the sleeves of my cardigan. Each sleeve used up a little under a ball of yarn, so there were two small piles of mostly unravelled yarn where I had been sitting doing my knitting; one from each sleeve. To tidy up I balled up those two piles, at which point I noticed something funny, can you spot what it was:

Yup, my two little balls were different sizes; whoops!! I got out the cardigan again, and laid out the sleeves flat, and lo and behold the sleeves are different lengths! Now, I will admit I did loose count of how many rows I'd done while I was knitting up the sleeves, but I tried my best to check the length of the second against the first as I was going, and definitely before I started the lace rows! I don't know how it happened but the sleeves are about an inch different in length!

I spent most of today hoping that it wouldn't be too noticeable once I was wearing the cardigan, and this evening while watching some TV finished off the button and neck band and tried it on... unfortunately the different is a bit much and I don't think I'll be happy with the cardigan unless I fix it. Here it is on me; you can particularly see where my elbows are bent the difference, on one my elbow is where the lace is, on the other the lace is on my forearm:

And here it is with my arms down straight - you can definitely tell the difference:

So now I need to go back and fix it... problem is, I don't know how!

Does anybody have any advice on the best way to go about unravelling the shorter sleeve back to the beginning of the lace (bearing in mind I've cast of and woven in my end)? And any easy/good/accurate methods for working out how many rows I need to add in to make them the same length?

Also, any tips/methods (or gadgets) for keeping track of how many rows you've done when the pattern requires heaps of stockinette rows like the sleeves did?

All help very gratefully received!

Miette - Speedy Progress

I thought I'd post a quick update on my progress with knitting the Miette pattern; in brief, I've been going great guns!

The Saturday after I bought the yarn I cast on... and due to other circumstances my plans for the day fell through so I ended up knitting pretty much all day in front of some DVDs, and got to where you separate off the sleeves by the end of the day.

I've been knitting away here and there ever since, often in front of a tv-show, sometimes in my lunchbreak, and have progressed super far!

These pics are me trying it on after I'd reached the bottom of the lace in the body - I had to stop as I didn't have the smaller needle size for the ribbing, so I moved onto the sleeve

Don't worry, It won't really gape at the front like in the pic - it's still going to have a button band in the middle there!

Since I took these pictures I've actually finished one sleeve, gone back and done the ribbing around the waist, and started the second sleeve.

Hopefully it won't take too much longer to finish! But yeah, loving knitting this cardigan!!

Miette - Gathering resources

In preparation for actually starting the knitting on my Miette I have looked up resources for the different stitches, and any tips for the pattern etc.

First up, there has conveniently been a Miette knit-along hosted by Gail, with some incredibly detailed posts with all sorts of information. She doesn't actually have a list of the posts on her blog (although they're all under the knit-along tag), so rather than have to scroll through them in reverse order, I thought I'd post a list of links here (for my own use as much as anything):

1 - making a plan, 2 - gauge and sizing, 3 - how much yarn, 4 - lets knit, 5 - some more yarn notes, 6 - top down raglan construction, 7 - more on swatches, 8 - fixing mistakes, 9 - removing sleeves, 10 - row 25, 11 - next part, 12 - sleeves, 13 - sleeve tv, 14 - button bands, 15 - buttons

I found it very helpful to read through all these posts before I stared, as they allowed me to see what hurdles would be coming as I progressed, and intend to refer back to some of them as I reach those stages.

The next thing I did was make sure I was happy with all the stitches required by the pattern (some of which I've never done before). Here are the stitches in the glossary that are new to me or I wanted a refresher, and the resources for them that I used:

CO (Cast On): I needed to use the long tail cast on, which is what I normally use, and also knitting on
kfbl (knit front and back loop): I used this video
ktbl (knit through back loop): I used this video
m1 (make one): I used these two videos (only using a make one left): video 1,  video 2
ptbl (pearl through back loop): I used this video
yo (yarn over): I used this video

The only stitch left that I haven't got a resource for is BO (bind off) - when I've bound off before it's always been quite tight and not stretchy - I don't think that's what I want for the bottom of this cardigan, so can anybody suggest a suitable bind off (and ideally instructional video)?

(PS: the ravelry project for my miette is here)

Miette - Taking the Plunge

I shared some hand-knit cardigan inspiration the other day, and since then I have made my decision and taken the plunge, buying yarn and getting started on my first cardigan!

On Thursdaty, after shortening my list to four possibilities, I went down to Morris & Sons and Clegs to look at yarn in my lunchbreak. After mulling it over during the afternoon, my impatient self then went back to Morris & Sons after work to buy the yarn I'd chosen.

I ended up choosing to try the Miette Cardigan - while I absolutely loved some of the other cardigans they were all a fair bit more complicated. I decided that I'm dealing with enough new stuff learning how to make something cardigan shaped, so adding in lots of cabling or lace would just be making it harder than it needed to be. If I'm going to give this a go I should make it as most likely to succeed as possible, which means starting simple!

I saw some really really lovely yarns when looking, including some gorgeous merino yarn, and some lovely bamboo stuff. However they were either the wrong thickness for this pattern, or the price was a bit prohibitive to go that expensive. Instead I have chosen some lovely cotton yarn which came in at much more affordable price. I've also got some fun interchangable circular needles, where you can screw different needle sizes onto different cable lengths, I'll let you know how I find them in due course. It's also the first time I've gotten wooden needles - so far I've mainly used bamboo, with my first beanie being done on metal and plastic ones.

The yarn is Morris Avalon 10ply Pima Cotton in Moonstone. It's apparently quite a new one and came in a lovely selection of colours. I had to remind myself that I'd decided I wanted a pale and neutral coloured cardigan that would go with lots of things, or I would have come away with one of the other lovely colours.

Excited to get going, I spent thursday evening knitting up my swatch straight away - taking the advice of the lovely lady in Morris & Sons I cast on a few extra stitches, and knit a swatch with a central stockinette section 18 stitches wide with a few extra stitches in garter stitch along the edge to stop it curling. After knitting my swatch I was a bit worried my gauge was too small, as it appeared to be 3.5 inches for 16 stitches, rather than the needed 4 (shown below, pre-blocking). However, I carried on and blocked it (hand washing it in warm water then laying it flat to dry and it's dried a little bigger - just the tiniest bit smaller than 4" for 16 stiches.

I have to say, the yarn knits up so incredibly soft, with beautiful drape - I have to admit I have spent quite a lot of time playing with my swatch since it dried, as it's just so lovely! Can't wait to have a whole cardigan like it!

(I've started a ravelry entry for this project here)