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Thursday, August 8, 2013

Blue Vest

In the evenings of the days I have worked on Men of Skyros, I  knitted a sleeveless pullover for my grandson, using some Bendigo Woollen Mills' Harmony that I had in my stash. It is lovely to knit and will be comfortable worn against the skin, as well as over other clothes.

I had about 300 grams of Wisteria - a suitable blue colour, but not quite enough if I wanted to knit it long (as I did). I ran the risk on dye lot, and ordered another two balls to be safe.

I chose a pattern from Patons book 1253- Zhivago Kids  - a simple cable.

It has been a great knitting project. I find cable quite soothing and requiring just enough concentration to prevent the knitting from being on automatic pilot.

This is the first time I have tried plastic cable needles. I tried both the hooked ones and the 'kinked' ones. I settled on the 'kinked' ones as a bit easier to manipulate. I really like the little ridges in the plastic that prevent them falling off the stitches - quite an improvement on the straight metal ones I have always used.




It has knitted up well and been very soft to handle. The new dye lot has blended well. I can pick the change, but it is not obvious to the wearer or the casual observer -  a keen-eyed knitter would, however, spot it!

I needed less than 100 grams of the additional 400 I bought, so while using up 300 grams I had in hand, I have created another 350 grams or so of yarn for another project!

My habit of making children's garments a size larger than their age paid off in this case.



                                                                                                                                                                       

6 comments:

margaret said...

very neat knitting, have not seen either of the cable needles before. mind you I know longer knit as it hurts the joints on my hands too much, can still needle tat and crochet but it is a no no for knitting.

Katherine said...

Beautiful knitting Jillian. I have almost finished a sleeve and only have another to go and Lance's cable jumper will be finished. Obviously not for this winter lol. I have a metal cable needle that has a V in the middle but the plastic version looks much better. I tend to loose the straight ones and drop stitches which is a nightmare.

Jillian said...

So sorry, Margaret, that knitting hurts your joints. I dread that happening - so far holding embroidery in my left hand is my pain point. Great that you can still crochet and tat. I'll finally learn to crochet if I have to stop knitting.

Jillian said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jillian said...

I drop the straight ones too, Katherine. They are a pain. I like the grooves on these plastic ones because they do stop that slipping. Got mine at Spotlight.

August 9, 2013 at 4:16 PM

Monica said...

A beautiful vest! I like cable patterns too, they are interesting but not too demanding, as you say.

I prefer a straight needle for cables, but I usually use a long, 8" dpn. The stitches don't fall off, but it is still easy to slide around and knit the stitches off it. And it is harder to misplace in the cushions!