Autumn Cape 2016 A long Term Project Part 2
In the first post I covered how I began designing the Cape and made a prototype. Now I have finally managed to make a start on the Autumn Cape project using the real yarn which is mostly 100% Pure Wool.
A quick reminder of how the draft drawing concept looked.
Draft Picture
I found when looking at the finished piece that I was going to have to seriously rework both the Pattern Design and the written Chart. The Chart needed rewriting as the knitted piece was too big and I didn't like the symmetrical look.
Therefore I needed to take what I had already done and then make adjustments. First I wanted to see how much the back piece need to lose. Previously I had cast on 175 stitches on a 5 mm circular needle. I decided to keep the needle size the same and merely reduce the amount of stitches.
I reduced the cast on to 120 stitches plus 2 either side of the piece to add a selvedge. This meant 124 stitches in total. Once I had decided on the amount of stitches I could redesign the Pattern concept.
First stage was to redraw the Basic Pattern Design. I made the choice to draw the outline on Chart or graph paper rather than plain. That way I could account for each stitch as I drew the Design.
New Pattern Design 1
I redrew the initial new outline and coloured the trunk of the tree in a reddish brown (should have been dark brown but I picked the wrong colour due to bad lighting). I was intended to draw the Design in sections rather than from top to bottom. This way I would have more control over its development.
Therefore if you compare the New Pattern Design with the original one at the top of the page you will find that only the top half of the tree has been designed so far. The Pattern shows the first 80 rows.
However the drawing had a curved outline. In order to make it suitable for translating into a stitch I could use in the Pattern I squared off the Design.
New Pattern Design 2
New Pattern Design 3
New Pattern Design 4
Once this had been done I began to add the background colour. Rather than have huge blocks of colour I added small amounts. I knew this would greatly increase the difficulty of what I was trying to do but hey nothing ventured nothing gained!
As you can see I have only coloured in the first 10 rows of the Design. This is deliberate as I want to see how the Design develops once knitted. My next step was to transfer the Pattern Design into a working written Chart otherwise I would forever be trying to count the coloured squares.
I started to transfer the pictured data into a written Chart using the system I had devised for the Test Piece described in the Autumn Cape 2016 A long Term Project Part 1.
Written Chart 1
Written Chart 2
Written Chart 3
I got as far as Row 3 when I discovered a major problem. Unlike the previous Pattern where there was a finite number of balls of yarn this Design being more realistic had far more yarn changes and for fewer stitches at a time.
So yet again I had to go back to the drawing board and come up with a new system of Charting the Design into a written form that I could follow.
Sometimes the best way to find a solution is to step back from the problem. Therefore I thought I would have a look at what I had to work with and maybe an idea would formulate.
Equipment
As previously stated I had based the Design using a 5 mm Circular needle. I also had a variety of types of yarn - mainly 100% Wool in a selection of colours. I decided to get them out and take a look.
Yarn 9 Full Balls 50g
I selected the balls I was intending to use for the Casting On and put them in the order that was shown on the Chart.
Balls in order for the Cast On.
I then proceeded to Cast On 124 Stitches in the following order
Copper (Orange) 10
Dark Brown 15
Red Berry 20
Gold 4 (Yellow)
Copper(Orange) 3
Red Berry 16
Copper (Orange) 4
Gold 6 (Yellow)
Red Berry 6
Dark Brown 16
Copper (Orange) 24
Cast On 124 Stitches
The Cast On would reverse the Pattern so I then knitted a single row to correct it making sure that I secured the change of colour by wrapping around the previous yarn.
The next step was to untangle all the balls. If anybody has a good idea how to stop them ravelling up like Spaghetti Junction I would much appreciate it.
Untangled
After I had untangled them all I sat looking at them and the Chart I had an inspiration. Wait for my next blog to see if it worked!
In the first post I covered how I began designing the Cape and made a prototype. Now I have finally managed to make a start on the Autumn Cape project using the real yarn which is mostly 100% Pure Wool.
A quick reminder of how the draft drawing concept looked.
Draft Picture
I found when looking at the finished piece that I was going to have to seriously rework both the Pattern Design and the written Chart. The Chart needed rewriting as the knitted piece was too big and I didn't like the symmetrical look.
Therefore I needed to take what I had already done and then make adjustments. First I wanted to see how much the back piece need to lose. Previously I had cast on 175 stitches on a 5 mm circular needle. I decided to keep the needle size the same and merely reduce the amount of stitches.
I reduced the cast on to 120 stitches plus 2 either side of the piece to add a selvedge. This meant 124 stitches in total. Once I had decided on the amount of stitches I could redesign the Pattern concept.
First stage was to redraw the Basic Pattern Design. I made the choice to draw the outline on Chart or graph paper rather than plain. That way I could account for each stitch as I drew the Design.
New Pattern Design 1
I redrew the initial new outline and coloured the trunk of the tree in a reddish brown (should have been dark brown but I picked the wrong colour due to bad lighting). I was intended to draw the Design in sections rather than from top to bottom. This way I would have more control over its development.
Therefore if you compare the New Pattern Design with the original one at the top of the page you will find that only the top half of the tree has been designed so far. The Pattern shows the first 80 rows.
However the drawing had a curved outline. In order to make it suitable for translating into a stitch I could use in the Pattern I squared off the Design.
New Pattern Design 2
Once this had been done I began to add the background colour. Rather than have huge blocks of colour I added small amounts. I knew this would greatly increase the difficulty of what I was trying to do but hey nothing ventured nothing gained!
New Pattern Design 5
As you can see I have only coloured in the first 10 rows of the Design. This is deliberate as I want to see how the Design develops once knitted. My next step was to transfer the Pattern Design into a working written Chart otherwise I would forever be trying to count the coloured squares.
I started to transfer the pictured data into a written Chart using the system I had devised for the Test Piece described in the Autumn Cape 2016 A long Term Project Part 1.
Written Chart 1
Written Chart 2
Written Chart 3
I got as far as Row 3 when I discovered a major problem. Unlike the previous Pattern where there was a finite number of balls of yarn this Design being more realistic had far more yarn changes and for fewer stitches at a time.
So yet again I had to go back to the drawing board and come up with a new system of Charting the Design into a written form that I could follow.
Sometimes the best way to find a solution is to step back from the problem. Therefore I thought I would have a look at what I had to work with and maybe an idea would formulate.
Equipment
As previously stated I had based the Design using a 5 mm Circular needle. I also had a variety of types of yarn - mainly 100% Wool in a selection of colours. I decided to get them out and take a look.
Yarn 9 Full Balls 50g
Yarn 13 Full Balls Mixed Weight Discontinued Lines
I selected the balls I was intending to use for the Casting On and put them in the order that was shown on the Chart.
Balls in order for the Cast On.
I then proceeded to Cast On 124 Stitches in the following order
Copper (Orange) 10
Dark Brown 15
Red Berry 20
Gold 4 (Yellow)
Copper(Orange) 3
Red Berry 16
Copper (Orange) 4
Gold 6 (Yellow)
Red Berry 6
Dark Brown 16
Copper (Orange) 24
Cast On 124 Stitches
The Cast On would reverse the Pattern so I then knitted a single row to correct it making sure that I secured the change of colour by wrapping around the previous yarn.
The next step was to untangle all the balls. If anybody has a good idea how to stop them ravelling up like Spaghetti Junction I would much appreciate it.
Untangled
After I had untangled them all I sat looking at them and the Chart I had an inspiration. Wait for my next blog to see if it worked!
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