Autumn Cape 2016 A long Term Project Hood Part 4

Autumn Cape 2016 A long Term Project Hood Part 4

I left the last Blog at the point I was changing to Moss Stitch and a right pig’s breakfast I made of it too!

Moss Stitch Mess

Whatever I did it kept ending up wrong. The thing was it was part Moss part Rib.  I was puzzled. One or the other I could understand but not both! I had to keep undoing it.

I had to put my thinking head on which wasn’t easy at that time in the morning. Why was it going wrong? I had checked that I was alternating the knits and the purls. I wondered if the Selvedge’s were throwing me out so I omitted them. I made sure that I hadn’t dropped a stitch whilst unravelling so what the hell was wrong?

After knitting and unravelling 3 times I gave up. I thought the answer might come to me after some sleep. It did and I could have kicked myself! It is often the simplest things that cause the problem. I had forgotten that Moss Stitch has an UNEVEN number of stitches. Talk about being an idiot!

Moss Stitch

As you can see in the photograph above it turned out much better.  I did a few rows of Moss Stitch then Cast off.

Hood Cast Off

That is the majority of the Hood knitted apart from embellishments.

A word about embellishments; there are several kinds. I mentioned in the Oakey Doh-Key blog about the Large Oak Leaves I was making of which I need to do some more.

Another kind is embroidery. As well as mending holes with left over bits of wool I also make alterations. The Knitted piece is only the basis for the whole Design. Where I want to add pieces or maybe slightly alter a section I embroider.

Pre-embellishments 1

This is prior to any major alterations. In hindsight I should have taken the photograph further back.

Post-embellishments 1

This is post alterations. The Yellow has been extended and a branch has been added on the Left.

Pre-embellishments 2

These two photographs show the embellishments better.

Post-embellishments 2

There is no longer a piece of branch unattached – due to misreading of the pattern. More needs to be done but I thought I would take some pictures before I forget.

These additions need to be added all over the Cape that has already been knitted. However I will be adding them a bit at a time as and when small pieces of wool become available.

Autumn Cape: A Stitch in Time Saves 9 – but only if you have the Yarn

Autumn Cape: A Stitch in Time Saves 9 – but only if you have the Yarn

Apologies for the presentation of this blog there is a technical error somewhere that escapes me.

I know that this blog is quite soon after the last but I had a reminder of something that perhaps I should have mentioned earlier. Therefore I am tagging it in with the Autumn Cape series though it is only vaguely related.

As you know I like to try and reuse materials as and when they become available. 

Green Bamboo Top  

Copyright Knit Nottingham 2011

The jumper in the post above became far too big for me so I unravelled it and made a cape a couple of years back.

Green Cape

Copyright S. Oates 2015

Unfortunately I caught the bottom of it in the wheels of a mobility scooter and tore the edging so I would have had to mend it.

Torn Edging

I quickly used some of the strands hanging off to secure the edging. I remembered the old adage- A Stitch in Time Saves 9. This would prevent further damage whilst I was trying to repair it.

I also noticed that during the last wash some holes had appeared. These too would have to be mended.

Holes in back of Cape

Luckily I kept some yarn back to use in case it ever needed repairing. The green cotton was fine but I had problems with the edging. I had both the pattern and yarn but due to an oversight I had never made a note of what needles I had used when customising the pattern.

A slight panic enveloped and I turned to social media for advice. After discussing it with the combined brains of the crafters of both ‘Witchy Threads - From Spindle To Hook and Eye’ and ‘Pagan and Magical Knitting and Crochet’ they came up with the suggestion of trying putting needles in the gaps and see which fit.

This I duly tried. Unfortunately I still couldn’t quite work out which needles to use. Then I had a brain wave. Since the cape was made a few years back when I was only beginning to get back into knitting I would only have had a few sets of needles.

I could discount the double ended needles and had misplaced (and still not found) my bamboo set so that only left my circular needles. Instant night time rummage otherwise known as tipping box upside-down and getting out all needles.

Aha! Eureka! Only 4 sets and two of them were the same size. Get yarn and cast on 5 stitches – that was the start of pattern. Way too small thus must be the largest size. Sigh of relief.

Edging

This is the Wavy Pattern on 5mm needles

Repaired Edging

This shows the Edging sewn on top of the damaged piece

Holes Mended

The Cape is once again fit for purpose. Many thanks for the advice and a good reminder of why it is important to note things down if customising patterns!

Autumn Cape 2016 A long Term Project Hood Part 3

Autumn Cape 2016 A long Term Project Hood Part 3

Start of Decrease

Before making any decreasing you need to adjust the pattern. Find the middle of the Pictorial Chart. Mine has 228 Stitches so the middle will be 114 on the Chart. From now on the pattern will be designed from the middle to the edges. Leave a good 20 stitches at either end.

Hood Pictorial Chart Initial Decrease Pattern

How the Chart will look prior to addition of decreases is shown below.

Hood Pictorial Chart Initial Decrease Right

How you write the pattern will change slightly too.

Hood Page 2 Prior to Decrease

The First 5 Decrease Stitches Right

I knitted a few more stitches at the beginning that I needed so I did not disrupt the Selvedge.

Knit 5 Orange, slip one, Knit 1 Orange, slip one, Knit 3 Brown, slip one, Knit 2 Orange, (Yellow on pattern) slip one, Knit 2 Brown, slip one. Continue with pattern.

First Decrease On Page 2 Written Chart*

The photograph above shows the Initial decrease. This can now be added to the Pictorial Chart.

It might look a bit peculiar but otherwise you cannot see where the next row decrease should be.

Hood First Decrease Right Addition

The photograph above shows the addition of the first lot of decreases.

Hood Pictorial Chart Initial Decrease Left

First Decrease Left Up To Addition

One little point if you compare the above photograph with the one with the asterisk * the 4^th number has been altered from a 1 to a 2. That is because the next stitch was another Brown and if I put another 1 it would look like 11 stitches.

The First 5 Decrease Stitches Left

This is the decreases for the other end of the Row.

Knit 5 Yellow, Slip 1, Knit 1 Yellow, Knit 2 Brown, Knit 2 Yellow, Slip 1, Knit 2 Orange, Slip 1, Knit 2 Orange, Slip 1, Knit 3 Yellow, Slip 1, Knit 1 Yellow, Knit 1 Brown, Knit 3 Red

Hood Pictorial Chart Left Decrease Addition 

I started with 228 Stitches. I decrease by 5 on the Right Hand Side and a further 5 on the Left Hand Side. This decreased the Knit Row by 10 Stitches in total. I now have 218 Stitches left on the needle.

Hood Written Chart First Decrease Right Addition

Now the decreasing has been done on the Knit Row I turned and purled back. I shall decrease again on the next 4 Knit Rows. There are no decreases on the Purl Rows.

I continued decreasing by 10 stitches until I reached Row 80. From Row 81 to 90 I staggered the decreases. I decreased by 6 on a few Knit rows then dropped again until I was left with 100 Stitches on the needle. I had to tweak slightly to achieve this as I had lost a couple of stitches somewhere.

Written Chart 2 Decrease to 100 Stitches

On the next bit I will be changing to Moss Stitch