Autumn Cape 2016 A long Term Project - Front Daytime Part 4

Autumn Cape 2016 A long Term Project - Front Daytime

Part 4

I have definitely decided to add a pocket to the Cape. This will be depicting a Hedgehog. I have had some problems drawing the Hedgehog. I tried having one face forwards. This turned out alright on the first attempt.

Rough Free Drawn Hedgehog

As you can see it is a cartoony type of Hedgehog. However to make it suitable for knitting I have to put it on Chart Paper. Unfortunately when I tried I found I couldn’t work out how to do the spikes.

So I had to start again. The next one didn’t turn out too brilliantly either. This time I was using some images for inspiration.

Angry Hamster

I think that it more resembles an Angry Hamster though somebody thought it was like a Chinchilla. However this drawing will not go to waste as I am filing it for later use. Perhaps I will use it as a Cross-stitch Pattern.

So since I was having problems drawing it face on I thought I would try a different tack. This time I did a rough drawing in profile.

Rough Profile Hedgehog

Then I tried it on Chart Paper

Rough Hedgehog on Chart Paper

As you can see I have made the Hedgehog smaller. The first one on Chart Paper was far too big and therefore was disproportionate in regards to the Fox. So happy with the size and image it was time to put it into the Real Profile Chart

Initial Input of Hedgehog

This photograph is a bit blurry but you can see where I have placed the Hedgehog Image.

Initial Hedgehog Part Coloured

Now the above picture of the Hedgehog might look a bit peculiar but there is a good reason for why it is orange and yellow.

The area I am knitting is where the pocket will be placed not the pocket itself. Since I have more yellow and orange than other coloured wool I am using that for the background.

Knitted Hedgehog Background

I need to make the background longer before I can add the pocket.

Autumn Cape 2016 A long Term Project - Front Daytime

Part 3

Last time I left talking about the adjusting the Fox’s spindly legs. Did you spot the - ahem ‘deliberate mistake’?

Fox Spindly Legs Mistake

When altering the chart I accidentally put one of the lines on the far hind leg the wrong way around so the shape was far too full. Compare that leg shape with the other hind leg and you should spot the difference.

Fortunately this was spotted and corrected before the knitting was done.

Fox Pre-tidying Spindly Leg

 

The legs are now fuller and more proportional the body. I only now need to do some tweaking to redefine some of the shaping. I will say one thing my Fox is certainly well fed by the looks of it.

I have come to a little bit of an impasse. I have been toying with whether to add a pocket or not to the cape. I would like to but I have had a word of caution about dragging the rest of the work down.

Since I have never tried to put a pocket on anything my first reaction was to do a test piece. I decided to do this on my old summer cape to see what it would look like.

Summer Cape Pre-Pocket

 

I intend to kill two birds with one stone here. There is a slight fault in the knitting so if I place the pocket here it should disguise it.

  

Summer Cape Pre Pocket Marker

 

I have placed a marker just under the spot I want to cover up. This will be where the bottom of the pocket will be. I am going to attempt to do a pocket using the cast on method.

Summer Cape Pocket

 

As you can see I have added the pocket. It is slightly wonky due to the fact that I forgot which row I was picking up on. The pocket itself looks a bit untidy but that is purely because I had to add more yarn and pulled it a bit. However it is a pocket and it works as I have carrying my mobile phone in it.

In an unrelated item I have finally managed to ply some wool. I have had it absolutely ages but never seemed to have the time to do it. Let’s face it trying to spin yarn with a cat around it just asking for trouble. There are so many knots in it bumpy isn’t the word.  See what you think

First Ever Balls Of Hand Spun and Plied Wool

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

Autumn Cape 2016 A long Term Project Hood Part 2

Autumn Cape 2016 A long Term Project Hood Part 2

Third Time Lucky 

That was the point at which I left the Hood Part 1. After a series of mistakes I finally sorted out how to Design and make a Pictorial and Written Chart of the Hood.

Double Sheet Restart

For simplicity sake remember that the Pictorial chart shows how the Hood will look when knitted (Left to Right). The Written Chart shows the process of knitting (Right to Left).

Since the actual designing process has been pretty much covered in previous blogs I won’t bother with the details. Therefore I will skip forward to several weeks of knitting. My word this part of the cape is taking it’s time.

Hood First 60 Rows Pictorial Chart

As you can see in the above photograph I have gone back to making the colours very bold. This is due to the fact that I was really having trouble distinguishing some of the colours. 

Now it is easier to see but the down side is I am fast wearing down some of the pencils. I will need to buy some more of them as well as wool at this rate.

Hood First 60 Rows Written Chart

The reason I have decided to publish Part 2 at this point is because it breaks up very nicely as 60 Rows Stocking Stitch (60 Plain and 60 Purl = 120 in total) fills one A4 Written Chart when only counting the Knit Rows.

Hood First 60 Rows Knitted

This is the Hood so far. You may notice at the top that I have started using Knitting Bobbins – not to be confused with Lace Bobbins. I thought I would give them a go and thereby hopefully not have so much tangled wool.

This idea worked well apart from the fact that I only bought a pack of 10 which I soon found that though useful as a trial it was quite inadequate for the task and I need many more.

However since these Bobbins are made of plastic I am not entirely sure I want to buy any more as I prefer natural materials

Hood First 60 Rows Left Hand Side Close up

Hood First 60 Rows Middle Close up

Hood First 60 Rows Right Hand Side Close up

From this point on I shall begin to decrease the Hood. I will let you know how I get on.

If anybody knows where I can find Knitting Bobbins that aren’t made of plastic please drop me a line in the comments.