Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 55

Autumn Cape Bag 2022 Part 55

On to the next design.

Original Concept

After searching for lots of pictures, I ended up Drawing something that I do believe looks like a Rat. This is my Original Concept. It will take several stages for it to become usable.

Rough Rat

Next, I transfer my Rat onto Graph Paper. This never seems to look as good as the Original.

Cubed Rat

Once I have Drawn my Rough Rat I then have to alter the Rounded Lines into Squared ones. I have Cubed my Rat Drawing. This stage always reminds me of Picasso.

By the Numbers

Now my Rat is Cubed I can do the next part, which is adding the Numbers to my Chart. This is so I know how many Stitches and Rows I will be doing.

If you notice in the above photograph I haven’t Cubed the Ears, Legs or Tail. This is because they will Embroidered on after Knitting.

Humpback Rat

After counting, I have found that the Rat is far too big for what I need. Therefore, I have reduced its size. Unfortunately, this has Squashed it so much the Rat now looks like it has a Camels Hump.

The thing to remember is that this is a Rough Chart. Unlike Cross-Stitch where you can copy the Pattern, exactly Knitting has different sized Stitches and therefore a certain amount of adjusting has to be done whilst Knitting.

Autumn Cape 2017 A long Term Project Hood Extension Part 1

Autumn Cape 2017 A long Term Project Hood Extension Part 1

Firstly I have to admit that I have been putting this bit off. Frankly I have absolutely no idea what to do. This pattern has always been organic but currently I am in the fertiliser. So when in doubt – procrastinate!

Wool Left For Hood.

After several weeks of doing other projects and then embellishing the Night Time Side Panel I have been forced to face the fact I need to crack on otherwise it will be another year gone before I know it.

Therefore I got the Cape out and looked at it, then looked at it again. Then I turned it around and looked at it that way. I put it on and looked at it. I took it off and looked at it. I held it up, I laid it out on the floor, I pinned the Hood to the Day and Night Pieces. Nothing sprung to mind. Oh inspiration why hast thou forsaken me?

In pure desperation I thought let’s start at the very beginning it is a very good place to start. I admit to have been drinking (not even taking the fact I was chock full of sugar from all my left over Birthday treats). So I got all the wool to see what I had.

Previous Pictorial Chart of Hood

So after this master-stroke it only took a few more days to decide to dig out the old Hood Pictorial Chart. I counted the stitches inwards and found the Mid-point which I marked.

Roughly there was 47 stitches one side and 48 the other. The idea I have is to pick up the stitches from the middle and work down one side

Rough Hood Drawing 

In the rough drawing of the Hood you can see an arc both sides of the mid-point. Then there is a sort of rectangle. This is where I had cast off before continuing on with knitting the Hood.

This strange piece was made in the early stages to do something I can’t quite remember as I then changed my mind. However these extra stitches at the side will be picked up and hopefully will elongate the neck part of the Hood.

Upside Down Chart

Ha! First go hasn’t gone as planned. I ended up with lots of stitches one side and hardly any the other. I had worked out the mid-point correctly but I started picking up the wrong side of the orange part.

Therefore I had to start again. The stitches on the edge were very tight so I used a smaller needle to pick them up and then transfer to the 5 mm needle.

Hood Double Needle

I now have 60 stitches on each needle. This is now my starting point. I will begin working on one side to see if it works. I also will need to sort out charts for it.

Autumn Cape 2017 A Long Term Project Night time Pocket Part 1

Autumn Cape 2017 A Long Term Project Night time Pocket Part 1

As with every part on this project it all begins with an idea. After some musing I decided that the pocket would this time have a Mole depicted on it. Therefore I had to try and draw something that resembled a Mole.

Rough Mole Drawing

After several attempts I ended up with this rough sketch. My rule of thumb is if people can tell what it is supposed to be then I am on to a winner.

Rough Mole on Chart Paper

As you can see in the above photo I have transferred the large rough Mole onto chart paper. The Mole at the bottom of the page is a scaled down version. The one at the upper left hand corner is the trying to get the measurements sorted. The one in the upper right hand corner is the final one that has been squared off.

That is the relatively easy bit. Unfortunately if you remember I said that I had made some mistakes when counting and my Badger had wobbly legs. This means that I cannot rely on my chart except as a rough guide. This poses a problem.

Night Time Piece Pre-Pocket

 

This is the space which I have to work with. I have to work out where to place the pocket. This is going to take a bit of thought. I will let you know how I get on