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August 28, 2006

my first design: the knock off

A few months ago, I bought Crystal Palace Georgia from a local online yarn shop for a steal. I think I got 1000 yards of this discountinued yarn for $10. I made the mistake of buying this yarn without a project in mind. At first I thought about knitting CeCe from Chicknits, but I wasn't too sure about that sweater (for me). So this yarn sat on the shelf, collecting dust (well not really, it was wrapped in plastic), while the ideas ran thought my head.

Then I started thinking more about the Joy cardigan from Kim Hargreaves second collection. I really liked this cardigan, but I was not feeling like forking out $100 for purchasing it and the yarn. One night in early July I pulled out my knitting notebook and started making some calculations. First I knit a swatch with my yarn (that's a first) using three different needle sizes. Once I decided one what needle size I wanted to use, 4.5 mm if you're curious, I could then proceed with figuring out the stitch pattern. My goal isn't to replicate this cardigan exactly, just to replicate some key features. For me, these features include: the "fancy" edging, the stitch pattern and shell buttons.

I'm not a fan of crochet and I assumed that the hem on the Joy was a crocheted one. So I decided to give a picot edge a try. I had never used this type of hem before, but it was easy to employ! Now I understand why some people (cough Claudia cough) use it all the time! Since knitting all the body pieces I've found another edging Picot Point that I could have used. Maybe next time!

When designing copying the stitch pattern I wanted to stay mostly to the original design. Most specifically I wanted the eyelet rows to fall just below the natural waist and just below the bust. I didn't want it to go directly over the most prominent part of my chest. Therefore I knew how long my repeat must be, based on where wanted the eyelet rows to fall. Since I knew my row gauge, I could calculate how many rows this was and break down the pattern from there. As I analyze the Joy pattern, as best as one can from the pictures available, I didn't reproduce the pattern exactly. But I'm ok with that.

At this gauge, 21 stitchs per 4 inches, this cotton fabric has lots of give, so I might have been tempted to make this with zero-ease. A form fitting look is so flattering. However, I decided against it because I absolutely hate it when cardigans pull at the button band causing gaping holes. That's not so flattering! Since I was using a store bought model sweater from my own closet, that was of a finer gaugue, I couldn't use its measurements exactly (or so I've figured thus far).

Over the weekend I finished the body pieces. I roughly sewed the pieces together and although the pieces look so huge, I think that the math has won out. It fits and looks like this will be a winner. Now I just need to figure out how long to make the sleeves, as I don't have an infinite supply of yarn for this one. The two cones that I bought yielded just over 1000 yards. I haven't gotten that geeky yet, but I'm seriously considering weighing what I've knit thus far, the yarn I have left and then doing some fancy calculations to figure out how much more knitted garment I could knit. Stay tuned.

Posted by loriz at August 28, 2006 09:24 AM

Comments

Posted by: Lauren at August 28, 2006 11:46 AM

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Posted by: JIllian at August 29, 2006 07:59 AM