Tuesday, January 20, 2004

The Kimono Dragon

Well, I guess that’s not entirely accurate.  You think of dragons as being somewhat difficult to deal with and this sweater has been very simple so far.  But it is a kimono-type style and the Orient has many dragon associations...I know - more than you wanted to know :)

This is one of the fronts of the sweater.  A 28 inch overall length is what the pattern stipulates.  When I arrived at 28 inches, I held the piece up to see how it would fall on my body.  Right - the seed stitch border hung mid-lump, emphasizing and enhancing.

Nonononoooooo…

I sat down and did some calculations to see if I had enough yarn to increase the length by a couple of inches.  I did.  So I continued to knit until I had a length of 30”.  Check that in the mirror...ahhhhh!  Lumpiness covered - much better!

The directions say to cast on 72 stitches and work two inches in seed stitch before completing the rest of the length of the piece in stockinette.  I cast on 73 stitches so that each row would start the same way (ie: K1, P1, etc...).  On 72 stitches the rows would have alternated between K1, P1… and P1, K1.  A more astute individual than me might not have any trouble with this.  But when you’re inclined to be absent-minded, this is a recipe for unwanted ribbing.  Casting on that extra stitch saved me from all kinds of unwanted frogging, tinking and cussing.





A method note.

I had tried the Bella sweater from Knitty which is started the same way and had no end of trouble with the seed stitch border folding up along the bottom of the garment.  I tried everything I could think of to get it to lie flat and had zero luck.  The Bella pattern uses the same size needles throughout - both for the border and for the body of the garment.  The kimono pattern has you do the seed stitch on size 6 needles and then switches to size 8 needles for the stockinette part. 

Guess what - no folding up problems!  It’s border lies nice and flat and is a border - instead of a textured cuff.  I really like the Bella sweater and am going to give it another try using a smaller needle on the seed stitch to see if it makes a difference on that pattern.

Back to the kimono…

The Tahki New Tweed is really nice yarn to work with (spit splices nicely too!), smooth and not the least but rough on the fingers.  I keep holding the fabric up to my cheek because it feels so nice and non-scratchy.  My father, a textile designer for most of his working life, says the fabric has a nice “hand”.

This is a pair of juncos that showed up yesterday afternoon.  We finally figured out that they’re ground feeders, not “feeder” feeders, if you know what I mean.  Throwing some seed directly onto the porch roof makes them happy and we’ve had as many as 8 at a time.  They seem to travel strictly in pairs; even if you can only see one, there’s another lurking around the vicinity somewhere.  These guys are a little smaller than sparrows and more sleekly designed.

Hope your week is going well and that you’re staying warm!

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1. Awww, babies!!! The little birds are so cute (you might have realised that I’m a bit of a bird person) Congrats on a top blog, I’m really enjoying all your pictures, and the moon one is very “Ansell Adams”

   Posted by Monica  on  01/21  at  05:34 PM
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2. Thanks for your kind comments.  All our birds (and we do, sort of, think of them as ours, live outside and visit our feeders.  They are lots of fun to watch and we and our cats watch them all the time!

   Posted by Robbyn  on  01/21  at  11:11 PM
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