Bit Red

It all started with a glimpse of a coral coloured swing jacket hanging in the LYS. I fell in love with the colour. I'd been wanting to knit a swing jacket for some time. I had to knit it. Knit what? Noro Design 15 by Jenny Watson.



























I'm not one of these brave bloggers who is able to post about their sweater knitting every step of the way. I don't have good luck with sweaters. This morning, my sister even suggested that I should stick to lace shawls, and perhaps the odd shardigan. Shardigan? Google it. 'Nuff said.

I finished knitting this last week. I almost didn't blog about it at all, but I've decided it's not a total loss. It does fit and feels good. The worst thing is that the colour doesn't suit me. Not at all.

I made a lot of mods to the pattern.
  • First off, I made it longer than called for. I saw someone wearing it and decided it was just too short.
  • I used a solid yarn rather than the variegated Noro called for by the pattern. I decided alternate two colours of Cascade 220 Heathers.
  • Rather than knit all the way to the edges n the same colour, I used the basic intarsia technique to keep the lighter red in enclosed blocks. Why I though it would look like coral, I'll never know.
  • I retained the basic bell shape of the sleeve, but I made it much narrower than the pattern called for (about 12 stitches narrower to begin with)
  • I added a good six rows of short row shaping near the beginning of the ribbed collar.
Things I like:
  • Style and fit.
  • Good basic pattern with a few mods.
What I wish I changed:
  • the colour!
  • the yarn. Good for hats and mitts but not quite good enough for bigger pieces of clothing. Don't settle for the cheap yarn. Go for the Noro, or whatever. Save up.
  • If I had it to do over, I would have tried to hide the decreases in the jacket body. You can probably see them in the pale area of the center fronts and back. Do you think I should embroider tiny red flowers over them, cover the ugly decreases with tiny buttons, or just ignore them?


Here are some shots, starting with a close-up of the decreases on the sleeve.
















Comments

Mary Lou said…
It's hard to tell how red is from the computer screen. However, if you hate it, overdye it. I may have become giddy from my recent dyeing success, but I think it's worth a shot. Especially if you hate it otherwise. Aren't sisters just the best? Why we say things to one another we'd never say to anyone else. A shardigan? I just one at Elann that you should make for your sister in revenge.
September 6, 2009 at 9:31 AM
Raveller said…
Oh, no, I don't think she meant it badly. She didn't actually use the word shardigan, but that's what she described. I think she was trying to be encouraging in a never mind sort of way.
September 6, 2009 at 4:01 PM
n. lombardo said…
Its a lovely jacket! The stripes look very sharp. If it was two sizes smaller I would say it was a daughter item, I look great in that colour. Also I think a bigger button up top would look nice.
-Daughter
September 7, 2009 at 3:17 PM
shandy said…
Comfort yourself with the fact that you didn't pay Noro prices then find that the colour isn't "you". I think the decreases are a design feature, probably more visible in a totally plain yarn.
September 8, 2009 at 3:57 AM
Marjorie said…
I think it looks very pretty. I have some sweaters that I feel a bit ambivalent about, but I consider them experiences that help me toward better sweater knitting. Some are nice, but the yarn is a bit too scratchy--others would have benefitted from being smaller or larger.

The shape looks very nice, and I think you should try something similar again.
September 11, 2009 at 4:38 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In the Vortex: yes we can!

Image
It's almost a month since I wrote here last, that long dark month between November and December. I've been humming and hah-ing, writing and re-writing and finally conclude that if knitters near the Arctic Circle Lene and Harpa can present a good face during the short days, then so can I. Love is an old pair of black gloves; at least it has been for me this past week. I knit them a year or 2 ago for my husband and he only recently complained in his mild way that the fit on the baby finger wasn't right. Don't worry, I won't torture you with photos except for this one which shows the fingers after I cut them off. There's an article about gloves in the most recent issue of Cast On . It has now finally sunk into my brain that after you have knit the cuff and thumb and built up the hand, it's best to knit the baby finger first before building up the hand with a few more rounds and completing the other fingers. I don't like the way they tell you to close th...
Read more

More Thinking About Knitting than Than Actual Knitting

Image
Here is a picture of the recipient of the domino square He's the son of a colleague. The colours are so unbabyish that I still can't quite believe that he likes it, but apparently he can't put it down. Well, I guess if you're going to haul around a big knitted square, it may as well be one that you can sew into a cushion cover later on. What a sweetie! There's not much progress to show on the Mystery Einband. I've been knitting a surprise for someone, sort of. I'm not as far along with it as I'd like to be. Busy with work. After reading Fleegle's post about purl decreases , I got to thinking. If I knit the ssk's the way you're supposed to - ie. slip 2 stitches knitwise and knit them together through the back loop rather than simply knitting 2 stitches together through the back loop - will it result in a more pleasant knit on a lace pattern like the Small Trees? Turns out that it will! Remember how I said that the Small Trees pattern was dri...
Read more

Been and gone

Image
We have been and gone to Wakefield for our summer week off. It was quite hot and we swam every day often more than once, and as it turned out, right alongside a beaver. Once Nadia saw him pass by as she floated in the water, we switched to swimming at my sister's dock on the other side of the river. It was near the end of the week anyway. The latest pink shawl has been sent off to an elderly and housebound friend who has a hard time dressing stylishly and loves something pretty to throw over her shoulders. I also finished off this La-La made by holding the Noro lace yarn along with a strand of grey Karabella lace weight Mohair. Someone commented that he wood really brings out the grey in the scarf in this picture. That made me laugh. While in Wakefield, I made my annual appearance at my friends' knit night. It was held at potter Maureen's with my sister Tina, friends Julie and Kathryn, and a couple of others in attendance. I don't remember their names but they had d...
Read more