Swatching the Lace Pattern

I highly recommend swatching the lace pattern! Not just to see what the lace will look like in a particular yarn, but also as a practice of the pattern before working the “real thing”.

Here is what I did (which is just that … nothing exciting or useful beyond the fact that I now know that I like the pattern):

• Cast on 55 sts (53 sts pattern and two sts for the edging)
• Always slip the first stitch of each row.
• Knit two rows.
• Work rows 1 - 32 of the lace pattern. Knitting instructions to make it easy to find where the pattern starts in the first row: Slip the first stitch, k 25, work the pattern stitches, knit to end.
• After row 32 of the pattern: Knit two rows.
• Bind off loosely.

This will give you the first two leaves and the lattice pattern around it, enough to see (and practice) what it will look like.

05-01-2019

Cast-On Day!

I settled on the Linen Stonewash for making the Mallow, size 44. Needles are Chiaogoo US3/3.25mm.

I started with 4 rows k1,p1 to add a touch of border.

06-06-2019

Time for some notes, since with the last step the cardigan has morphed into a completely different work-in-progress!
Back and fronts are finished, and last night I seamed the shoulders and picked up stitches for BOTH sleeves, which makes it a little bit difficult to photograph.

If you want to do something similar and get confused, pick up stitches for each sleeve on a separate needle,, then move them all onto one needle. I have the needle tips stick out to the front, which I will also use as a reminder for beginning-of-rows.

A few notes about some changes that I made:

• I knitted the fronts in one size up, to have them cover a little bit more. When sewing the shoulders, I measured the 6” for the neck opening (same for all sizes), and then evenly distributed the length of the wider front against the shoulder of the back. Impact is minimal anyway, just 5 extra stitches.
• I also decided to make the sleeves just a tiny bit wider. I again chose the next larger size, 8”. To adjust where to now start the armholes on the fronts and the back, I simply measured (counted rows) 8” down from the shoulder seam.

When I pick-up stitches, I usually do 3 sts to 4 rows. Once I’m done, I count how many stitches I got, and then adjust the number of sts to what it should be when working the first row. I’m writing this because picking up stitches is painful enough, you don’t need to count while you’re doing it.

06-28-2019 Re-Doing the Collar Bind-Off

I decided this morning to re-do my collar bind-off, because it was too loosely. I’m adding a note here that may help others.

In general, I like to bind-off loosely, to give any edging enough stretch. Working with a no-stretch yarn like Linen Stonewash, I thought this would be even more important.

However, after binding off yesterday, I noticed that the stretch was just too much. Long story short, because the collar is using the lace pattern stitch, you’ll have a lot of stretch in that fabric. A “normal” bind-off will help to keep that stretch in check!

What worked for me: Bind off a stretch, then lay that part of the garment down on a flat surface. Compare that the bind-off edge matches the tension of the stockinette fabric (and just ignore the lacy collar in between).