Saturday, November 30, 2013

Lace Coat, Finished!

I undid all the edgings and re-worked them. 




It looks much better than before, don't you agree?

I made button holes in simple Tunisian fabric, by skipping a vertical bar going forward, and adding a chain on the way back.   I placed the button holes so that buttons are next to Tunisian stripes, not the broomstick lace stripes. 


I am so relieved that all my efforts did  not go to waste.


Sunday, November 24, 2013

Lace Coat from Vogue Crochet 2012

I have been working on design #37 Lace Coat by Lisa Daehlin from Vogue Knitting Crochet 2012 magazine. I finished the coat for now but I am not satisfied with the results. I will be working on it further, probably sometime later after figuring out what I need to do.


I used beautiful Lang Jawoll Magic yarn in 84-18, black and dark green mix. The yarn is very loosely plied, almost single to my eye.; I used 5.5 mm crochet hook and 25mm knitting circular needles mostly, but used a smaller hook for picking up loops.

What I like about the coat is the very lacy main fabric.  What I do not like is the front bands.  The neck and the bottom edgings are okay as they are, although I would like to have a bit firmer feel along the neck.  In order to re-do front bands, I will need to remove the neck band and the last row of the bottom band since they were applied after front bands were completed.  Bummer!   I am going to leave the coat on the dress form for now. 

Saturday, November 09, 2013

Cautionary Tale on Knitting

Do you wash your swatch?



What you see above are two sleeves knitted exactly alike, but one of them was soaked in water thoroughly and dried.  See how much the yarn had relaxed?  Soaking in water did not affect the width in the above case, but the length was increased by about 20%. 

Sunday, November 03, 2013

Broomstick and Tunisian Lace

Light weight and lacy fabric in dark green and black.
Love it! 

There are forums on Ravelry where this lace coat project is discussed.  They are so helpful.  I highly recommend reading them all before starting the project.  I was buffled with the instructions on sleeves initially.  With some logical thinking and reading posts by trailblazing Ravelrers I am feeling confident in finishing this project.