Sunday, April 11, 2010

Jane Austen shrug, she says nonchalantly...with a shrug





I just finished a new adventure in knitting, my first shot at knitting from the top, and of a cable and seed stitch raglan, and of a moving from two needles to four in the course of one small project. Five, really, since four were holding needles and the fifth was the working needle, mainly because my circulars were too big to do this, as I found out a bit late.

This is from Mason Dixon Knitting outside the lines, named the Jane Austen shrug, which I made in the smallest size, it being an experiment, sized for maybe a two year old. The pix include rulers to show sizes, and remember to click on the pic, then click again on the resulting pic to enlarge it, sorry but blogster has complicated our lives with this extra step, poor us.

And I must acknowledge the invaluable assistance and advice and encouragement of fellow Raveler, FionaFae, who provided essential tips, including getting me to use stitch markers, a first for me, I usually wing it, but couldn't wing this one. Thank you, thank you!

I had to figure out what to use around the house for the stitch markers, not having any, and ended up cutting up rings from a plastic drinking straw and using them, worked fine though they do have a tendency to fly through the air when you're busy with the cable, which I had to do with a skewer, not having a cable needle, either.

So when you consider the obstacles of my ignorance and lack of tools, balanced against the generosity of FionaFae's time and expertise, I think it came out okay.....FF, this is the second go at the shrug,the first one being too soft as I worked, so that the stitch pattern didn't show well, so I switched to a different color and texture of cotton.

It's in search of a little recipient, as a gift, if anyone knows someone who would like to be fitted with this, speak up.

5 comments:

  1. Good job! It's very cute! I have a niece who's just about a year who would probably very much enjoy it, if there are no other takers. :)

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  2. The shrug turned out great!

    Cutting straws to use as stitch markers was a good idea. I usually use paperclips because I lose my proper stitch markers.

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  3. Congrats, that looks gorgeous! I always lose my stitch markers and use various household items - curtain hooks work well too, and I've used a chopstick in lieu of a cable needle in an emergency!

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  4. Just another (but really cute) reminder that I have a sweater coat to be finished!!

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  5. There must be something in our DNA in using substitute tools. I was experimenting making lace (I'm into circles just now) and in lieu of proper tools used the handle of a meat tenderizer, hammer end removed, and the working end of a Lobster cracking thingy. It worked but a bit limiting as to dimension.

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