Sunday 8 June 2014

When jumpers go bad

I am very cross with myself. I've just finished sewing up a jumper, the fancily named 'Suspender Blouse', and it is all wrong.

A fast easy knit, with an interesting yoke and sleeves in a simple lace stitch. Tension was fine, achieved using 4.5mm needles instead of 5mm as stated. My problems began because I thought it needed lengthening in the body, so I added one extra pattern repeat. Not so bad, but it now bulges above the waist. I also thought the armhole was going to be too snug, so I added another pattern repeat on the straps and lengthened the yoke. I then had to lengthen the sleeve cap, which seemed to work, but it's still just too big. Oh, and the neck is too tight, so I can't get it over my head when it is sewn up!
It took ages to sew up, and now I don't know whether it is worth ripping it all back and working it as the original, or just to stuff it in a drawer and forget about it. The problem is I still think the armhole will be too small for me, I hate it when the jumper feels like it's glued to your armpit. But it was 'the style of the time'. Maybe I need to get a bit more friendly with dress sheilds.

Looking at my wools, I'm thinking about another green now, a darker one with the off white yoke. I used Jaeger Matchmaker 4 ply.

What have I learnt from this? Allow a bit of negative ease.
I will leave you with an image of my wool, which I was so busy getting arranging when we moved in, that I forgot to put moth repellant in.
I found a moth larvae on a skein the other day, and eggs. I freaked out, chucked it in the freezer, but now I need to do the rest. It's my own fault. I just hope it's not too bad.

2 comments:

  1. I do hope they haven't gone too far. In my experience they always go for the expensive yarns! I worry about moths - I've seen a couple of the blighters in my bedroom, but no other evidence. But I do have lots of anti-moth things around - hangers in the wardrobes (I think their 6 months is up, come to think of it, and so they need replacing), Zensect balls in the bedlinen trunk, jumper piles and drawers (those change colour when they've lost their oomph so you can see when to replace them) and a couple of pheromone traps out in the open to catch any random males.

    I recommend the Zensect balls. They kill as well as repelling. I know a lot of people prefer all-natural products, but I go for the insecticides!

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  2. I will certainly get some Zensect, thanks. They're all taking turns in the freezer now.

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