Tag Archives: Di GIlpin Lalland DK

‘Piping hot’ is piping hot

Posted on by
15

The moment I saw the Piping Hot design by Lily Kate, I knew I had to make it. The colours are amazing and the piping is such a great feature. It’s classic, but fun. I saw the pattern and purchased the yarn instantly – not my usual MO. And now it’s done!

I started this way back in October. It’s kind of been a long haul. The start of the sweater is fiddly; it takes some concentration to get the shoulders right and to get used to managing the bobbins. There are a lot of things to pay attention to right at the start. But the results are worth it. I love the way the piping looks.

Lily Kate suggests sizing down if you are between sizes, and I am happy that I followed her advice, as the fit at the shoulder is really important to getting it to drape properly. You can see from the back that the fit is good.

I often moan here about bad timing with finishing sweaters in the wrong season. Here it is, June, and I am just finishing a long-sleeved DK sweater. However, this year, it is a masterstroke in timing, as the weather has been total crap! See, a knitter can always find a silver lining to cold, grey skies.

I followed the instructions pretty much exactly. I added about 2 inches/5cm to the sleeves, and I also spaced out the sleeve decreases a bit (decreasing once every 5 rows, instead of once every 4 rows as instructed). Once you join in the round at the underarms, all of the fiddly bits are done, and then it is an easy knit.

This is my first time using this yarn, and it is lovely. It is so soft, and it blooms beautifully once it is washed. I am really hoping that it keeps its shape and doesn’t pill, because I want to use this yarn again and again. It comes in such great, bright colours too; right in my wheelhouse.

You may not be surprised to find out that this bright red and pink sweater matches most of my wardrobe! Fancy that!

This really feels like a sweatshirt; soft, comfortable, warm, roomy. But it has so much more style than a sweatshirt.

It took eight months to knit this sweater. Eight months is a long time. But, during that time, I wrote a book (!) and had a second bout of covid, so I have no complaints about the timeline. I imagine that if you want to knit this one, it will fly off your needles.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

A rocky start

Posted on by
5

My blog posts are fewer and farther between this year, but knitting continues. I have just finished my Anker tee, but you will have to wait to see a modelled shot, because it has just been enjoying its spa bath and is now taking its time to dry. Here is a sneak peek:

In the meantime, I have been working on the piping hot sweater. This pattern by Lily Kate really appeals to me with its clean lines and bold piping.

This is the first time I have used one of Lily Kate’s patterns. I am very impressed with how well it is written and at the way she lays the pattern out. It is well illustrated and explanatory, and contains all of the necessary bits that make a good pattern, like detailed schematics. So, I want to be clear that my rocky start is not due to any fault in the pattern, but rather to me. Specifically, in my continued post-Covid state, I find it difficult to focus on patterns, to cast on new things, and to fight through fatigue. The construction of this pullover is genius, but it does take some concentration. It starts like this:

The next bit involves picking up stitches along the shoulders and casting on for the back neck. I made the mistake of trying to follow the directions precisely. You see, I am left-handed, and although this doesn’t usually get in my way, I am completely incapable of picking up stitches along a border from right to left. I must pick them up with my left hand, from left to right, and I don’t “pick up and knit” but rather “pick up without knitting” which means that my first row after picking up stitches is a knit row and not a purl row. Now, I have been knitting for over 50 years, so I have over time learned to fudge instructions liberally where stitches need to be picked up in order to compensate for this. I have a bunch of strategies developed over time by trial and error to get things to work for me. Here, I was too fatigued to do that, and attempted to pick up the stitches as written with my right hand. Big mistake.

I ended up with a huge mess, and had to rip everything out multiple times and try again, and again, and again. I may have accompanied this with some yelling and screaming about my general knitting incompetence. I think I spent 2 hours on that one row. It was chaos.

And then, without fanfare, the chaos settled down and the back of the garment began to emerge:

This is what it looks like this morning (I have pinned it out so you can see the lovely shaping):

Crisis averted. Now that I’ve put the rocky start behind me, this is totally fun to kint, and the yarn (Di Gilpin Lalland DK) is fantastic.

Despite its effect on my knitting focus, I am steadily recovering. I still have pockets of fatigue and brain fog and those seem to have a disproportionate affect on my knitting because I tend to knit at the end of the day, when these are maximised. In fact, I am immersed in a new creative project (of the non-knitting variety) which is both fulfilling and challenging. In time, I will report on that here. Happy Sunday, everyone.