FO: Kira's Capelet!

#1

Hi! :waving:

I made this little “Tuneful’rap Capelet” for a young girl at our church! She is being raised by her Momma and Auntie. They are the nicest bunch of women! Kira is a wonderful girl…and I wanted to make something for her as a gift of appreciation and love! :heart:

HERE is a link to the pattern…but you need to do one more step because it is a PDF file. When you get to the page, type the word CAPELET into the search bar…and Tuneful’rap Capelet is at the bottom of the list. It is a FREE PATTERN at www.knittingpatterncentral.com.

The pattern was very easy. I tweaked it a bit. It asked for 1" K2/P2 ribbing at the bottom and I did 1.5" seed stitch. The pattern also asked for the ribbed button bands to be “picked up” after the capelet was done. I “knit in” seed stitch button bands at the beginning and end of each 246st row. Because this way of adding button bands causes the button bands to “bow” and not form a straight edge…I had to do short rows over the 7st seed buttonband on EVERY 6th ROW, at the beginning of the row, and of course, at the end of the row. This works like magic! I did this same thing on my Purple Malabrigo Bed Jacket garter ridge button bands.

I bought 4 skeins of Joann’s Debbie Mumm Traditions yarn for this capelet…an [I]impulse buy[/I] I must admit…but the colors called to me…

but [B]I’m sorry[/B] now that I bought that yarn. All 4 skeins were the same dyelot…but as you can see by the photo…2 skeins were a richer saturation…and 2 skeins were definitely lighter. SIGH. I swear to you, it was impossible to detect until you started knitting from the skeins. Fortunately for me, I used the two darker skeins back-to-back from the bottom up (total LUCK)…and the two lighter skeins to finish. So, Kira’s Capelet has a UNIQUE LOOK. :shrug:

The yarn was AWFUL to knit/work with! The colorful fibers on the top were “spun around” a solid black core (yes, solid [B]black[/B] [B]core[/B]!)…so as you knit the yarn…the colorful fibers surrounding the black core would slip and slide back and forth…bunching up like the elastic waistband of your pajamas. So, every 10 stitches or so…I had to stop and gently smooth out that “bunching”. Even so, it was dicey.:pout:

The rows were 246 stitches wide…can you imagine having to stop every 10 stitches to smooth out the bunches of fibers on the top layer of yarn?

What a nightmare. :hair:

This is Kira, wearing her little capelet!

Anyway, here is the capelet!

Closeup of the offset neckline, and 3 button closure.

The yarn. Debbie Mumm “Traditions”.

This is the “bunching” I told you about:

Here is a good photo of the solid [B]black core.[/B]

This bit of yarn is what I used to secure the buttons. Ain’t it awful looking?

This is how the yarn appeared as the nice, neat skein! Can you see why the colors called to me??

#2

I’m thinking only you could have taken the yucky yarn and still pulled off such a nice caplet! Nice work, Artlady! :wink:

#3

Thanks Knit2btied! :waving: It was a super challenge. If I didn’t like the colors soooo much…I’da hucked it. Oh, and if I’d known about the dyelots…I’da hucked it for sure!

#4

Well, I sure like yours a lot better than I like the sample picture on the pattern. Yours is so pretty, I like the moss (seed) stitch border better than the plain ribbing, and that colour is GORGEOUS!!! As usual, another wonderful piece of knitting. You are NOT just called ArtLady because of where you work!!!

#5

I agree with Knit2btied… I think I would have screamed profanities out the whazoo and then found another use for that yarn, such as kindling. It looks GORGEOUS in the skein and it looks BEYOND GORGEOUS as you have knit it up but HOLY CRAP what a pain to work with.

You not only made a previous caplet out of a BEAUTIFUL colorway but you, yet again, showed off your immense talent by having been able to deal with knitting that yarn.

I think I’d send the manufacturer a note and ask them what kind of crack they were smoking when they thought THAT was a good idea. Obviously, that wasn’t a yarn they test knit with prior to commercializing it. LOL

#6

I actually like the way it came out! It’s beautiful!

#7

I like it a lot too :heart: And it does look special, i’m sure Kira will appreciate it! The colors are fabulous, but it is hard to work with difficult yarns…

#8

it’s adorable! I never see a caplet that strikes me, then you come along… :slight_smile: adding to my queue…

#9

Hi All! :waving:

I do think I will knit this capelet again sometime for one of my granddaughters. It didn’t take a lot of time, or yarn…and you could do so much with it depending on the yarn. It has endless possiblities: Pockets. Fun Fur for the bottom. Beads knit into the bottom border. A “specialty” yarn knit in with the yarn for the bottom. Even some colorwork designs knit into the field of the work on one side, or the back.

Anyway, I like the pattern a lot.

You know how I feel about the yarn. 'Nuff said! :eyes:

When I saw the yarn…I thought of Kira. She is mixed African-American. Her Momma is Caucasian, her Daddy is African-American. The colors will look spectacular on her.

GUESS WHAT?? I heard that another one of our young women at church is PG and expecting in July!! Another baby show to knit for!! :cheering: The young woman has to have another ultra sound in her 4th month…so she will find out the sex…although the purpose of the ultrasound is on a different issue.

I love to knit up a storm for baby showers, and Elaine is a favorite of mine. She is about 35, and had her first baby 2.5 years ago. The two children will be 3 yrs apart almost to the day! I have knit so many things for little Audrey! An adorable little girl! Elaine is so appreciative!

#10

Looking at the beautiful finished capelet, one would never know the yarn was so problematic. Thanks for the warning. I hope she loves this gift!

#11

Oh wow! You certainly know how to make lemonade from lemons, don’t you?!

The yarn, in it’s skein, looks a lot like Noro. No wonder you caved in.

Nice job! :thumbsup:

#12

Your generosity is amazing, and everything you knit looks perfect. I’m sure she will love the capelet.

#13

Thanks for the heads-up about the yarn. The capelet is beautiful, though - it’s great work and I am sure the girl will :heart: it. I think the colors are pretty and it’s a beautiful piece of work :slight_smile:

#14

The capelet is beautiful! Thanks so much for the tips about knitting it.

#15

Very nice artlady and the colours are lovely x

#16

It looks great and I love the color…:thumbsup:

#17

Yikes, I hope I remember to avoid that yarn! I’m impressed that you persevered with it and were still able to make a lovely project.

#18

[CENTER][B]WOW! You are such a talented knitter![/B]
I had that problem, of the yarn bunching up, a couple times. Not good.
[B]I LOVE THE LITTLE CAPLET![/B][/CENTER]

#19

Wow- that is such a cute capelet, and the colour is gorgeous! That is so strange about the black “core” and the bunching- I’ve never heard of that. It must have been such a pain in the a**.