WIP: Laila's Ruffle Edge Springtime Cardi!

What'cha Knittin'?
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I usually post FO’s…but thought I’d share something I’m ‘designing’!

I started out with wanting to use a bag of Stash Yarn. Turchese Egyptian Cotton. An Ebay purchase from years ago. You know how that goes! It was good price, but, what to do with it??? :??

Well, I knew it would be for a baby, or little kid.

Anyways, matching the “yardage-on-hand” with a “pattern-in-a-book” is IMPOSSIBLE sometimes. Then, you have to factor in the gauge needed, the size of the kid, and the problems go on and on. Sometimes I think this is why YARN JAIL has so many permanent residents!

Anyway, with the use of the SWEATER WIZARD, I’ve found a way to use ANY YARN for ANY STYLE sweater.

  1. choose your yarn
  2. choose a ‘pattern stitch’
  3. choose a needle size that likes your pattern stitch & yarn
  4. swatch
  5. enter the swatch detail into the SWEATER WIZARD, and at the same time, selecting the style of the sweater and the size in the SWEATER WIZARD!

VOILA! The Wizard delivers a blueprint for you to follow. Complete with schematics.

Anyway, I’m making a Crew Neck Cardigan for my little granddaughter. Since I chose to use the ‘petite bell ruffle’ from Nicky Epsteins’s book KNITTING ON THE EDGE, I elected to knit this little cardigan ALL IN ONE PIECE up to the armhole shaping, at which time the FRONTS and BACK part company and are knitted individually, one at a time, using the basic pattern directions for the armhole regions.

So this is where I’m at! Later today, I will make the sleeves, and they too will have the petite bell ruffle edging! BTW: the eyelet row was my own creation, not included in Nicky’s petite bell ruffle pattern.

It is a child’s size, and the BACK is about 14.5" from bottom of ruffle to top of neck in this photo.

See how wonky the st st is? Drives me batty. Anyway, blocking will remove all the wonkiness. Been there, done that!

Ended up working short rows over some of the seed stitch buttonband rows. Seed stitch worked together with st st on the same rows wants to ‘warp’ or ‘bow’. Adding the extra rows within just the 6st seed stitch prevents the warp. I added rows using the short row technique on rows 31, 33, 35, 39, 41. I wish I had realized it was gonna warp before row 31…I would have worked the short rows much sooner, but I caught it in time. The warp is gone.

The black threads are row markers. This ensures a mirror image amongst all pieces for the armhole shaping.

If you don’t yet own Nicky Epstein’s KNITTING ON THE EDGE…and are unsure if it is [I]worth the investment[/I]…fear no longer! [I]It is worth it![/I] Her books are THE ABSOLUTE BEST!
I think I have 5 or 6 now. All the ‘EDGE’ books, Knitted Embellishments, and Knitted Flowers. Maybe one more. I forget the name! :??

April 21 UPDATE! Blocking really really really improved the st st!
Dry, and ready to seam!

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Wow ArtLady! Your sweater is lovely. I’ll also back you up about Nicky Epstein’s Knitting on the Edge. I have her book and it is amazing.

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:passedout:

Your work is so precise. You are the most amazing knitter!!!

Wahhhh…I wanna be adopted by ArtLady…

:teehee:

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OMG I want to be your grandkid…except I think I’m older than you. :teehee:

That’s going to be gorgeous!

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That is just delicious!!!

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OMGGGGGGGGGgg all ur projects r so amazing n breath taking as always n now i envie ur kids n got jealous of them …lollll…just kidding …thnks

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wow always completing a project…I love it!

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I’ll openly admit to being quite jealous over Dollyce’s wonderful f.o.'s and all the talent she has. The fact that she so unselfishly shares her skill with us is the icing on the cake!

Your DGD is going to have an adorable sweater when you’re done.

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I ditto Debkcs! You are truly amazing! Anytime you feel like knitting for someone outside your family, I’d be a willing recipient lol!!

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That color is just beautiful! The edging is amazing. Thank for the review of the books. You are a inspiration to us all!

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Me too!!! You need a few more daughters don’t you?:teehee: That is a gorgeous sweater Dollyce!

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You know … all I can say is:

“WOW!!!”

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wowza, it’s looking awesome. What a talent to be able to design something, good job. :yay:

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This is soooooooooo nice! REALLYYYYYYY Love the trim!!

I read your notes, regarding how you handled the problem with the seed stitch with short row shaping! Could you show a picture of how this was done?

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Hi Knittwit,

I can’t show a picture of it once its done because it is almost invisible.

But basically it is this: when you have worked to the last 6 st of the row (seed st border), turn the work, work the 6 st again from the WS, turn the work again, work the 6 st again on the RS, turn the work again to the WS and work the 6 st again and proceed down the line with the rest of the stitches, as usual.

You have essentially worked the 6st, front and back, one extra time. This ‘stacks’ the seed st taller, to keep up with the st st of the body.

It is a short row ‘technique’ cuz you aren’t working the entire row. You are shorting it. And, you will wrap when you turn to keep from a hole, and you will pick up the wrap (to disguise it) when you come to it on the next row.

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So pretty !!!

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That is really beautiful. May I ask where you got the pattern from? Its so pretty.

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Thank you so much for taking the time to post this information. :muah: I was not aware that there was such a Sweater Wizard program. I am going to have to have it now. I will also check out those books.
I want to make sure I am understanding correctly. If I have a pattern of a sweater I want to knit and any yarn, is it correct that all I have to do is type that in to the program and it will spit out what I need to do?

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Partly correct! It won’t “copy” a pattern. It will create pattern directions for you from within basic designs within its scope.
Basic designs such as cardigans, pullovers, shells, vests, bottom-up construction, top down, side to side, flat knitted, in the round knitted, crew neck, v neck, cropped length, tunic length, normal shaped, A-line shaped, sizes for man, woman or child, etc.

Anyway, these are the ‘things’ that you input into the Sweater Wizard AFTER you have knitted a swatch using the yarn of your choice and the pattern stitch of your choice. Because at the end, just before the Wizard delivers your pattern, you must input your needle size and the gauge you got with your needle: st gauge and row gauge. He needs that information to deliver a pattern to you!

Here is an example of a two page pattern, which swatch used size 7 needles, with a gauge of 5.5st=1" and 6.5 rows=1".

It is a two page pattern. You can’t see all of it, but you can get the idea of what the Sweater Wizard delivers. Just a “blueprint”. It is up to you to decide how the edgings will be, the type of collar, if there will be buttonholes or not, if there will be any fancy pattern stitch within the body, etc. Of course, you have to decide the pattern stitch when you make your swatch.

Anyway, the possibilities are endless! What I like the most: I can take ANY YARN & ANY PATTERN STITCH to make a sweater!

So this pattern above is how I knit Laila’s Ruffle Edge cardigan! And, I cast on more st than the pattern said, to allow for ‘built in’ seed st buttonbands. I won’t add them as “picked up”.

So a person can tweak or modify the basic pattern directions, too! Like I did for the ruffled edge, AND the fact that I knit the FRONTS and BACK all as one piece, not 3. This is because I didn’t want to seam the bell ruffles at the side seams. That would interrupt the flow. But, from the point of starting the armpits, I separated the work into 3 pieces and worked them individually as Left Front, BACK, and Right Front as per pattern directions.

I hope I’ve helped:happydance: (not confused) you!

PS: it is easy to use the Wizard. He helps you step-by-step to input all the data he needs. All you need to do independently is that swatch. The swatch is FIRST.

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Thanks. That does help.