Monday 12 November 2012

Pirate's Cutie - Sweater

November 2012

I tweaked this a little bit, because judging by the pictures in the magazine, in the smaller sizes it looked as if there was very little space between the top of the skull and the beginning of the neckline.

I used a provisional cast on, knit two rows black and then worked through eight rows of the chart. Then I checked my row gauge (which was waaaay off) and, based on the schematic measurement for the area between the start of the armhole and the neckline, calculated which row of the chart should be the start of armhole shaping if I was going to add four plain black rows after the end of the chart.



I then knitted downwards from the provisional cast on to get the right length. This was the best way I could think of the get the motif exactly where I wanted it to be. I also worked the front before the back, so that I could be more flexible about the number of rows worked by matching the back to the finished front, not vice versa.

Speaking of provisional cast on, though, I recently discovered a very simple way of doing it (via another pattern I recently completed). Just cast on with scrap yarn and then when you’re finished, start knitting into it with the working yarn. It takes a bit of unravelling, but it’s easier than any of the other techniques I’ve tried.

This was mostly intarsia work, which I haven’t done very much of, but it wasn’t an especially difficult motif. This video by Norah Gaughan is a really useful starting point.

I did switch to stranded colourwork in a couple of places - specifically for the teeth and the nose. I might try to add a picture of this inside out later, just to pat myself on the back for sewing in all those loose ends.

I’m seriously thinking about something with the logo on the back next time - it’s got to be easier to photograph!


Nothing useful to say about the yarn for the time being really. It was cheap, it washes in a machine and it wasn’t too squeaky to work with but I’ll be interested to see how it wears.

Pattern: Pirate's Cutie by Shiri Mor - published in Knit One Winter 2006/7
Yarn: King Cole Pricewise dk
Colourway: 48 Black / 46 Cream
Needle: 3.50mm
Size: 12 - 18 months(ish)
On ravelry: here

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