We’re back with our dear old Aunt, Aunt Lydia and her Classic 10 crochet thread. In this post, sampling is the name of the game.
Because size 10 crochet cotton is a lace weight yarn, it’s pretty logical that I want to turn this lustrous thread into lacy knitting.
The last time I made a lacy knit, I used a lace-weight linen yarn and size 4 [3.5mm] needles. The Double Horseshoe Wedding Shawl was featured in the Summer, 2017 issue of A Needle Pulling Thread.
You can buy the pattern for Double Horseshoe Wedding Shawl from the ANPTmag store.
Knowing that Aunt Lydia is also a lace-weight yarn, I pulled the same needles, cast on stitches, and began knitting. I requisitioned the Victory red because I want to make a lacy tunic like this one, which was made from sock-weight linen.
(You can’t buy the pattern for this tunic from me or ANPT, but you can find it in Vicki Square’s Light and Layered Knits book.)
I soon realized that my pattern was just a little too open: by the time I block it, it will be more open that I want it to be. After the first repeat, I changed to size 3mm needles (there’s no US equivalent), and was much happier with the result.
For the next swatch, I decided to double up on the yarn. I chose size 5 [3.75mm] needles and a different lace pattern that included cables. Cables will help add stability to the overall fabric. I was pleased with the result, which would be great for a tunic, however doubling the yarn added a lot of weight to the fabric, and I’m not sure I want to carry that much weight around on a summer day. It would be pretty done in a double knitting weight wool for a winter tunic, though!
One of the reasons I sample a lot is that every swatch I knit teaches me something, as you can see from my text, above. For the next swatch for this tunic project, I’ll go back to smaller needles and a single strand of yarn, and seek another lace pattern to experiment further. I may come back to my original pattern, I may use the new sample, or I might even miniaturize the lace pattern in the blue tunic in the photo and change the yoke to be less peek-a-boo. Regardless, there isn’t time to knit a whole tunic this week!
So, I’m changing gears. It’s been two years since I knitted the Horseshoe Wedding Stole and the Double Horseshoe Wedding Shawl, with their complementary pieces, a ring bearer pillow cover and a lacy bridal handkerchief (which was actually my gauge swatch!)
When searching for ideas for Aunt Lydia Classic 10, I came across a pattern for an Exquisite Bridal Topper. But, as you can see by clicking on the link, it is crocheted. Wanting to create something similar in knitting, I thought, “I have a stole, and a shawl, why not add a bolero to the Horseshoe wedding collection?” I did some preliminary calculations and began to develop the Horseshoe Wedding Bolero. You’ll see the pattern for this in future posts.
This time I took up Aunt Lydia’s Classic 10 metallic thread and cast on a piece of neckline. As you can see, I included in my swatch some raglan shaping to help me with calculations for sizing when I get to the next stage of the design process. Who says a gauge swatch has to be square? There are no knitting police!
As I said, every swatch teaches me something! This one told me that this is going to be pretty!
For needles, I chose size 3 [3.25mm], made a neckline using seed stitch, and knitted seed stitch borders and 6 repeats of the pattern.
I have to go now – I’ve got a lot of math and a lot of knitting to do! Tomorrow I’ll talk about blocking, and hopefully, by the time I get to the last post of this week, I’ll have knitted a bridal bolero!
This is part 3 of 5 in this series.
Go back to part 2: 3 differences between knitting yarn and crochet thread
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