Sonntag, 13. Juli 2008
Sisters and sweaters
They both grew up in the town where I am still living, but the older daughter left right after her “Abitur” (German equivalent to high school diploma, but actually closer to an AA degree). She studied in three different countries (none of them Germany) and has lived and worked in five or six different countries aftering finishing the university. Visiting her at all the different stages of her life has certainly helped me see more of the world than I might have seen otherwise!
The younger daughter has always stayed in our town – did an apprenticeship here, worked, here, met and married her husband here, went to university here, had her children here....you get the idea.
So... that was the introduction.
A couple of years ago when I was in the US, I found (I must admit I don‘t remember exactly how) instructions for what I thought was a very attractive cardigan and it looked like it would be interesting to knit. It‘s the Sunrise Circle Jacket, designed by Kate Gilbert. When I first discovered it, instructions could be downloaded at the Interweave Press website, but it doesn‘t seem to be available any more.
I ordered the yarn while I was still in the US and began knitting the jacket and it was as much of a pleasure to knit as I had hoped. I must admit that the whole time I was knitting I suspected that it might not actually be the most flattering style for me, but it was such fun to knit and I still was really intrigued with the design. When I was finished, I tried it on and sure enough, I might just as well have included neon arrows and flashing “fat hips” signs in the design. Oh well, I have two daughters, both younger and with better figures, whom might enjoy having a new cardigan.
I asked the daughter who lives here in town – just because she was closest and easiest to ask. She tried the cardigan on (it looked great!), agreed that it was a nice design and that it wasn‘t the best style for me....but no thanks, she didn‘t think she would wear it much. Ok. No problem. I‘ll ask my other daughter.
The next time the other daughter came to visit (several months after I had asked the first daughter), she tried the sweater on. Again it looked great....and she was sure that she would wear it a lot (she works in international relations so she needs lots of suits, jackets, nice sweaters, etc.). It was cool during her visit, so she already started wearing the sweater here. When her sister saw it, she said, “Oh, maybe I would like to have a sweater like that after all!” She was a little sheepish about it – she did remember that she had already turned down the offer once. I don‘t think it was so much that she was envious of her sister, it was just that she saw how nice the sweater was and realized that it would be a good style to have.
OK. Fine. I had fun knitting it the first time, so it would probably be a pleasure to knit the second time also. I ordered more yarn (Karabella “Soft Tweed”, a lovely soft yarn – the one given in the instructions for the sweater – the same yarn that I had used the first time, but a different color) and started in knitting again. I was right, it was still fun to knit and paying attention to the increases in every row seems to make it go relatively rapidly. I even had it finished (including seaming and hemming) in time for my daughter‘s birthday.
She was very pleased....except when she tried it on, it was a little too big! The first sweater had fit her perfectly. Oh dear. I‘m not quite sure why. I followed exactly the same instructions (for the same size) as the first time I knit it and I know that my knitting tension hasn‘t changed. The only thing I can think of is that I possibly used needles a half-size smaller the first time and forgot to make a note of it – and then didn‘t think I needed to make a swatch first, because I had already knit it once!
I think the sweater looks ok, but she thought that it was a little big.
OK, from the back it does look a little big, but you can see how the knit shaping makes a little peplum.
In ths close-up you can see what makes this sweater such fun to knit. All the shaping – like the front curve – is created while you knit. Such a clever idea!
I gave her the option to knit it for her again (!), a little smaller, and she decided that she would get more use out of a slightly smaller size. So....here we go again! I have ordered the yarn (same yarn, different color) and will definitely make swatches first this time. Oh well, it was fun the first two times....why shouldn‘t it be as much fun the third time?
In the mean time, I have discovered that this sweater is very popular with other knitters. There are over 300 examples on one knitting website that I looked at! I have also read other people‘s experiences with the sweater and many feel that the sleeves are too long – I agree. So next time, slightly shorter sleeves...and I will probably be shortening the sleeves on the second sweater (first sweater also, if my daughter wants me to).
The slightly larger size is also slightly longer, so it looks better on me! And if we ever decided to form a mother-daughter group, we already have matching sweaters!
