Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Where is my copy?


Interweave Knits, Winter 2008 is on news stands today, and I have not gotten my copy yet! I even saw it in Safeway yesterday already, but I have not gotten it in my mail. Interweave usually ships one copy and leaflet of the designer's pattern on or before the issue date, so I don't know what happened, but it seems that I just have to be patient and wait. In this issue, I have a design of mine published: Washington Square Vest. I made this vest while on vacation in the Czech Republic in the middle of the summer. This was a second project I was working on while there. First one was the Celeste
sweater coat. I was quite busy and anxious a bit being on a tight schedule to meet the deadlines and still trying to do fun things with my kids. So I was knitting in all places - including some odd places like by the swimming pool - people were looking at me funny; people in the Czech Republic are not used to knitting outside their homes. At least I have never seen anyone. Then when done, my husband had to take the vest back to the USA to mail it, since the postage was quite ridiculously expensive for sending a package overseas. Anyways, it brings memories... and it's nice to see it all done and published.

The vest was made in Tilli Tomas Elsie. It was very soft yarn and pleasure to work with. It nicely worked for the dainty lace detail around the neckline. This was my first time to work with Tilli Tomas yarn; I had always wanted to, but it's priced a bit out of my price-range. But after working with it, I would consider buying it.

The Washington Square Vest was my second project I made for Interweave Knits. My very first project was the Little Blue Sweater you could see in the Fall 2008 issue of IK. As you can tell I have not blogged in a really long time, so there's no mention of this one here. So let me tell you a bit about this little sweater.

The sweater is worked in Classic Elite Yarns Duchess. When I first knitted it up, it produced rather stiff fabric, but after washing and blocking, the yarn became very, very soft and pliable. This project is a quick knit worked on US 10½ / 6.5 mm needles. So if you need some last Christmas gifts, you may try to work this sweater.

When I designed the sweater, the rib on the lower part was to sit at waist as pictured in my pictures. The model in the magazine must have been a little taller than I anticipated; or my mannequine is of very short statue. I will keep that in mind next time I am designing. But when you are making it, measure it against your own body for the lenghts, so it fits the way you intended. Though keep in mind the row gauge as measured from your blocked swatch, so you don't have any surprises after you wash and block your finished sweater. Actually on Knitting Daily blog, Sandi Wiseheart talked about blocking great deal in past couple days, so if you want to learn more, check the blog out.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am trying to make the Washington Square Vest. I'm using your recommended yarn & have dropped to a size 3 needle & am still only getting 21 stitches to 4". Is there an error in the magazine? (It says 23 stitches/4")

Simona said...

I'm sorry you are getting a different gauge, but the gauge listed in the pattern is correct. Each knitter knits in a different tension, so you can try to drop the needle size to achieve the required gauge. The manufacture's recommended needle size for he Tilli Thomas Elsie is US size 7 needle and 20 sts per 4".