The Knitting Fiend

According to the receipt, I paid 35,000 lira for seven 20 gram skeins of “BMS Mohair, #4 Kid” while passing some yarn shop in Pisa, Italy. I haven’t been to Pisa recently, so I know this yarn has been maturing in the stash for at least 7 years.

It’s very yummy looking, a vibrant red.

The label informs me this is “shade F23″ and there are 90 meters to a ball. This is not a lot of yarn! I think that’s probably why I never knit the yarn. I just don’t believe there is enough for a sweater, and I don’t want to turn it into a beret.

You already know I plan to make a capelet. I’ll be casting on near the neck and knitting down. Hopefully, this will be more than a collar! But, if it becomes a collar, that’s ok too.

I have some yummy red mohair in my stash. I decided it would be perfect for a a red capelet to wear during the holiday season. It’s a hand knitting yarn, so I’m in the process of converting my machine knit capelet pattern generator to a hand knit version.

Creating the generator is a little tedious….. I decided I want to knit the cape from the neck down. That way, I can try the cape on and decide when it’s long enough. (Or figure out I’ve used up all my yarn and bind off! ) But, I also want to raise the back neck relative to the front neck. So, I need to describe working short rows, and increasing starting both at the same time– immediately after the cast on.

Knitting it is going to be easy, but I need to figure out how to explain doing both at the same time. Writing clear directions wouldn’t be so hard if this were a static pattern. I could just write out the first “so many” rows explicitly. But, this is a generator, so I don’t know what the number might be in advance.

Oh well. I’ll give it whirl. I think this generator is going to involve a cheat sheet for the first 10 or so rows of knitting. After that, the whole procedure becomes mindless.

Oh.. I’m knitting the swatch. Tomorrow, I’ll show you the yummy yarn!

The generator for hand knit gloves is up and running. (The machine knit version is here.)

Converting my machine knit pattern back to hand knitting wasn’t too difficult. After all, I’d created my machine knit pattern by modifying a hand knit pattern. I tested the fit and adjusted the finger lengths based on my own hand size and family feedback which I obtained by grilling family members over a turkey dinner. When I showed my brother in law the first glove with the long pinkie, Kevin said “Yep. Of course. Pinkies are too long on all gloves!”

We conferred and all agreed a shorter pinkie was a good idea. I also made the ribbing longer than on the pattern I used for inspiration.

If you’d like to see the gloves I used for inspiration, check “Gift Knits” out at the library. Their glove is embroidered with gorgeous flowers. Here’s an idea: You can knit mine in your custom size and yarn gauge, and them embroider yours using their motifs!