Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Finished


Despite serious motivation issues (or more precisely lack of motivation issues) Tatijana's top is finished. As you can tell by the photo she is totally delighted with it. Me, well let's just say I think I could have done better.
No I'm being too harsh. It was always going to be a challenge, dearest Tatijana had decided on a completely different top and we went looking for the yarn for that. Nothing in the shop was just right, it was the wrong ply, the wrong,colour, the wrong texture. At times I wondered if we might be in the wrong universe! Then she found a new pattern (the above top) and fell in love with it, but again didn't like the suggested Yarn, Natautica. She had been drawn to the Zhivago home several times and in a moment of lunacy I told her that of course I would be able to knit her top in a completely different yarn. No problem that the pattern stated it had a very particular tension.
There the issues began, the dreaded tension square was an absolute must, no way round it this time. If only there had been just one tension square. It took 8, yes 8 to get even close to the right tension. But finally knitting could begin in earnest. Notice the loops. They created the second issue. Despite the tension being almost right the loops when knitted were way, way, way too big. So another round of minor experimentation was called for. Finally I discovered that by using a much smaller needle just for the loop row I could get the effect desired.
The top is knitted sideways and is only about 100 rows. It should have taken days but instead took weeks. Am I pleased with it? Not entirely. Am I glad I made it? Absolutely. It looks beautiful on Tatijana and I am very pleased to have been able to make her something she will take back to Germany with her.

9 comments:

Willow said...

It' really lovely! She'll wear it forever and alwas remember you.

Thimbleanna said...

That's Awesome Ally! She looks so happy with her new sweater -- not much better than that!

Mr Puffy's Knitting Blog: said...

Now that's one happy camper!!! Bravo on knitting her exactly what she wanted, despite the challenges. You should be thrilled ~ she certainly is :)

SissySees said...

I'm trying to teach myself that if the recipient loves it, it matters little what I think... We tend to be our own worst critics!

Linda said...

That worked out so well! It does look great.

http://leafgreenknits.wordpress.com/

Jane said...

Your sweater looks great and more importantly your friend obviously loves it. Glad that the Guides gave you a helping hand with an idea. Have you found the guiders forum www.Guiders.co.uk its full of ideas and lots of friendly Guiders not just in England. Jane x

raining sheep said...

Well, all those tension squares were well worth it because the sweater looks so good on her. Awesome job. And boy does she look happy.

LizzieJane said...

It is a wonderful sweater. She looks like she is really happy with it. What a great job you did.
x

Ragged Roses said...

Well I think it looks lovely! I am a hopeless knitter so when you start talking all technical it all goes over my head of course but the end result looks great, well done you!