Tuesday, February 27, 2007

and one makes three...


Rutelilje is done and she’s so gorgeous I could cry. This tiny little sweater is the triumph of my knitting career so far, that’s a bit melodramatic maybe but I’m so insanely proud of her I could pop. I learned a lot on this knit and really stretched myself to do some things I was really afraid in the beginning I wouldn’t be able to do successfully. I knit the colourwork, I steeked, I did what seemed like an endless amount of finishing to get the details just right and in the end I think it’s paid off.

I thought about going with off white buttons to match the body but DH thought the pink would have more pop and I have to say he was right, which he generally is when it comes to these things which is why I consult him so much. I’m glad that I decided to knit the body in flat stockingette, the allover moss stitch in the pattern would have been too much I think and would have taken away from everything that’s going on in the yoke.


I used a bit of grosgrain ribbon to seal the steeked edges which weren’t that nice to look at as I used pink thread to sew them so I could easier see what I was doing. It took hours last night to sew it in by hand with the tiniest little stitches but I think the work is worth how clean it looks on the inside now. I also sewed in the tiniest little tag I found at Knitomatic (click here, they’re having a huge sale).


If I had to do this one again, and it’s a strong possibility as I really enjoyed it, I’d cast on more stitches in the steek to leave myself a bit more leeway on the sewing, five was just a few too little and made things a bit tight in places where my machine stitching wasn’t perfectly straight (tough to sew really straight when you’re that nervous!).


This was mostly a stash knit which is great, I don’t think I’d have ventured to do this one had I had to buy a new ball of each colour only to use just a smidge of it. I was told by the lady at the LYS that I could probably get away with two balls of the main colour if I was doing the body stockingette but I was skeptical and picked up a third (to add to the two I already had) just for insurance and I’m glad I did, I used the majority of the third ball and I always like to have little bits of Baby Ull or Lanett laying around for something like this. Of course I'll give you the obligatory inside shot to show off my wonderful stranding.

Specs for this knit:

Yarn: a mix of Dale Baby Ull and Lanett Superwash, two of my fave baby/sock yarns as they come in great colours and wear like iron (not to mention machine wash like a dream), three balls of the MC and scraps of the CCs

Pattern: Rutelilje from Dale of Norway Baby #129 in six month size (but would almost fit M so I have to think that the sizing runs a bit on the large size)

I started this early in January so it wasn't the quickest knit out there but I'm still glad I did it and will do it again

4 comments:

Marjorie said...

That is a beautiful sweater

Lynne said...

Oooh! I'm in awe of your craftsmanship! Congratulations on a fantastic finish!

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Renee said...

That is outstanding work. You should be so proud of yourself!

Renee said...

Gosh, your sweater is beautiful! And your first steeking too, very impressive...you answered my question in your post, "Would you steek again?" with a "I'd knit this again..." Congratulations :-)

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