Fiberfiend is currently blogging on her attempt to knit an almost authentic Bohus sweater.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

The Shawl Collar

The problem with shawl collars on cardigans is that they require some "advanced" skills. They can be made in one piece with the fronts of the sweater, or shawl collars can be knitted separately and sewn on. The Brenda sweater's collar is, of course, knit in one piece with the fronts; you can tell by the way the lace pattern is continuous. Now, I've knit shawl collars before. So this shouldn't be so scary. But it is. I want it to be Right.

So I went back to the knitting library that is my dining room to refresh my memory on the particulars of collar knitting. I pulled out a number of reference books, including Handknitting with Meg Swanson which has the wonderful Shawl Collared Vest, the workbook from Carole Wulsters All in One Shawl Collar class I took at Stitches East back when it was in Atlantic City, knitting beyond the edge for Nicky Epstein's take on collar manipulation, and The Big Book of Knitting, which is my go-to knitting bible. The problem is that most of these resources use short rows as the technique for building a shawl collar, and while easy enough to execute, the technique is almost impossible to use with lace.

But The Big Book of Knitting has a tutorial for a Shawl Collar Knit with a Cardigan that looks like it might work. It depends on a front facing worked along with the body starting from the bottom. The collar extension continues after the shoulder stitches have been bound off, and will be sewn together at the back neck and onto the back neckline when completed. I remember using this technique when I knit the Loden Mist cardigan from Interweave Knits a few years back.

I think we're ready to start knitting.......

Friday, December 26, 2008

Did I Miss Anything?

As I think about just what the Brenda sweater should like, a few things become obvious; it's a shawl collared cardigan, right? But as I put the design together, a few other other features must be included. The sleeves are fitted, the length is hip-long, and the fit has a good bit of ease, but not so much as to be sloppy. The Original Brenda Sweater appears to have (about) three chevron repeats across each front which means the total repeats all the way around should probably number 14. (Which means the sweater will be knit in one piece up to the underarms - don't want seams to interrupt the flow of the pattern.) This will dictate the gauge - for a medium sized cardigan (about a 42 inch chest) with 14 repeats, each repeat must be 3" across. Swatching (see previous post) led me to the right needle size, but since I'm such a loose knitter, no one else who wants to knit this design will use the same one, so a standardized swatch will be important.

The bottom of the sweater has no ribbing, nor do the sleeves. And we don't want to forget the belt (since it's a Belted Cardigan, dontcha know) even if I never wear a belt.

What I haven't been able to figure out is how the edges of the shawl collar are so nicely rounded....

Can you think of anything else that has to make it into the design?

Monday, December 22, 2008

To Swatch, Perchance to Dream

Please Note: Photos deleted in computer meltdown!

Deciding on the yarn for the Brenda sweater was easy; the original looks like cashmere. But cashmere is a little pricey for my first adventure in design, so I went with my personal favorite, alpaca. I've been spinning and knitting with alpaca for ages; it's soft and warm and oh so yummy. Didn't want to spin my own yarn for this project, so I went to my online source for alpaca (elann.com NAYY) They carry a Pure Alpaca in worsted weight at a most reasonable price. They used to carry a color called Sand that was a perfect match to the sweater worn on The Closer. But alas, the color is either discontinued or just not available when I went looking, so I settled for the "Golden Haze" colorway. Since I'm guessing on how much yarn this not-so-little cardigan number will take, I ordered 12 balls, thinking 10 should be enough and 2 are insurance. Now it's just a matter of finding the right lace pattern while I wait for the yarn to arrive.

I like lace. I like knitting lace. I have lots of lace knitting books and patterns. But a 3 hour search of all things lace in my library of pattens brought me several "almost right" chevron lace patterns but nothing "exactly" right. So I decided to swatch my way to perfection. With some leftover balls of Pure Alpaca I went to work. If you look really closely at the pix of the sweater posted earlier you'll note that the chevron pattern is a true "V" with four eyelets each side. And the pattern repeats are close to each other with almost a line delineating one from the next. This proved trickier than it looks.

Swatch #1 was a disaster. The pattern came straight out of a standard pattern book and is almost impossible to decipher. The tension was dead on, the yarn just right, but the eyelet pattern was all but invisible.

Swatch #2 was better. The chevron came out crisp and clear, but the spacing was wrong. There's no space between repeats and if you look at the sweater pix there should be a line separating them. So I needed to swatch on.

Swatch #3 was moving in the right direction. I want the space between the chevron repeats to be distinct, which these are not, but at least there's a space. Keep swatching......

Swatches #4, #5 and #6 were variations on spacing. I tried first two and then three knit stitches between chevrons, but they didn't look right. My DH, listening to my sighs of exasperation, suggested a purl on each side of a center knit stitch. That was swatch #6. It was almost right..... Then came the epiphany - a center purl stitch might just do it.

As so Swatch #7 was born, and gave me just the look I wanted! Next phase: full design.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

And We're Off




The search for the Brenda sweater took me to some interesting places; not only did I write letters to the producers of the show (to no avail) and to the section of the Sunday paper that answers questions about stars (still waiting for an answer) I searched the web. It is possible to waste enormous amounts of time just looking around on the internet. You know how I know that. I finally made my way to Ravelry, and can't for the life of me remember why I didn't start there. I found the group "As seen in the movies" that follows hand knit items in the movies. They couldn't point me to the sweater but did offer a number of good ideas about where to look. Then I went to "Closer Knits," a group of knitters that follows the exploits of Brenda (and her sweater!) on the show. They directed me to the official Closer web site where I found several photos of The Sweater. So now it looks like I'll just have to figure out how to copy it myself.....

Friday, December 19, 2008

The Hunt Begins



It all started with a sweater. Actually, it all started with a TV show and the main character's sweater. Specifically, The Closer, and the beautiful lace sweater worn by Kyra Sedgewick as Brenda Lee Johnson. I covet that sweater. I want that sweater. Where can I find the sweater?