The Sewing Place

The blue cardigan disaster

Bodgeitandscarper

The blue cardigan disaster
« on: January 15, 2021, 09:48:29 AM »
A tale of woe...
This was done on my Brother 950i machine, using a garter carriage for the fancy back panel.

Firstly I'd decided to buy one 1500g cone instead of three 500g cones as it was cheaper. This meant, as it's very fine one-ply, that I had to wind off "cakes" on a wool winder so I could knit it three strands together.  No problem, just takes time to wind it.  BUT when knitting, once the "cakes" got used a bit (taking yarn from the centre) I kept getting knots and tangles, so I had to watch it carefully whilst knitting.

The machine decided to go wrong part way up the back panel so ended up taking a bit of it apart and lubricating it-successfully.

   [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]  

Then ! decided on a different pattern for the back anyway.

Got it all done, then found that dratted back panel was shorter than all the rest of the cardi (that panel took about five hours of the garter carriage going continuously and this was the second attempt) so I decided I could steam and press and stretch it - kinda worked.

  [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]  
 
Sewed it all up on my new Hague linker.
I then found that the garter stitch hems all flipped up and the button bands flipped in, and the back seams need to be pressed cos they wrinkled a bit.

This is acrylic yarn - have you tried pressing acrylic? It doesn't like it. I knew it wouldn't but thought I could get away with it.  I didn't did I?

Oh well, I'm wearing it now!

  [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]  

  [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]  

fajita

Re: The blue cardigan disaster
« Reply #1 on: January 15, 2021, 10:05:31 AM »
I’m impressed.  :thumbsup:

That back panel is lovely. I wouldn’t have thought you could stretch it like that.

b15erk

Re: The blue cardigan disaster
« Reply #2 on: January 15, 2021, 10:26:30 AM »
Well, I think it looks lovely!  Beautiful colour too.

Jessie
Jessie, who is very happy to be here!!  :),  but who has far too many sewing machines to be healthy, and a fabric stash which is becoming embarrassing.

Ploshkin

Re: The blue cardigan disaster
« Reply #3 on: January 15, 2021, 10:47:32 AM »
Do you block your knitting.  I never did until I machine knitted and now I do it for most things. 
Considering the trials and tribulations you have had it's come out really well.
Life's too short for ironing.

Greybird

Re: The blue cardigan disaster
« Reply #4 on: January 15, 2021, 11:03:35 AM »
Certainly not a disaster! Lovely cardigan.

The problem with pressing it is that heat "kills" acrylic yarn and once it's dead it won't come back to life. The trick is to hover over it with a steam iron and pat it flat with your hand. You could use a pointer/clapper/presser but you'd have to be careful not to be too heavy-handed even with that. I think I would press the fronts again just touching them very lightly with the iron - don't put any weight on it - so that, to some extent you kill the rest of it but not stone dead! That way you wouldn't notice the difference between the two areas. Try it on your tension square first.

You can use the fact that it "dies" to your advantage if you want to knit something like a skirt that you want to drape and not be springy.

I love the button bands! Did you do a separate tension square for the garter panel? The patterning will have pulled the piece up into a different measurement than the stocking stitch. How does the garter carriage know how many rows to knit? Does it operate your knitleader?

There used to be a small device that you could attach to your yarn brake that would sound a warning when a knot hit it. I can't for the life of me remember what it was called though and I never had one.

b15erk

Re: The blue cardigan disaster
« Reply #5 on: January 15, 2021, 11:14:37 AM »
@Greybird , you are right.  I was really disappointed with how my first shawl thing looked and unpicked it.  I knitted it again in similar type yarn, and it still didn't look right.  Blast of steam and a press, and although the yarn died, it looked and hung far better.  Sometimes you just don't need the bounce.

Jessie
Jessie, who is very happy to be here!!  :),  but who has far too many sewing machines to be healthy, and a fabric stash which is becoming embarrassing.

Ohsewsimple

Re: The blue cardigan disaster
« Reply #6 on: January 15, 2021, 11:34:17 AM »
Oh what a shame you’re not happy with it after all that work.  Looks great to me.  But I can appreciate what you’re saying.  Mum used to knit things and then undo them if they weren’t exactly right. 
I guess it’s one of those 2020/2021 garments!

Kenora

Re: The blue cardigan disaster
« Reply #7 on: January 15, 2021, 17:12:09 PM »
I love the pattern on the back.  :loveit: I used to have a garter carriage (many moons ago) and always thought it was one of the best bits of kit I'd ever owned (next to the Hague linker :) ). Well done on finishing it.
Minding my P's & Q's in Portreath

twopence

Re: The blue cardigan disaster
« Reply #8 on: January 15, 2021, 20:15:40 PM »
@Greybird   I used to knit for a designer who made skirts by knitting a short loose circle which was then steam pressed out to the length required.  The skirt of the two piece that I am wearing was originally about ten inches and steamed out to the length shown.

@Bodgeitandscarper the colour is lovely and I like the garter stitch panel in the back.
« Last Edit: January 15, 2021, 20:18:12 PM by twopence »

Bodgeitandscarper

Re: The blue cardigan disaster
« Reply #9 on: January 15, 2021, 20:42:50 PM »
@twopence How can ten inches be steamed and stretched to that length?  :thinking:  :o

twopence

Re: The blue cardigan disaster
« Reply #10 on: January 15, 2021, 20:57:05 PM »
@Bodgeitandscarper   It's knitted very loosely and would be far too big round the waist before steaming.  Steaming makes it narrower and longer.  I was given a length to knit before joining into a circle and then a length that it had to be steamed to.  The waistband was turned over and flat elastic threaded through.  They were so comfortable to wear.

Bodgeitandscarper

Re: The blue cardigan disaster
« Reply #11 on: January 15, 2021, 21:18:17 PM »
@twopence That's amazing, never knew you could do that!

Greybird

Re: The blue cardigan disaster
« Reply #12 on: January 15, 2021, 22:55:44 PM »
@twopence what a lovely picture! I used to knit similar skirts (only for me!) using short row knitting - but not quite the same method as you. The pressing and the killing of the yarn was the most interesting bit. I would frequently knit a top in the morning, a skirt in the afternoon, sew them up in the evening and wear a suit the next day!

@Bodgeitandscarper - sorry, hi-jacking your thread a bit. I really do like your cardigan.

Elnnina

Re: The blue cardigan disaster
« Reply #13 on: January 16, 2021, 11:55:19 AM »
There used to be a lady from Windsor who went under the name of In-Ex Ltd. and she had devised a way of knitting a short piece of knitting, i.e. short row knitting  joined into a circular skirt and then with the aid of her kit this was threaded onto a metal needle and I believe had weights added to this and then put into a special polythene bad and suspended over a kettle of boiling water, and miraculously the knitting dropped to the desired length - you had to watch it though or you might have got this too long - it was magic and they claimed that whatever shape you were you could have a skirt to fit you.  This lady made several different types of skirts with this method and some were quite lacey and others looked as though they had been pleated.  The best yarn to use for this type of knitting and steaming was fine acrylic yarn - boucle was used a lot, and also a lot of industrial yarns that we had access to back in those days.  The beauty of steaming these skirts in acrylic yarn was that they never bulged out through seating - very clever.

Greybird

Re: The blue cardigan disaster
« Reply #14 on: January 16, 2021, 12:14:53 PM »
Yes, I remember that one @Elnnina although I never tried it. They used to have Machine Knitting Conventions once or twice a year and hundreds of ladies beetled up in coaches wearing their newest and proudest creations. It was very entertaining! I remember one poor lady who had knitted an outfit entirely with a smooth shiny rayon yarn which was very heavy. It looked beautiful. She had probably only finished it the night before. When I saw her getting off a coach, the skirt was mid-calf length. Throughout the day it stretched with the weight and it got longer and longer. By late afternoon she was having to lift it off the floor so that she could walk. I think many of us learned that lesson from her that day.