Monday, January 23, 2006

Mermaid Progress and Tips

I have made it past the second gusset in the Mermaid pattern and have a few tips. I gave up on picking up stitches from the i-cord. I was going blind trying to pick up the stitches (dark gray). I cheated a bit and made a swatch with the number of stitches I needed for the cast on and knitted a few rows. Then I did an i-cord bind off (you can find the instructions in a EZ book or Anne Modesette). Then I unraveled the swatch to the i-cord. It took less time than I had wasted trying to pick up stitches from the i-cord and looks great.

I agree it is very confusing to work the stripes, make the ends work and decrease at the same time. I have done quite a bit of frogging of this project. I am using highlighter tape on the plastic protected pattern to focus my attention on everything that is supposed to be happening at once. I also enlarged the pattern for easier viewing. I used safety pins to mark my decreases to keep count. You will get the hang of working the edge stitches and things will go easier once you have mastered that part. It is different when doing stripes and the solid color gussets.

The short row technique is one I have never used before. You cast a stitch on when you turn and knit the extra stitch with the one next to it to bridge the gap. It works just as well as the methods I have used before.

Now a question for all of you. Does the eBay seller of the hanne kits offer the Pagode jacket? A SNB friend is doing that one in red, fushia and mustard and it is absolutely beautiful!
Holly in CT

7 comments:

Annie said...

The ebay seller I bought from was cucumberpatch. I just checked and she does have the Decapo kit:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Hanne-Falkenberg-Dacapo-9-Designer-Knit-kit_W0QQitemZ8207715114QQcategoryZ36596QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem


Thanks for the tips.

:)

Annie said...

Okay, that link didn't wrap-

here's the link to her store:

http://stores.ebay.com/Cucumberpatch-UK

click on "Hanne Kits" on the left sidebar, and I believe the kit was on the second page.

Annie said...

Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry! I was thinking Decapo, but you wrote Pagoda. Aaargh! Perhaps if you email her?

Now I will step away from my keyboard before I make any more mistakes.

:)

amy! said...

I always use a crochet hook to pick up stitches from things. I figure that's what I'll do here.

Becky said...

Amy, how does one use a crochet hook to pick up stitches? I've always knitted them on.

Anonymous said...

Becky,
This site illustrates use of crochet hook to pick up stitches.
[http://www.wonderful-things.com/newknit9.htm]

amy! said...

Yep, the site Lisa posted shows how I do it. I knit continental, which I picked up after a few years of crocheting because you hold the yarn the same way. So I find it much easier to work the yarn through the right place with the crochet hook and the placing it on the knitting needle.