Grannie Smith Cardigan

Tag Archives: Grannie Smith Cardigan

28/05

grannie smith redux

This time last year I made all the pieces of a Grannie Smith cardigan, using a soft green shade of Kidsilk Haze. I fell in love with this delicate lacey cardigan but, truth be told, it was not the best choice for my figure. It is a boxy shape, to which I really should have added bust darts and waist shaping. I also cast off the picot edging too tightly, which made the front edge ride up. This is how it looked:

At the time, feeling grumpy about it, and without bothering to sew on the sleeves, I shoved the unfinished cardigan into a bag and moved onto the next project.

But it’s spring again, and my flowery frocks have come out of winter storage, and I have been hankering after something pretty to wear over them. I remembered this cardigan, and wondered if I could do something to improve it.

I had an idea of taking off the picot edging and replacing it with ribbing. I thought this would pull the cardigan in at the waist and might compensate for the boxy shaping. So far, I have just tried out the ribbing on one of the sleeves:

I’m not totally sure about this. The original edging is so pretty that it seems a shame to lose it. The next thing I’m going to try is just to re-do the cast off on the buttonband more loosely, and see if that makes a difference. I really hope I can salvage this cardigan; it is too cute to give up on completely.

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15/05

bah – sizing problems

Me and Grannie Smith are having Issues About Fit and Sizing. This is a Classic Case of my instincts telling me something and me refusing to listen. Duh. I haven’t quite finished it yet, the sleeves are still damp from blocking so I will sew them in tomorrow. But apart from that it’s done now. Sort of.

(These are not the best photos, but of my two photographers, Steve is in Washington and Alex is in bed.)

I always have to work hard to get the fit right when I knit a top for myself. My back is relatively narrow and my waist is quite slim but my bust is larger than it has any need to be; there is a 5 inch difference between my back and front bust measurement. I know that I always have to alter a pattern to make it fit me or, at the very least, knit the back a size smaller than the front. So did I do this on my Grannie Smith cardigan? Did I bugger. I just knit the size for my bust size, when I should have known that would make it too big everywhere else. And, guess what? It’s too big everywhere else!

But the issue is not just about Grannie Smith. It’s also about my perception of my own shape and size. I’m a lot smaller than I was two years ago, but now and again I somehow forget that fact, and assume that the bigger size is what I need.

And there’s more. I found these lovely vintage glass buttons, which I thought would look lovely on this cardigan. They do, but they are too heavy. I’ll have to find some plastic ones instead. Also, the button band is pulling the front up – not very flattering at it looks as if my bust is even bigger. I think I cast off too tightly. Bah!

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05/05

Apple blossom and spinach: a pink and green day

I’ve finished the second front of my Grannie Smith cardigan! To celebrate I went all whimsical and hung it on one of our apple trees. It’s not a granny smith, they are old Dorset cider trees, but it made me smile anyway!

We also harvested the first of this year’s crops this weekend:

Spinach. I made bacon and spinach soup for lunch. It started off pink:

And ended up green. Am I going a bit far, cooking meals to colour co-ordinate with my kitchen?

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17/04

A great way to block

I got a great idea yesterday from Peaceful Knitter’s blog about using a yoga mat for blocking. I was keen to try this out on what I’ve done so far of my Grannie Smith cardigan. So, I submersed it, towel dried it and pinned it out: This works brilliantly! The mat is squishy enough to be able to be pinned, and the yarn dried really quickly as there was nothing absorbent underneath it. And the best bit? Look at this: The whole thing is a massive grid! Perfect for lining up straight edges: Thanks Sonia!

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14/04

I finished the first front of my Grannie Smith cardigan today. I got so excited about this that I pinned it to my clothes and made Steve photograph me in it:

This was such a good thing to do: it looks so cute that I really want to finish it now! I would actually have got a lot further today, if I done a little more forward planning. I normally keep my knitting projects in one of several wash bags:

This works well for all except the bulkiest projects. The wash bags fit into my handbag so I just have to pick up whichever one I want to work on that day on my commute. However, I had forgotten that Grannie Smith has a provisional cast-on, which requires either some waste yarn or a spare circular needle. I didn’t have either with me, and although I tried to cast on using a length of Kidsilk Haze as my waste yarn, it just didn’t really work. Still, there’s always tomorrow…

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