I've decided to try the whole Mystery Stole thing next month.
Here's my swatch:
Yarn: Misti Alpaca
Needles: size 4
Blocked Size: 4"x4"
I actually knit 2 swatches. The first one had a mistake on the last row and I didn't like the cast off so I tried again. In the second I alternated slipping one knitwise(column 1 & 3) and purlwise (column 2). Unless the pattern specifies, I never know which is the default one so I wanted to compare them.
My biggest problem so far is my cast off--I think it's still too tight. I even cast off with bigger needles and it was still tight. I may have to bring out the "table leg" 35s, seriously. Any tips would be appreciated, because I can't tell you how mad I'll be if I do the whole stole and the cast off ruins it.
7 comments:
I always think rule of thumb is two sizes bigger but it sounds like you already tried it? You could do an alternate, stretchy castoff to help alleviate it??
I think it looks great...but I understand the too tight thing. Hmmm. I don't have any advice for ya. Are you going to use beads?
For lace work I use a special bind off. If only I could remember what book or magazine I found it in! Remind me to show you. It's easy once you see it but I don't trust myself to explain it right in words.
I think it's usually slip knitwise? Either that, or I am now totally confused. What did you decide worked better?
I've gone up a needle size and still bound off too tightly. I've used "stretchy" and "lace" cast offs, and still bound off too tightly. The only way (so far) that I've gotten a nice, loose cast off is with a crochet hook, and performing a single crochet bind off. It might be cheating (and doesn't always look right), but there you go.
The swatch looks good. I've signed up for MS3 too. I must be crazy. I'm sure (if you read the list, way too much email), but they can give you more advice on the cast off.
Which slip-wise did you like best?
And what size cast-off needle did you use? "They" always say go up a needle size but I never could get the cast-off loose enough for toe-up socks. Until I learned ez's sewn cast-off. But I've also recently figured out that if I knit a sock on a 1.5us (2.5 mm) needle and I cast off on a size 7us, it works for me. Yes, up that many sizes. Get out the broom sticks.
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