Monday, November 16, 2009

Nihon Vogue Year Two Project-Puffy Sleeve



I admit. The blog has taken a back seat to my Nihon Vogue projects.

As I always say, I love the Nihon Vogue program. It is challenging, it is fun and there are many rewards from the hard work.

The first project for year two was a puffy sleeve garment. I used a Trendsetter Yarns Superkid Seta. It is 70%superkid mohair and 30% seta silk. I wanted something lightweight, yet warm. I imagined the puffy part of the sleeve being light and airy. Not like the large puffy sleeves from the eighty's.

I used a 3.25 mm needle(US5) with a single strand of the yarn. I think I used only 3 skeins.

If I were to knit this again, I would make the sleeves much shorter. I love this garment and I have worn it a lot. I loved learning the technique on making the puff for the sleeve. I also did some short rows near the ribbing at the bottom of the sleeve so there would be a little puff shelf-like thing. It didn't do exactly what I wanted but if I were to do it again I think the modifications I would do would make it exactly how I envisioned.

As I was knitting the garment, I realized I had an issue with the lace pattern I used. I found this lace pattern in a Japanese stitch pattern book. In the book with 1000 patterns, it is number 271.

Because of the mohair, the patterning is obscured, which is good in this case. I like symmetry. The lace is not symmetrical on each side of the center line of the front and on the back. It looks just fine but it is just something to think about in design. Despite this design flaw on this garment, I had the same "issue" in another garment this year. Oh well.

Isn't that how life is? Lessons everywhere!

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