Pasadena
Welcome to Pasadena, episode 54 of The Ordinary Knitter, the knitting podcast that’s (mostly) about the projects. My name is Heather and I’m @theordknitter on Twitter, @theordinaryknitter on Instagram and @ordinaryknitting on Ravelry. We are now live on iTunes! That only took 18 months. If you prefer to subscribe to podcasts without subbing Megacorp you can enter the feed address into your podcast app manually (https://www.theordinaryknitter.net/feed/podcast), otherwise you should find it via the usual search feature on your app.
This week: Pasadena pattern review and bauble fails. That’s it. This week has not been my finest hour either with sticks and yarn or computers, but if you look at my Twitter feed there’s slightly crappy video of me assessing Pasadena on.
Ft knitting patterns
- Pasadena – I don’t have a photo of me in it yet so this links to the pattern rather than my Ravelry project page
Ft knitting videos
Pasadena
Starting at the end, I made this cardigan in too large a size and too large a gauge. That’s 75% of the problem with the outcome, which is more or less the horse blanket that I wanted to avoid. I’ve learnt once and for all that gauge is vital, but also that I need to reconsider what I think will fit me. I made the cardigan in medium, for a 42″ chest, which I thought would be okay on my 41″ chest. It may have been, if I’d made it to the right gauge, but taking into account March Basic too it seems I’m better choosing slightly small than slightly large.
Non-my mess up areas of the pattern I’m not happy with include the welt, or lack of, and the diagonally travelling seed stitch bands. Because there’s no welt and this is a big heavy cardigan, the rolloed stocking stitch part of the bottom edge just dangles down, pointy. The back has a proper welt as do the seam edges of the front pieces, and those bits sit just fine. Like the travelling seed stitch band, it feels that some elements of this pattern have been included just for hell of it. It’s over-designed from that point of view. Even if the fit and gauge were right, that pointy bottom edge would always bug me. It’s occurred to me to unravel this cardigan and reuse the yarn for something else, but I’ve learnt also that I’m not mad about huge chunky knits. I’d considered before that I could wear Herz under Pasadena as the colours worked together, but quite honestly I’d be the Michelin woman and would struggle to move, swathed in the two!
I’m working through stash that I bought over the last couple of years when affordable yarn was dangled before me in ALDI and I couldn’t resist. As well as gauge and fit, I’ve learnt that yarn is important for projects. Would I have chosen a purple aran cardigan over any other permutation? No. I’m using what I have and to some extent trying to put a square peg into a round hole. I’m optimistic that the DK projects in the pipeline will work out better. You may need to remind me I said that.
Music credit:
“Carpe Diem” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/