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Dear KnitBits® Subscribers,
Lately we have received many requests for summer sweaters to knit for kids in Calico™ and Cotton
Twist™. Because we post a KnitBits newsletter weekly, we can whip up whatever we want, and photograph it in our studio and post it for you to print out for free. This is about as close as we get to instant gratification. In that past we had to prepare the entire collection 6 months in advance of the season and there was no way to be spontaneous to the needs of the moments.
This season we introduced Calico™ for a smart cottony blend yarn that has just enough novelty effect to amuse the knitter and plenty of color harmony to appeal to the wearer. We featured patterns for women and somehow overlooked the obvious. With colors such as Purple Power and Lime Rickey, our team decided to translate a couple of our favorite cardigans for little girls into this season's best. Today, you can download them for free.
Barb is a very easy garter ridge cardigan with rolled edges. We knit it in Calico, color #1836 Purple Power. For fun, we used colorful oversized buttons. It is shown here in girls' size 4 but we've sized it from size 2 through 8. Maeve is sized the same and also adorned with an assortment of oversized buttons. It's a lemon and lime cardigan that's knit in simple reverse stockinette stitch in color #1821 Lime Rickey. It's trimmed in 1 x 1 ribbing in Cotton Twist #8349 Sassafrass. Both cardis have simple drop shoulder sleeves that are picked up and knit down from the armhole, leaving you the option to lengthen the sleeve if the little girl has a summer growth spurt. Don't throw out the leftover yarn in case you need to lengthen the sleeves. By binding off at the cuff and not burying the end too deeply when you weave it in, you can simply unravel and knit down to lengthen the sleeve.
Charlene from Indianapolis writes: "I am knitting with your Yoga™ ribbon and I find that it won't stay flat as I knit. It folds in half at times and it twists. Should I be concerned?"
Charlene, that's a good question. You are not the first to ask. Here are my thoughts. Ribbon is not a round yarn. In fact, it isn't really a yarn at all. It is a single strand that is either woven on a narrow loom or knitted on a chainette machine. Ribbon yarns are constructed to lay flat until they are wound onto a ball. In the process of winding it, it folds in half and twists occasionally. This may cause the knitted fabric to look less than perfect. I prefer to say that the knitted fabric has a handmade, artisanal quality that is very appealing. After all, the best way to achieve a completely uniform fabric is by knitting machine. We hand knitters prefer to allow the fabric to express itself in harmony with the hand of the knitter. The effect can be subtle or exaggerated depending on the qualities of the yarn or ribbon you choose to work with.
My best advice to you, Charlene, is to just knit and enjoy Yoga. It is a lovely woven ribbon reminiscent of silk sari fabrics. You can steam or block the pieces with a steam iron and pressing cloth. This will make the stitches appear more regular, but you will never achieve a machine made perfection with this type of yarn.
All the best,
Margery Winter
Creative Director
How
to become eligible to win
a Free Sweater Kit:
All
KnitBits subscribers will be
automatically included in our bi-monthly
drawings for a free sweater kit from
our newest collection. Your current
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Calico is a smart cottony blend yarn in 7 color combos.
