I’ve been working on the Knitting Bag Jacket for a couple of weeks and am really enjoying working on it so far. Not that there haven’t been problems… I started out with a photocopy of the pattern shoved in my knitting basket and had trouble with the private side of my corrugated ribbing because I wasn’t following all of the directions.
So, I ripped back a few rows and made it look the way I thought it should look, and went along. Later, I realized what went wrong. I had read the pattern directions, but began following the pattern stitch directions instead, and missed the instruction on how to begin and end each row. Duh!
Continuing along, I started on the color blocks. I didn’t like the first set of color blocks, but I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong and so kept going. I did the second and subsequent blocks differently than the first row, but still it wasn’t right. It looked better, and looked nice, but it didn’t look right. This went on for the next few days until I finally decided to dig the book out and see what Ms. Melville recommends for these straight-sided intarsia blocks.
I was starting with a wrapped stitch when I should have been starting with an unwrapped stitch, and since the blocks are 6 stitches wide, ending with a wrapped stitch. When I worked out the wrong thing I was doing, I was actually alternately wrapping and not wrapping the stitches, but somehow it wasn’t working out that way. Here, let me explain.

I thought I was doing this, which is the goal,
|X|X|X
X|X|X|
|X|X|X
X|X|X|
|X|X|X
X|X|X|

but what I was actually doing was this.
|X|X|X
|X|X|X
|X|X|X
|X|X|X
|X|X|X
|X|X|X
I still don’t understand how what I was doing produced the wrong fabric, but now that I know what to do, it’s looking a bit wiggly on the front, but not looking “ribbed” at all.
So here’s the dilema. I’ve already trimmed the ends of the woven in bits for most of the back of the sweater. Do I rip out the whole thing and start over, being extremely stingy when I start the blocks so I don’t end up short of yarn? It’s shetland wool, something I haven’t used before, so I can’t predict what will happen when I wash n’ block the sweater. What I really would like to do is soak it, maybe overnight or at least for a few hours to try and get the bloom to come out, then block it to see if the ribby-ness is noticable or not. If it’s not, I’m done. If it is, then I have to rip and redo the back, and hope I have enough yarn left between what’s left in the balls and what’s left in the blocks. EEEK.
One fun tip though… She gives the length of yarn to cut for each intarsia block. So I knit the first row and realized she was being a bit generous with her estimates and so backed off an inch or two when cutting my lengths. But as I was knitting the back, I was stopping before each color block change and cutting the lengths for that row.
When I finished the back, I decided to figure out a better way to cut the yarns and make sure I dont’ end up short of one color or the other.
First, I weighed the balls of yarn to see how I was doing. Most colors were within a half-gram of each other except for orange, which I had more of than any of the other colors, but I still had more than half a ball left of each color, so I knew I probably wouldn’t run out. (Since I am knitting the largest size, I was worried that she didn’t really know that it would be enough.)
Next, I made up a map of the colors as I used them on the back, because the pattern doesn’t tell you what colors to use beyond the first pattern repeat. This way, I knew what to do on my fronts to make the blocks wrap around the sweater.
Next, I cut the lengths that I needed for the left front side. That way, if I make a mistake before I get to the end of the right side front, I have room to correct it.
Finally, I found a use for those silly size 17 needles I received at the Knit-Out. I don’t use needles that big, and was thinking they might make nice knitting bag handles or something, but I can’t imagine knitting with them! So, I knotted the yarn around the needles, short lengths on one needle, and longer lengths on the other Nifty, eh?
So, as I finish up the left front, I can just pull the colors I need for the next row without having to make such a project out of it.
If you are like me and have a big honking set of needles you won’t use, maybe you will!?
Here’s the completed but unblocked back.