Thursday, 31 March 2011

Where are they now? - 2KCBWDAY4

 I took part in the first Knitting and Crochet Blog Week last year (in spite of the week coinciding with the cloud of volcanic dust when we were trying to go on holiday).  But this year I have been very slow to get started.  Also the topics for Days 1 and 3 were to do with yarn (comparing yarn, talking about your yarn stash) and I am not as passionate about yarn as many knitters seem to be.  And I'll get round to the topic for Day 2 some time soon, maybe.

Today's topic is a past knitting project, and I'm going to write about  a total failure - a project that was never finished and in fact can't be finished.


Some time before I stopped knitting for 25 years, back in the early 80s, I started work on a Patricia Roberts pattern.  I think it was a cardigan.  The yarn was from her own shop in London - black wool, white and gold mohair, in 4-ply (fingering) weight.  As you can see from the photo, the pattern is wonderfully complicated.  So why didn't I finish it?  One reason is that the design doesn't quite work - at the point where the cables of white and gold mohair approach each other and then diverge, they pull a gap in the background fabric (which is all reverse stocking stitch, by the way).  Maybe that's due to my incompetent knitting, of course.

Another reason is that it's tiny.  I cannot believe that I made the whole back of the cardigan without realising that it was never going to fit - it's only about 14 inches wide.  I assume that I did a tension swatch, but possibly the tension was given over stocking stitch, and the mohair cables pulled the fabric in more than expected.  I don't know.

And another reason why I now can't finish it, even if I felt inclined to start again, is that I can't find the pattern.  It isn't with the piece I have finished, or with the rest of the yarn.  I have several Patricia Roberts knitting books and it's not there. What's more, I can't find it in any of the Patricia Roberts books in the Knitting and Crochet Guild Library.  I think it might have been in a magazine, but I have no idea which one.

So there you are - a totally failed project.
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6 comments:

  1. Anonymous16 April 2011 at 12:48

    This is my second go at posting this so sorry if I am repeating things.

    Your design is Dolly Blue, Patricia Roberts Second Knitting Book, p. 90.

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  2. Barbara17 April 2011 at 09:43

    Thanks very much for that information. I'll look out for the book - just to remind myself what it should have looked like, I suppose, because I can't see myself starting the project all over again. Presumably I must have had the 2nd P.R. knitting book back then - wonder what happened to it?

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  3. Cecilia Rennie24 March 2012 at 03:52

    Are you still interested in finishing this sweater? It's so beautiful. I have the pattern, which is from her second book (the one with the red cover). I'll be happy to send it to you.

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    1. Barbara24 March 2012 at 09:47

      Thanks very much for the offer, but I did find the pattern after I wrote this post (I had been loking in the wrong place of course). I'm not sure I want to finish the pattern though - it would mean starting again, because the back has turned out so small. I'm pleased to hear that yours worked out well - do you still wear it?

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  4. Dorothy Taylor30 May 2012 at 20:21

    I remember knitting Patricia Roberts patterns - some of them were absolutely devilish. I finished a FairIsle sweater for my boyfriend at the time (1976) and an Aran one for myself. I never attempted the one that combined Argyle with dogtooth check and bobble flowers!

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    1. Barbara1 June 2012 at 20:19

      I did knit (and finsih) three Patricia Roberts jumpers, but they were her earlier patterns, which were simpler. This was the only one I attempted from her later pattern books. Congratulations on finshing two of them!

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