Mulberry Nila - Finished!

I finished this last Wednesday, August 6, and blocked it that morning.  I didn’t really do anything special to block it, just laid it out.  No pinning or stretching.

By Friday morning it was dry, being a fingering weight yarn helps a lot.  Things did relax a bit, so the fit is a bit looser than I thought it would be, but it is all good.  I prefer a little more ease.  The sleeves also came out longer - I knit them until I had used up the three skeins I had reserved for them, so they were going to be as long as they were going to be.  They are pretty much full length, stopping just shy of my wrist bone.  It has a nice drape to it.

Overall, I’m very pleased with how it came out.

Pattern:  Nila by Natasja Hornby

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri in the Mulberry Ombré 

Needle:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm), US 2 (2.75 mm)

Mulberry Nila - Sleeve Caps!

I love a top-down set-in sleeve.  As long as the armhole is the right depth and you pick up the right number of stitches to get the sleeve diameter that you want the result will be a perfectly fitting sleeve.  At least that has been my experience.  I use the method laid out in Barbara Walker’s Sweaters from the Top Down to work my top-down set-in sleeves, and it is very simple and easy to follow.  I did not follow the pattern directions for the short rows to shape the sleeve caps, as there were (in my opinion) too few short rows to get me a sleeve cap that would fit.  I also did not do German short rows, just wrap and turn, and no working of the wrap on the return row.  If I had followed the pattern directions I would have worked a lot fewer short rows as the pattern called for working 3 stitches past the double stitch before turning, and I worked up to the previous wrapped stitch, and then wrapped the next stitch and turned.  I did use the pattern directions as guidance on the number of stitches to pick up.

I will continue to work the sleeves together, alternating between them as I use up the first three skeins of my set.

Pattern:  Nila by Natasja Hornby 

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri

Needle:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm), US 2 (2.75 mm)

Mulberry Nila - Body Finished!

I have been focused exclusively on this project since July 22, and I finished up the body yesterday.  Once I joined the front and back the knitting took on the fairly monotonous quickness of working endlessly in the round.  The mindlessness interrupted by the lace panels, and the monotony interrupted every four rows by the k1, p1 round that gives the top its texture.  I used up skeins 4-9 of my 12 skein set on the body, and used skein 10 for the ribbing both at the hem and at the neckline.  I will also use it for the ribbing on the sleeves as a way of tying everything together.  As an ombré gradiance this set is not as successful as other sets in the series, and that has been part of my challenge with using it.  Even with the strong color blocking, and the fact that skeins 9 and 10 have a decidedly different hue than the others I think it is all going to work out okay, especially with using skein 10 as the contrast edging.   The ribbing is a k1tbl, p1 rib, and is knit on a smaller needle size. The fit is perfect so far.  On to the sleeves!

Pattern:  Nila by Natasja Hornby

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri

Needle:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 2 (2.75 mm)

Mulberry Nila - Front and Backs Joined!

Last night I got to the point where I thought that the front and back yokes were long enough to join for the body.  When I started working with the third skein I had the front and back yokes synced up with regards to length (when wearing) as well as where they were in the pattern repeat, so I worked them at the same time from both ends of my yarn cake.  Once they were where I thought they needed to be I measured them (as per the pattern) and darned if they didn’t match the measurements for the pattern size I was working.  I will confess to being a little dubious given the unusual shoulder construction, but it all works out.  I decided to complete the armhole shaping for the back, so I could cut the yarn and then do the armhole shaping for the front and join for working in the round.  When I was working those first couple of rounds I did pull out my markers (which were a motley of different colors) and just went with the beginning of round marker, but quickly decided having markers to identify the different stitch pattern sections was a nice thing to have.  I can read my knitting easily enough and so can see where they switch, but when I start knitting on autopilot it is easy to work a stitch or two of the next section, but in the pattern from the old, and then have to tink back, which just takes time and breaks my rhythm.  So I fished out enough of the green markers to mark everything, my beginning of round marker is yellow.

I tried it on and the fit looks perfect, now I just have to knit round and round until the body is long enough.  The ribbed edgings will be done in a darker color from this gradiance set, just because I like to do things like that.

This is the set that I am using, and you can see how those last four skeins in the top right get really dark.  I started with the fourth skein (going right to left on the bottom row).  The first three skeins I will use on the sleeves.  I should have yarn left over from this project, which I am going to use as the contrast color for another of her patterns - Maeron.  I will knit that one in the Denim Ombré, which was actually dyed to go with this one.

Pattern:  Nila by Natasja Hornby

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiwi in the Mulberry Ombré 

Needle;  US 2.5 (3.0 mm)

Mulberry Nila - Front and Back Yokes!

Once I got to the halfway point in my second skein I decided to work on the front yoke.  My primary concern was that when I started working the third skein I would be at the same point on both the front and the back, or pretty close, anyway.  The first skein went further on the front than it did on the back.  I started the second skein on the front about the spot where I joined the two front pieces.  I have now started working the back again using the other end of the skein so that I can try to keep the yarn usage even and switch to the next skein at about the same point on both the front and the back.  I also wanted to get both going so that I could make sure that my armhole is deep enough, and with the construction it just didn’t seem as straightforward to measure things and be sure that I was getting it right.  I’ve tried it on to make sure of the fit, as well as trying it on my dress maker dummy.

I think it is looking pretty good.

And it is looking pretty even.  I think I can alternate rows between the front and the back until I use up this skein, and then switch to the next one.

I do have a little more ways to go before I can join the front and the back, but it’s getting there.

Pattern:  Nila by Natasja Hornby

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri

Needle:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm)

Mulberry Nila - Cast On!

Having finished up a couple of things I decided to cast on a new project.  Plus, having completed my Practically Handspun vest I wanted to make another garment.  This will become Nila by Natasja Hornsby, also known as Moonstruck Knits.  I’ve been wanting to knit it for a while, and actually swatched for the patten over a year ago.  I also knew that I wanted to make it out of one my Unique Sheep Gradiance sets, and chose the Mulberry set.  I had been knitting a dress in this set, but I didn’t like how it was coming out so I frogged it.

The top is worked top down, and this is the back.  It has some interesting shaping, as well as a surface texture.  I started with the fourth skein of the set, and have reserved the first three skeins for the sleeves, which are not full length.  I will do the cuffs and collar with one of the darker skeins for contrast.  I am making good progress on the upper back, although I did have to rip back seven rows because I had forgotten an increase.

I used a little less than half of skein 4, and have started working with skein 5.  My gauge came out a little tighter than the pattern called for so I went up a size to compensate.

Pattern:  Nila by Natasja Hornsby

Yarn:  Kiri by The Unique Sheep

Needle:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm)