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Koigu Journal January
Let's track a design from idea to finished garment
The holiday celebrations are over for now and we think it's time to make something
fun and a bit challenging for yourself.
That was our first thought for this month. After a little brainstorming and
inspiration, we decided to explore knitted motifs. It's easy to find crocheted motifs.
Knitted ones are a bit scarcer. So we had to a bit of looking before we were happy.
We found a leaf motif that uses a row of ridges placed regularly on a stockinette
background.
We liked this one because it's essentially a hexagon, which makes more possibilities
for putting the motifs together in pleasing patterns. You can stagger them, or put
them end-to-end, or line them up in even rows.
So we put together a mixture of rich variegated colors of KPPPM and interspersed
a few solids until we had a combination with movement and interest.
The colors are based around wine, brown, gold and blue.
You could use grey, gold, pink and red.
Or maybe blue, green, ecru and purple.
At this point, we decided to make a large rectangular wrap, placing the motifs in
rows, as in the first drawing photo. As you can see, our first attempt made the rows
diagonal.
Along the way, we tried knitting an entire row as one piece, increasing and
decreasing to make points, as shown in the middle drawing.
But that changed the look of individual motifs we really wanted.
Next we put them together in groups of four leaves of the same color, picking up and
casting on to create a cross shape.
This was very exciting, but not really practical, because this arrangement left large
square holes that would have to be filled in!
That's fine for a long-term project, but too much for a monthly one.
While knitting groups of four leaves, we managed to pick up and knit in the wrong
spot. Oh no!
That's when we noticed how cool they looked as pairs: each worked in the opposite
direction. Those pairs are in the photo at the heading of the newsletter.
In the bottom drawing, you can see how things looked when we colored the pairs
of leaves. Now we're happy.
Here's when our time considerations came in.
This would certainly make a gorgeous long wrap. And we intend to make one
sometime.
But when we realized we'd need at least 60 pairs of leaves to get a decent length
and width, we changed our minds again.
What to do?
What if we put the leaves together into two rounds and made a skirt?
We'd need fewer leaves. And the points at the bottom look pretty.
After the leaves were sewn together, we picked up stitches around the top and
turned the pattern into a striped yoke, continuing the shaping and decreasing
until we had a nice waist.
And it worked!
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Leaf Motif Skirt
Finished Measurements 25 (28)"/ 62 (70) cm waist, 36 (39)"/ 90 (98) cm hem, 21
(23)" /52 (58) cm length
Materials KPPPM P324 maroon, brown, gold (A), P113L aqua, maroon, gold, grey
(B), P749 brown, purple stipple (C), P644 red, pink, purple (D), P rose stipple (E),
P327 splotchy gold (G); 1 skein ea. KPM 1233 flat gold (F), 2389 dark brown (H),
2388 med brown (I), 2230 red (J); 1 skein ea.
Needles US3/ 3.25
Tapestry Needle for sewing up.
Stitch Marker
Leaf Motif
Top Leaf: Cast on 27.
Row 1: K12, slip 2sts tog Knitwise, K1, P2SSO, K12.
Row 2: P1, M1 Purlwise, P to last st, M1 Purlwise, P.
Row 3: As Row 1.
Row 4: K1, M1 Knitwise, K11, P1, K11, M1 Knitwise, K1.
Repeat these four rows 4X more.
Row 21: As Row 1.
Row 22: P
Row 23: K to last st before center, sl2tog, K1, P2SSO, K to end.
Row 24: K to center st, P1, K to end.
Repeat Rows 21-24 until 3sts remain.
Last Row: Sl2tog, K1, P2SSO.
Fasten off.
Bottom Leaf: On wrong side of leaf just made, beg at center st of cast-on, pick
up and K 13 sts. Using Cable Cast-on (http://www.wikihow.com/Knit-a-Cable-Cast-On),
CO 14 sts. Turn.
Work Bottom Leaf as for Top Leaf. Fasten off.
Make 5 pairs of leaves ea in A & B, 4 pairs in C, 2 pairs ea in D& E, 1 pair ea. in F,
G, H, I and J. Make one extra pair in H and in F for larger size.
Sew leaves together in two rounds, following placement diagram.
Upper Band: Stitch Pattern: Rounds 1, 2, 3: K Round 4: P.
Work 4 rounds ea: J, B, G, D, H, E, F, D, I, A. (C & B for larger size)
With J, beginning at any join between two leaves of upper round,
pick up and knit 12 sts up to point, 1 st at point, 12 sts down to next join, 1 st in join.
(26 sts in ea leaf)
Place Marker to denote beg of round. Begin working in round. K 1 round.
Next Round (dec): K2tog, *K22, sl2tog, K1, P2SSO; rep from *, ending with K2tog.
Work 1 round even. Rep decrease round, working 2 fewer sts between dec.
Work 1 round even. Rep decrease round with 2 fewer st between dec.
Work 1 round even. Rep decrease round, with 2 fewer st between dec.
Work 3 rounds even. Rep decrease round, continuing with 2 fewer sts between dec
ea. time.
Work 3 rounds even. Work dec round.
Work 7 rounds even. Work dec round.
Work 15 (23) rounds even.
Bind off.
Steam or block as necessary to finished measurements.
© 2015 Koigu Wool Designs, Kathryn Merrick and Selma Kaplan
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