May 5, 2009

Salaam. . .along

Emma's Revolution is one of my favorite groups from a little music festival I go to in August. . .Peace, Shalom, Salaam is one of their most moving pieces. . .check it out.

But I digress.

A friend recently poked me and reminded me that I was ignoring the blog--but honestly? When have I really paid attention to it? I have the best of intentions, but seem to be short on time. Thanks for the motivation Kim T. . .and thanks for letting me know that at least ONE person cares about what I think!

Another friend has asked that I help her upsize the Shalom Cardigan. Both of us have made it once already--mine in a size large enough for me, hers as written. Making the changes to a pattern to have it fit properly can take a bit of math, but isn't really hard. The original calls for a bulky yarn and about 425-475 yards. I made mine out of some handspun--maybe a heavy worsted, and had about 650ish yards. . .I'll get a picture up tomorrow. . .

The new version I'm making won't really be a Shalom, but will use that as a jumping off point for style, since it seems to look so great on so many bodies. . .but will be in a dk-lt worsted handspun. For this, I have about 850 yards. . .should be enough, but I'm a risk taker. I figure I'll do a bit of lace for the yoke instead of the twisted rib. . .I'm thinkin' it will work.

Wanna play along? Kim W? Are you reading?

Here's how you play. Get your yarn and needles, and cast on a big ol' swatch. Honestly. You need it. Mine was knit, washed, and is drying on the napping couch right now. Make your swatch a good 7 or 8 inches square--we'll use it for both stitch and row gauge, and you want to make sure it's pretty accurate. A larger swatch will also give you more information about the drape of your fabric. For me? I want it to be a bit drapier--I used a size 8 needle.

While you're waiting for your swatch to dry, you can pull out a stitch dictionary if you want to make it a Salaam Cardigan, or if you like the original Shalom Cardigan, I'd suggest reading the pattern closely. Either way, you'll need to print out the directions for that. . .and get some notepaper, a calculator, a pencil and your thinking cap ready to go. You can find the pattern here.

That's all. Go knit.

2 comments:

  1. Well, yes, it is nice to see you back in the saddle, so to speak.

    Harriet

    ReplyDelete
  2. P.S. It's NOT 6:44 am, it's 9:44 am! I'm not up at the computer that early!

    Harriet

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for reading, I'm eager to read what you have to say in response. Your comments help me feel that I'm not writing into a void. . .keep them coming!