Knititude

Kit & Kat Pullovers

The pattern for the Kit & Kat Pullovers was recently published in Interweave Knits Gifts 2014 (first three photos courtesy of F&W Media/Interweave Press). The doll's version, sized to fit American Girl-type dolls, uses sport weight yarn, and the girls' version uses aran weight yarn, so that the stitch patterns are of similar scale for both girl and doll.

I didn't choose the name "Kit & Kat," but it does remind me of a story from my veterinarian days: I was working at South Bay Veterinary Group, in Boston's South End, when a woman brought in a cat named "Spic." When I first saw the name on the medical record, I thought "Well, that's kind of offensive; I'm surprised someone would give a cat a name like that." But then a few minutes into the examination, the woman mentioned that she used to have another cat, which had recently died. And that cat's name was Span. "Spic & Span," get it?

Anyway. The working name I used for this design was the "Lucina Shell Pullovers," because the lace edging around the hem and cuffs is the "Lucina Shell" pattern from one of Barbara Walker's Treasuries. I like the three-dimensional quality of this stitch pattern, which results from stitches being rapidly increased and then decreased to form the "shells." Once I had the idea of having the shells flow into ribs, the rest of the design followed: the shell borders form a slight peplum and belled sleeve cuffs, and the ribs give a more fitted look to the body and sleeves.

Cascade 220 Superwash Sport yarn was used for the doll's version, and Aran for the girls'. These are great yarns for children's clothes because they are machine washable, and can even be tumble dried (although for this design, you would be better off reshaping and drying flat). They also come in a big range of colors.

I finished the sample for the doll's version last spring, while visiting my granddaughters, and they were kind enough to let me use one of their American Girl dolls as a model. As you can see, the camera loves her! 

 

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Sometimes swatches lie

I decided to knit myself a Plaited Tam, but I wanted to try a different yarn; even though I loved the SweetGeorgia Yarns Superwash Sport I used for the sample, it's not available locally, and can take up to four weeks to arrive if ordered from the SweetGeorgia website (since it's dyed to order).  So I decided to make things a little challenging for myself, and use a yarn of a different gauge:  Cascade 220 Superwash, which is more of a light worsted weight.  I did a swatch of a couple of repeats of the Plaited Tam stitch pattern, including the ribbing, and since one repeat measured 2 to 2 ¹/₄ inches at the bottom edge, after blocking, I figured the larger size, with 8 repeats, would give me a finished circumference of 16-18 inches.  Sounds good, right?  (I didn't care so much about the finished diameter of the tam-- a little oversized was fine with me).

I used Color #1910, a heathered aqua (color in photos is off-- it's much prettier in real life), and after blocking over a large plate, it was a bit oversized, at around 12" diameter.  But the ribbing part was only around 16" when measured while the tam was lying flat, so...

it was only when I tried to put it on that I realized that it was definitely too large!  I could not get it to stay on my head without it slipping down over my eyes, unless I perched it back behind my hairline (and then it looked like a wooly shower cap).

Lesson learned: even if a swatch seems to measure properly when lying flat, it is essential to consider how the fabric will behave when it's worn; in this case, the ribbing stretched too much under its own weight to hold the hat on my head.  I should have measured the swatch slightly stretched; when I did, one repeat measured 2 ³/₄ inches, which translates to a circumference of 22" (and my head is 21").  

Next:  I try knitting the smaller size!