Dear Ann,
This is Vivi.
Vivi is a Papillon puppy belonging to Gail, whom I met on Twitter. (I was trying to complete my set of all possible spellings of the name Gail.) The red sweater belongs to Vivi’s elderly sister Mitzi. Mitzi’s sweater is 15 years old. Gail wanted it copied for Vivi. I wanted to copy it for my own purposes, so I took it on. As you do. How hard could it be?
With some help from Belinda of True Brit Knits, I did pretty well. My version, in Cascade 220 Superwash (color Marigold), came out a bit longer and a bit narrower, but should fit La Viv pretty well I think.
The one thing I couldn’t figure out was the edgings. I did them all as bind offs so they’d be identical. The red sweater has rolled edges that DO NOT ROLL. They are mock roll edges. This is a great feature that prevents the sweater from scrunching up with wear. Does anybody know how it’s done? There was nothing in my book of cast-ons and bindoffs. In the end, I just did a stretchy bind off. It is not perfect, but as you always say, it has a quality of doneness that I like very much. If anybody knows how to do a mock rolled edge that doesn’t roll, please tell me how and I’ll redo my edgings, because it does actually bug me.
In other news, I made another honey cowl in Madtosh DK. For those keeping score, I’ve lost track of how many Honey Cowls I’ve made.
Happy weekend all!
Love,
Kay
I love it. I wonder if the unrolling edge is a hemmed garter edge. I did something similar once. Will see if I can find my notes.
Interesting…tell me more….
I’m on the road, but happen to have the sweater with me (though sadly not the pattern). It appears to be about 3 or 4 rows of garter, then knit the next row through the garter edge and a new stitch. That may not be explaining it well but is a seamed garter edge. Looks similar. When I get home will email you a photo of the edge. My yarn is thicker so the “edge” is too, but will be a similar effect I’m sure.
So cute! Would you consider posting the instructions? Or selling for charity? Have recently acquired a chihuahua/mini-pinscher that would look adorable in this.
Will try but I need to solve the edgings issue!
Do a few rows of ribbing, than your rolled edge. That should control it.
Joan
I thought it was Daffodil? No? Am I going mad? Anyway, glad to see it finished. Need to see it on Vivi!
It’s not an applied I-cord edge? It kinda looks like it….?
This was my first thought as well.
Nope. Easy to tell that it’s not I-cord.
I’m with Cindy, I think it’s an icord bind-off, but perhaps one done in reverse stockinette?
Yep. Fer shur.
Nope. Easy to tell that it’s not I-cord. I know I-cord. I-cord is a good friend of mine. This is not I-cord.
Hi Kay,
You could try a technique I often use at the top of mitts. At the end of each edge purl 3 rows then cast off. You could play around with the number of rows but 3 seems to work best. I have tried both 2 and 4. Linda
It looks like i-cord to me, but I hesitate to say it to someone who has done miles of i-cord (compared to my four feet of i-cord) and would probably recognize it if that’s what’s on the little coat.
By the way, this post is a really good example of why I love MDK.
Icord bindoff done from the wrong side? just a thought.
Could it simply be a few rows done on a needle one size smaller? I’ve seen that done on a sweater before, it keeps the roll from going further than you want it to.
Having seen this dog sweater I can happily say that the edging is none of the things Cindy, Erika, Linda, Quinn, Melanie or Josee are suggesting, but it might just be Stephanie B’s edge… will investigate. I have never seen an edging like it before. x x
But have you ever seen a fingerless glove with two thumbholes before?! I love a dog who can fit into a garment like that! Are you still in NYC? Will you come to Phila now that the historic sites are back open? The Warby Parker search continues. I’m zeroing in on (Ogden)Nash distance and Marsh(m)all(ow) readers with Evelyn (Waugh) sunglasses. By the way, what about (much) smaller needles for a few rows before the roll rows bind off?
I covet Warby Parker glasses. Get some so I can see how it works to buy glasses via the Internet!
I recently ordered Warby Parker glasses (Crosby, in the Burgundy fade shade) – you can see me wearing them in my instagram – sarahelisew
I LOVE Warby Parker and will DEFINITELY be ordering more pairs from them in future. So easy.
Hey, the automatic email message-sender thingie works now! I just got the email! Of course, I had already read the post before the email came…
Hmph, I didn’t get one! I have no ideas about your edging, either.
Loved getting a heads up about the new post.
Hated that all of the email addresses are revealed in full. BCC!
Thank you! That’s a bad thing! We will alert the intern ASAP!
Kay, we don’t actually have an intern. It’s going to be either Kermit or Olive, and Kermit frankly weighs twice what Olive weighs, so I guess we should go with the cat.
Ditto Lorin’s comment; hide the addresses!
SO SORRY! We definitely don’t want to have this happen–will get on this immediately. Many thanks for your patience as we work out the kinks.
I agree about e-mail addresses showing. When I clicked on unsubscribe I saw no action.
Just reporting in.
I agree with the diagnosis of a few rows of reverse stockinette before the bind-off (a few as in at least three, more to be safe) to make a reverse roll that has nowhere to go once it has curled back on itself. I see this on store-bought sweaters often, almost all rolled edges on machine knit sweaters, actually. You get the look without the excessive rolling.
I once knitted a cap using a Fiber Trends pattern “School Colors Hat” (now discontinued I believe) that had such an edge and it was 2 inches of reverse stockinette – or to put it another way – the “hill” part of the Quaker rib pattern. For your purposes you might not need that much of an edge. I thought it was the usual rolled edge just looking at the picture so it took a few tries to realize what it really was. Reading the pattern didn’t even help much because the reverse stockinette was followed by the usual rolled edge in a different color so that the two rolls were stacked. I hope this isn’t too confusing. Let me know if it is and I will try a different way of explaining – or else just ignore everything past the first 2 sentences.
It’s on Ravelry. “School Colors Hat”
Oh, what a sweet papillon. We have one (a 5 pounder) named Duke. He would never wear a sweater that went over his head, but it is adorable on Vivi. The rolled edge (if it keeps rolling) is a huge problem on a dog that moves – it ends up rolling right under their front legs. Hope you can figure out an alternate edging!
Have you anything against faking it with a few rows of reverse stockinette? jdu
Here’s how I do that type of edging on hats when I begin in the round at the bottom (rolled edge):
Knit a few rolls to get a curl, then do one purl row to stop the roll. Then back to knit in the round for rest of hat–or tiny dog sweater sleeve. You never see the purl row under the curl.
I like this! Adding it to my personal archive of knitting hints now…
Very cute. Could the edging be more of a baby I-cord?
Why the research on the name?
Must be dog sweater time! I’m working on one for my friend Terri’s new dog, Lester. As Lester is a larger dog, it’s taking longer than I hoped. Meanwhile, could that edge be, dare I say it, a rolled hem that’s sewn into place?
Thanks for a little trip down memory lane…my two Papillons, with the absurd names Rocky and Spike, refused energetically to wear sweaters of any type. They have gone on to Doggie Heaven, where I am sure nobody is trying to wrestle them into handmade knitwear. (Love the photo of Viv; reminds me why I find this breed irresistible.)
By sheer coincidence I brought up this pattern on Ravelry tonight – SHOKAY. It has a hemmed rolled edge. Even if it’s not the same as Mitzi’s sweater, it is an interesting technique. And the pattern name is fitting !
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/shokay-shrug
I am wondering if the original has felted slightly after 15 years. That might firm up the fabric enough to stop the roll. . .
I’m pretty sure that the power of canine cuteness compels the roll the behave.
I agree! (you’re a smart Cookie….)
LoveDiane
🙂
If it involved I-cord or if there was a purl row or a rib section or if the roll was a hem, those would all look very different from what Kay is seeing, although those all sound like great ideas to make a different version that would work well. Here’s a guess that wouldn’t be as obvious: is it possible that a slightly larger needle size was used for the curling portion? I just tried a very small sample and with a firm fabric as the base, then knitting 6 rows on needles two sizes larger, the roll stopped exactly where the needles size changed. Would be interesting to know if that portion has a slightly larger gauge.
Could the edge be “easy peasy reverse stockinette tubular edging (part 2 of “pocket hats”) from TechKnitting, Feb. 15, 2008? http://techknitting.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html
I am not sure how you would get a similar edge on the cast-off end.
I think you will have good results with a loose cast off. This is not possible with the “regular” bind-off. I use Elizabeth Zimmermann’s “sewn casting off” (described in most of her books) with great results for almost all of my knitting. As you complete the set of 2 steps, gently tug the newly disposed of stitches to the Right, to make sure they are not tight. You will find that you get a nice roll that doesn’t over- or under-roll.
I thought that you were not blogging anymore, because when I had to migrate from iGoogle Reader to Feedly I did not get any new posts. this morning I decided to Google you and found that you are still here.
SO don’t know if it was my migration or your changes, but wonder how many others are having the same experience.
I am very glad to find you. Very few friendships (or marriages) last 10 ~~ and collaborations are even harder; therefor , I offer you a big congratulations.
Thanks so much for the heads up, Rebecca. And so glad you would track us down again!
It’s me again. I read the comments and would offer another solution. Have you tried the marvelous iCord bind off? I have done it on three shawls and love the clean edge it gives with considerable stretch.
Golly I got a bit obsessed about this edge. Then the brainstorm – or the doh moment – pick up and knit !
Tried it and it works beautifully. The stabilizing effect of the picked up stitches keeps the roll controlled. And you can barely tell how it was done – either at the cast-on or bound-off edges. Pick up through single front strand only on RS. Work in SS stitch for as many or few rows as you like. Standard bind-off. Really like this edge 🙂
Can you guys organize some kind of relief for the Phillipines? Knitting or selling a pattern like you did for the Japan earthquake? I feel so terrible for these poor people. Just horrible.
It is so stunning, seeing all the images coming out of the Philippines. Let me see what we can cook up. My feeling is definitely that money is the best single thing to contribute in a disaster like this. Money is easy and portable and liquid and infinitely flexible in the way it can be used.
Comment
Money is definitely something that can be sent right away, whatever one can afford. The thing that you guys did for Japan was wonderful in the amount of money that you raised, as well as the characteristic that it is on-going. In addition to “cooking up” something special for us (if possible), would it be possible to somehow include an auction of sorts along the lines of the recent Barbara Walker happenng?
Enjoying the new format!
LoveDiane
Here I am to whine about something on your new fancy blog: Can we please have the month-by-month history as well as just the huge 10-years-at-once history? Sometimes a girl has to find something in the archives, ya know, and if you search in the buckets up there, how do you, say, get to the next entry? Or, say, sometime in 2009 they did something with miters… hard to scroll around. I recently had to find Kay’s thing on Gwithian Bay, for example. (Really.)
I know! It’s something that I use myself when trying to remember what life was like in, say, April 2004. Will get that functionality going, she said confidently. (She has no confidence in any of this but will find someone who does.)
That is a cool edge, whatever it is… I would like to knit my adorable puppy something and this would be perfect.
But do you have a Gael? I always admired Gael Greene, the movie critic, starting with her name.
The non-roll roll collar would be a fabulous trick to have up our (non-rolling edged) knitter sleeves. Could it have a small piece of cording inside it that it is rolled around, sort of like piping?
I do have a Gael!
Love,
Kay Who Collects Gales, Gails, Gayles and Gaels