Pattern for the red Miss Lemon Jumper

I've decided to post the pattern I used for the red Miss Lemon jumper, as I've noticed that I'm far from the only fan out there who'd love to knit it.

The pattern is sized for a 38-ish bust, but the jumper is very elastic.

Materials: Drops Alpaca Silk baby yarn, 1 skein blue and white, 9 skeins red.; 1 pair each 2mm and 2.5mm knitting needles; buttons.

Measurements: Width all round at underarm, 35in.; length from top of shoulder to hem, 22in.; length of sleeve seam underarm, l7in.

Tension: To get this tension it is absolutely necessary to work at a tension to produce 8.1 sts. to one inch in width measured over pattern. 11 rows to 1 inch. The fabric is very elastic.

Back:

Using 2mm needles cast on 122 sts. Knit in ribbing of k1, p1 until work measures 3 inches, ending on the wrong side of work (28 rows).

Change to 2.5mm needles

Row 1: k1, inc 1, k15*inc 1, k15* . Repeat pattern until end of the row. You should now have 130 sts, which gives a width of 16 inches underarm.

Continue in main stitch:

1^st row.- K. 1, p. 1

2^nd row.- knit

Repeat these two rows throughout.

Armhole:

When work measures 12 inches Cast off 6 sts. at beg. of next 2 rows, knit 2 together each end of needle in the next row. Then knit the last 2 stitches of every following row together until 104 sts. rem (12 rows).

Neck Shaping:
When armhole measures 7 inches shape the rounded neck by casting off the middle 20 sts. Work on one side only now. Cast off 3 stitches at the neck edge in every other row twice. Knit 2 together at the same edge in every other row 3 times.

Then shape the shoulder by doing short rows. Knit from the neck edge towards the shoulder until there are 10 stitches left on the needle, turn and knit until end of row (this takes you back to the neck edge). Turn and knit until there are 20 sts left on needle, turn and knit until end of row. Turn and cast off all stitches.

Join the wool in on the other side of the neck and complete this shoulder in the same manner as the one just finished.

Front:

Cast on 145 sts (makes for 19 inch width after increases), increase to 154 sts and knit until work measures 12 inches.

Front Armhole:

When work measures 12 inches Cast off 10 sts. at beg. of next 2 rows, knit 2 together each end of needle in the next 5 rows. Then knit the last 2 stitches of every following row together until 104 sts. rem (20 rows).

When armhole measures 6 3/4 inches shape round neck by casting off the middle 20 sts. Work on one side only now. Cast off 3 stitches at the neck edge in every other row twice. Knit 2 together at the same edge in every other row 3 times, turn an knit next row. Knit 3 more rows. Shape the shoulder by knitting until there are 11 stitches left on the armhole edge, turn and knit until end of row. Knit until there are 22 sts left on the armhole edge, turn and until end of row. Turn and cast off all stitches.

Join the wool in on the other side of the neck and complete this shoulder in the same manner as the one just finished.

SLEEVES (Both Alike)

Using 2mm needles cast on 68 sts. Work in rib of k 1, p 1, for 3ins, working 1st row into back of sts.). Change to 2.5mm needles and increase 1 stitch at each end of the needle in every fifth row until there are 90 stitches (11 times).

After welt knit *6 rows (aim for a little less than 1 inch), 2 blue, 6 rows red, 2 white, 6 rows red*. Repeat 2 more times.

Knit until the sleeve measures 18 inches at the underarm seam.

Shape the top of the sleeve by knitting 2 st together at the beginning of every row until there are 30 stitches left. Cast off.

Make another sleeve to match

Bows:

With 2.5mm needles cast on 40 stitches loosely for both bows.

Large bow:

K 7 rows white, 2 rows red, 6 rows white, 2 rows blue, 6 rows white, 2 rows red, 6 rows white, 2 rows blue, 24 rows white, 2 rows blue, 6 rows white, 2 rows red, 6 rows white, 2 rows blue, 6 rows white, 2 rows red, 7 rows white.

Small bow:

7 rows white, 2 rows blue, 6 rows white, 2 rows red, 6 rows white, 2 rows blue, 24 rows white, 2 rows blue, 6 rows white, 2 rows red, 6 rows white, 2 rows blue, 7 rows white

Centre front band:

With 2.5mm needles cast on 18 stitches (should be 2 inches wide), knit in k1 p1 rib.

The finished band should reach the top of the ribbing at the waist. To check the length of the band gather the bows at front, and pin the band in place. Allow the jumper to hang a for a while, as the band most likely will sag a little. Once you're sure you've reached the right length graft the band to the top of the ribbing. Stitch on buttons, and tack front band to jumper at regular intervals.

TO MAKE UP

Press pieces with a moist cloth and iron set to silk. Take care not to apply pressure on the pieces, just touch the iron gently to the cloth for a second or two, lift and reposition the iron, repeat. The idea is to get steam into the fabric. Leave pieces to dry completely.

Sew up shoulder, side, and sleeve seams, sew in sleeves, placing seam to seam. Make edging for neck. Stitch on centre front band.

Block the bows by moistening them and pinning them into shape, leave to dry.

I reinforced the shoulder seams by sewing on cotton tape along the seams, and I also reinforced the centre front behind the bows. If I were to knit this jumper again I’d make the welt longer, some 5 inches and I’d use another stitch. Probably something like k5, p1. I’d also shorten the armscye.

Miss Lemons Black and White Jumper

I finished this jumper this spring, but haven't gotten around to posting about it yet. I ended up using another template for the jumper than the one I first intended, as I found it hard to meet the gauge. I was afraid the jumper would end up too stiff if I used very fine needles, so I chose another pattern from one of my books, with the same basic shape, but a different gauge. In retrospect I realise that I could have tightened the gauge some, but I'm still pleased with the outcome.

On another note it's still raining cats and dogs here in Lillehammer. Before we moved here we were told that the summers would make up for the very cold and long winters. So far I'm not too impressed.

Twin Set for Winter

Hiya all.

It's been quiet here for a while, sorry about that. I've been working in a lower secondary school since March, and although it has been enjoyable it left me with no energy for blogging. Now school is out for summer though, and this being Norway, I'm already thinking about the fall and warm clothes... Probably because for the 3rd summer in a row the weather has been rather s**t, with flooding and the railroad closed due to land slides brought on by the rain. Sigh... Perhaps Italy or France would have been a better choice when leaving Ireland?

For those of you out there who, like me, are contemplating knitting a twin set for fall and winter, here's a pattern in 3 different sizes with 3 different stitches to choose from, from James Norbury's book "Knit With Norbury". Happy knitting :)

Longline bra or corset?

I finished the 3rd mock up today, and as I did the fitting I noticed that the fabric wrinkles a bit in the back, and the sides as well so I think I'll have to add boning along some of the seams. I'll also make it longer in front so it extends further down, cupping the tummy, and increase the height in the back. This will end up a corset with cups I suspect. I suppose I could make it front closing as well, and use one of my old busks, but that would stiffen the front considerably.

I've never made a wearable mock up before, but perhaps the time has arrived for it to be a sensible thing to do. Thing is at the moment I don't have any powernet fabric. I've ordered it, but it will probably be a week before it arrives, so if I'm to make a wearable mock up I'll have to find another solution. Perhaps cut up a pair of control top tights, or use double layer merino wool jersey. Or I could stitch together wide elastic to form panels.

Another Bra Adventure

Sorry for the recent silence. I had a breast reduction done end of January, and time seems to have flown by. I'm really happy with the results, it's just so nice to have small breasts and not have to carry around the weight of the old ones. It's also nice to have them back up where they belong :)

I had to wear a soft non wired bra 8 weeks after the surgery, and the sports bra was all right, but I wanted something that would give more shape, so I bought a few classic 1950's 60's style bras, the kind grannies usually favour, and it's amazingly comfy, at least when you have relatively small breasts. They mostly come in black and white, but I've found out that most of the white ones can be dyed, so I now have brown, wine and dark blue bras as well as black.

I've been thinking of diving back into hand made lingerie. I made a bra a year ago from this pattern, and I decided to give it another go, but do the longline version this time. So far I've been struggling with the mock up. I altered the pattern again tonight, and will give it another go tomorrow. The last time I made this bra I measured myself from between the breasts straight across the fullest part to the point where I wanted the cup to end, but since I now have a 38 inch bust (yay!) I thought it would be fine to simply cut out the pattern as marked, but no. I needed to make the cup wider this time as well. I'll start on the third (!) mock up tomorrow, wish me luck.

Gauge and Ease Frustrations

The one thing that is starting to dawn on me is just how hard it is to estimate the amount of positive or negative ease needed in a knitted garment.

I had no idea it could be as hard as I've found it to be. My first attempt at knitting a jacket for myself ended up way too big, and I frogged it. I considered making a gift of it, but the proportions was just not flattering. Not at all what I was after.

The second attempt was the vest I made in December. This also ended up too big. This time I got the measurements right, but the fabric was too soft and elastic, which made it a couple of sizes too big anyway.

I'm halfway done with the camiknickers from the pattern I posted. I decided to knit it in the round, not realizing it would make it very hard to gauge whether it would fit, so for now it's hibernating while I'm summoning the courage to place the stitches on a string and try it on.

Finally I started on the red Miss Lemon Cardigan. This time I decided to knit it flat, and started on the back piece after swatching. I calculated gauge correctly, but when I tested the fit after 7 inches on my dressmakers dummy I discovered that it was still too loose, and had to unravel it down to the ribbing. This is starting to annoy me quite a bit. It seems I will have to knit the equivalent of a small baby blanket of the stitches I plan to use to see how the fabric behaves.

How do the rest of you knitters cope with this?

Miss Lemon

I own all the Hercule Poirot films, and watch them at regular intervals, sometimes just to drool over Miss Lemon's outfits. He has such lovely things it makes me both greedy and envious.

To alleviate this I've decided to give a go at recreating some of her things, most specifically two of her jumpers. The lovely red one that looks like a cardigan at first glance, and the black one with white polka dots. Swoon...

You can follow the red jumper project here. I'm making the pattern up as I go along, and I've settled for a broken rib pattern as the main stitch. If the jumper turns out the way I hope it will I'll post the pattern here once it's done.

The black jumper project is outlined here. Don't you just love Ravelry? Such a handy site. I haven't started on the black jumper yet, but I've found a pattern in one of my books that should give a good framework to it. The stitch will have to be altered, but the basic shape is more or less the same. For others out there with Miss Lemon envy I am posting the pattern I'll be using for the black jumper. Enjoy :)