So back in February I told myself that I was going to learn how to do three things; cabling, fair isle, and lace. And so I did! approximately 9 months later, haha. Here are my two most wear-able projects to date. A cabled sweater with a tiny bit of lace knitted in the round ( first time, yay!) and a fair isled mini skirt.
I made the skirt first. It was about 90% done in March but then stuff got in the way so I didn’t get the chance to finish it until a few weeks ago. What a shame. Charting the fair isle patterns was a pleasure, there’s just so much possibilities! Flowers, skulls, animals, spirals . . . . . I now have a small notebook for charting that I bring along everywhere. You never know when creativity may strike.
I used acrylic yarn that was sorta mohair-ish and cheap (from Daiso ). I know what you’re thinking, acrylic bleh! but I live on the equator and its just not that practical to use fancy schmancy wool. Anyways, the end result felt heavenly! It’s like, a comfy, warm, and fuzzy sock for your butt. Due to the fact that it was fair isled, I risk no chance of having my undies showing through those tiny knitting holes. Bonus!
The whole process of knitting this skirt was quite easy. I hadn’t bought any round needles yet so I knitted a rectangle that would wrap around my butt, a little of my abdomen, and half-way down my thighs. Then, I sewed in the sides with a sewing machine, and finally, ribbed the top bit. Well, I thought I was done but, to my dismay, the bottom parts was curling. Then I brought out my iron and killed that little acrylic bitch of a skirt! Killing acrylic is fun. Learnt it from here.
The sweater was my first project in round. I was too lazy to look up and actual pattern so I made it up as I went. The lace-y bits on the sleeves were there to help me keep track of how long each sleeve should be. Nobody wants a sleeve longer than the other. I’m a tad bit disappointed with the top part though, towards the neck. Should have cabled it all the way but I told myself that I was decreasing so it doesn’t matter. Wrong! Might put some embellishments to hide that part later on.
When it was finished it looked terrible! I didn’t take any pictures guys. It was too tight, the cables were all bunched up together, and the stockinette stitch parts were itchy. I knitted this with acrylic as well. Oh acrylic. . . . But then I brought out my Iron again! You can either block, or kill your acrylic knitting. So I strategically killed bits of the sweater (stockinette part and lace-y bits) while blocking the cabled parts. The result, satisfactory. It still had its elasticity, itchiness gone, cabled parts looked decent, and I could easily slip it on now.
Killing (and blocking but mostly killing ) acrylic turned out to be the most useful thing I’ve learnt this year, not cabling, or fair isle knitting, or lace. Simply put, it miraculously elevates your previously shitty acrylic garments onto a whole new level ~ decent acrylic garments.
A close-up
Thecristalltg 