TL;DR Do you expect stockinette in a silk/mohair blend (Tilia by Filcolana) to grow longer after blocking?
The complete story
Do you remember my fluffy WIP of doom? It was nearly finished before the holidays. But I ran out of yarn, with no hope of getting my hands on more of the same. Filcolana has apparently changed suppliers or something and the new lots look completely different nowadays (much more muted colours - I’m really happy I have the older version).
Anyway, I was absolutely devastated. So I took pictures of the sweater to show you, thinking I might take away some of the body length in order to finish the sleeves. Seeing the pics, however, I think I’m not mad at the proportions as they are.
Side note: Thank all the gods of knitting for TAAT, otherwise I’d have one sleeve and a half.
OK, now time for a confession: When I started this project, I didn’t block my swatch. So I don’t know how the proportions will change after blocking/wearing etc. I’m afraid that the sleeves will grow longer, ending up like too-short-full-length-sleeves instead of 3/4. In which case I should unravel a bit of the sleeves before doing the I-cord edge.
What do you think?
There’s a good chance it will grow: silk certainly does and mohair has little memory, so will go along with what the silk does.
So without having a swatch it’s hard to determine how much it will change because how loose / tight your gauge is has a great influence on that.
Normally I’d suggest washing and drying the garment as it is - treating it like a giant swatch basically and then determining
- how much additional length your sleeves need
- how much you can take off the body
👇@weirdsquid but mohair can be tricky to unravel at the best of times. Taking it through a washing / drying cycle can make that worse. So I’m careful here with that suggestion.
Can you get some of the yarn, even in a different color and make a swatch and go from there? Maybe someone (ravelry?) has a small leftover and is willing to part with that.
Thank you so much for your insight! I know first hand of the difficulties - I have already frogged this sweater once :/
Considering what you wrote, I’m thinking of unravelling a couple of centimetres of the sleeves, based only on a wild guess. If after the wash I want back the lost length, I’ll only have to unravel the i-cord. Or even skip the i-cord, wash it holding the sleeves on a lifeline and finish it afterwards. This way, I wouldn’t need to unravel anything after wash. Would that work?
(Making and blocking a swatch would definitely be the adult thing to do, but I’m really not keen on the prospect of looking for more yarn…)
Washing with live sts is definitely a good idea. If you have to continue, you can just start again and if you have to unravel there’s at least no bind off to unpick. I’m generally using metal needles, which I just leave in, if I have to wash before something is finished.
And on the swatch - I feel you, I like to live dangerously myself …
😉
Right. Step 1, don’t panic!
I can’t stand mohair, even the thought of it makes me itchy, so unfortunately I can’t help with first-hand experience. Hopefully someone else can. But a couple thoughts:
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If you do block it, and the sleeves grow too much, is the yarn impossible the frog back to the right length? I know mohair is a bit of a nightmare but probably depends on the silk content so just thought I’d ask. This would be annoying to have to do, but too-long sleeves is a lot more salvageable than too-short (and yes omg, so lucky you decided to TAAT!)
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Does it actually need to be blocked? It looks fantastic in the photos, but I appreciate it might look messier to you in real life. Maybe worth considering though, if you’re happy with it as-is then is blocking worth the risk?
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One thing you could try is what I always think of as a “light blocking” where you pin it out and spray with water, just sort of pulling and patting things into shape. Rather than a full-on soaking wet block.
You’ve probably thought of all these things yourself but just putting it out there while we wait for an actual expert to come along lol.
Thank you so much for saying it out loud! I did wonder about potential consequences of not-blocking - I like that it’s kind of bouncy in its current state. However, it will have to be washed at some point, so I figured it’s better to find out now… Tension-wise, it’s a little messy (two years on the needles) but it’s also hairy so it’s not super obvious. Mostly, I’d like to soak it to wash away the project-of-doom vibes and initiate it as a garment.
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I know nothing of these magics, but I saw your sweater on my homepage and it looks great. I like the proportions, the cut and color and fit are all really nice. I hope it all turns out how you want, so far so good.
Edit: I like that the sleeve length keeps you warm but wouldn’t get soiled in day-to-day activities like washing a few dishes or a quick garden task.
Thank you for the kind words!
Hey, I’ve no idea how knitting works, but am I right in assuming that u made this completely by hand? (cartoons taught me that). If that’s the case, that’s so cool!!! It’s such a good looking garment!!!
Yes, I knitted it by hand. Thank you so much!
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