Adapting

One of the first big projects that I knit from myself was one of these.  I was really disappointed that it looked awful on, it was a hard way to find it out but raglan shaping really does not suit me at all.  I was torn over what to do with it, part of me wanted to like it as I have invested so much time on it the other part said give it away.  I am so glad I didn't give it away as eventually I realised that I could undo my knitting and reuse the yarn to make something I would wear.

So nearly a year a go I cast on that yarn to make myself a second shalom.  My original was a good fit but it has no sleeves and the 'button band' does not meet in the middle (it is not designed to!) I wanted  to have both so I had to adapt the pattern.  I know how useful I found other knitters notes on adapting this pattern to include sleeves and more buttonholes, I made extensive use of these notes, so I thought I would add mine into the pot too.

I shortened it a bit last time which was fine as a sleeveless cardigan but I wanted it longer to keep me warm in the winter. I decided that I wanted to knit this shalom as long as the original pattern, so I knitted the same number of rows.  The increases in the yoke were calculated using this useful calculator.  It took two attempts to get this to fit right.  The first time I increased too much (using the increases suggested in the pattern notes link above) and it was far too big. I hadn't measured quite correctly, I thought I needed to knit the same size!  I knit seven rows of twisted rib rather than the nine in the original pattern I wanted the yoke to finish higher up.  I wear a UK Size 10/Small.  So herewith my adaptation:

Body 
CO 67
Follow pattern knitting seven rows of twisted rib and with changes on the following rows:
8 increase evenly across row to 109 sts - see above for a useful calculator
18 increase evenly across row to 151 sts
28 increase evenly across row to 193 sts
37-39 K all stitches
40 - 44 St st
45 Divide for sleeves K30 place next 38 stitches on scrap yarn, K57, place next 38 stitches on scrap yarn K30 (117)
46 K25 P25 CO6 P57 CO6 P25 K5 (139)
47 K33 pm K63 pm K to end
55, *K to 2 sts before marker ssk sm k2tog rep from *, K to end
63 repeat row 55
69 repeat row 55
75 repeat row 55
83 *K to 2 sts before marker kfbl sm kfbl rep frp, *, K to end
91 repeat row 83
99 repeat row 83

Buttonholes were knitted using the instructions as per row 6 in rows:
6, 23, 40, 57, 74, 91, 109

Sleeves
I worked out the length I wanted these to be and used my gauge to work out how many rows I needed.  I measured the width I wanted at the cuff and worked out how many stitches I needed to have.  I knitted 83 rows, starting with 54 stitches and ending up with 24 before knitting a 5 row cuff.  My wrists are 15.5cm/6" and this gives a good fit on me.

With RS facing pick up 16sts, K38 stitches on scrap yarn K8 place marker for begining of round
1. K
2. K1 K2tog K to last 3sts ssk K1
3-6 K
7 repeat row 2
Repeat rows 3-7 until 24sts
84. P
85. K
86. P
87. K
88. P
89. BO all stitches

I had no idea if I would have enough yarn for this project, I could not really compare with the yardage that others had used.  I had a rough idea of how much I used originally, but when I started to knit the sleeves I realised that I was not going to have enough, then I remembered that I had not used all the balls I bought originally and there at the back of my yarn drawer were two more balls!  I had this much left:

This was the first time I have dramatically altered a knitting pattern.  It was most definitely a stop start process, each step needed carefully thinking before starting and I didn't always get it right first time.  I ripped a lot of stitches out but for me that is part of the learning process.  I am so glad I knit this by rewriting the pattern for myself as I have ended up with a cardigan which is a perfect fit.  I have fairly long arms, if you stretch your arms out from the tip to tip of your middle finger is your height.  I have a short body and very long legs so I can either find cardigans that fit in the body which end up sitting quite a long way up my wrists or are long enough in the arms and I could fit a small child in the body with me!

I bought some yarn a while ago which has been sat in my yarn drawer waiting for a project, this is most unusual for me I usually buy yarn for specific projects, it was a bargain and too good to miss!  I found the perfect pattern for it and then realised that it was knit in pieces which are then sewn up, I really don't enjoy that part of knitting.   It is a fairly simple pattern which I thought I could adapt knitting and adapting the shalom has given me the skills to understand a patterns construction.  So I am attempting to knitt all in one.  I have ripped all the stitches out once when I realised that I was knitting on too small a needle size!  I am keeping notes again so will update when I have finished, if I get that far!



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