Marion and Zinnia

Miss Crayola Creepy 1:51 PM Completed project 53 comments

Hello everyone! Have you forgotten me? I haven't posted in weeks, but I'm alive and I've been sewing and knitting and quilting, if you can believe that. Actually, I have a backlog of projects and will try not to bombard you over the next few weeks.

Let's talk about my most recent knitting project, Marion. Andi Satterlund hosted a knit along for Marion a couple of months ago and while I had good intentions of finishing in the appropriate timeframe it just didn't happen. So of course I just procrastinated and put off posting about it until today because that's what I do. Plus, as I have mentioned in the past, it's hard to blog about something you're not stoked on.

The knitting pattern itself was fine and confusion free (love that), my issues were mostly with yarn choice and my technique. The Drops yarn I bought from my local yarn store is a little itchy for my taste and I'm not a fan of the fuzz. It seems like the cables don't show up as clearly as they should and blah. Just blah.

This was my first cable project, so I am proud of that. The construction was not difficult... except for the sleeves. Why do I suck so much at knitting sleeves?!?! Ok, let me clarify: the sleeves weren't difficult, with the exception of short rows. Technically, I suck at short rows. No matter what I do, I can't make the stitches around one edge of each sleeve look nice.

problem side on the left, good side on the right

Here is a photo from Instagram of my knitting strugglez. Basically, when I am purling back, I pick up the wrapped stitch from the front to knit, wrap and turn, but the stitch on the right side of the fabric looks sloppy. I asked for help/recommendations and some of you suggested trying German, Japanese, and shadow short rows. I'm going to have to try something because my issues didn't block out.

When it comes to the actual fit of the sweater it is a bit off. Normally in sewing patterns I need to do a narrow shoulder adjustment and have to shorten sleeves and it seems like that is what needs fixing in this case too. Despite all the complaining, I do like this pattern. I'd like to knit it again with different yarn, make the appropriate adjustments (can do you do a narrow shoulder adjustment in knitting?), and conquer those short rows!

On the bright side, I do like my Colette Patterns Zinnia skirt! You can't go wrong with a black skirt, right? The fabric is a linen from The Fabric Store in Los Angeles and is really soft and comfortable to wear. In fact, it's been worn quite a bit and will continue to be worn through winter. Add some boots and tights and I will be good to go! Speaking of winter, it's actually raining today, yay!

This was my second time making Zinnia and the construction of this skirt was once again really straightforward. On my first version I didn't add pockets and this time around I did (obviously). The pockets took me a little bit of time because I was struggling with the corners, but I'm happy I included them.