Pinwheel Sweater progress - Edging
It seems like it has taken forever but I've FINALLY hit the last leg of this longer-than-I-thought-it-would-take project! I did a lot of thinking about how I would attach the beaded fringe. I really wanted to avoid sewing it - I always think thread sewing, especially if it's visible, is really gauche on knitting. Plus it tends to be inflexible and more likely to rip or cause the knitted fabric to behave badly.
The fringe I used turned out to be different than the one I originally chose which had bright orange seed beads as accents as I realized they would make the orange in the sweater look washed out. This one, with the gold and browns seemed to add an element of class. The dangles are attached to a brown satin ribbon which (miraculously) matched the dark brown yarn - ya, I know - how did that happen?? And I wanted it to move fairly freely with the knitting - which meant only ONE solution - knit it in! It turned out to be surprisingly easy - K2 together, YO, weaving the ribbon forward and back in the YOs. I had to be extremely careful not to twist it and be sure the beads were always pointing to the top edge...
It really took a long time to do. It was easy, mind you, but time consuming. When I was done I sewed the ends together and started to admire my work - only to find there was , in fact, a twist, right close to the join! D'oh! So out came the embroidery scissors to snip my it-will-last-forever sewing, work out the twist and then re-join. This time, however, I used fabric glue because I realized the ribbon ends tend to ravel and the glue makes a sealed finish.
Then it was off to the sink for a gentle wash. They say you're only done with surprises when you're dead - obviously "they" worked with fiber!! LOL!! Imagine my surprise to find the color bleeding from the rust yarn!! Remember this is Tahki Stacey Charles yarn - commercially produced.... very interesting!
I let it drain for nearly an hour and gently hand-squeezed as much water from it as I could but it is a rather large garment. I realized, like it or not, it was going to have to go into the washing machine to spin! It was a 'given' that the beads would get stuck in the holes in the drum so I lay it out in an old pillowcase and sewed up the end. I used a large rubber band around the middle so it couldn't bunch up in one end. I was also hoping that it wouldn't endure as much self-friction this way.... then into the machine....
I had started a load in my front-load washer with 2 towels, stopped it at the final spin and added the pillowcase bundle. I knew it would never spin with just the sweater as the weight needs to be evenly distributed to spin and towels have enough length to ensure that. Then, I literally sat by the machine and watched it with great angst! It seemed to take forever to quit jostling the load for balance before it started to spin, the entire time I anguished it might be felting my sweater - after all that work! The actual 'spin' runs for abut 10 minutes so once it was finally in motion I could walk away, knowing if there was any damage, it was already done.
I won't say I paced the floor waiting for it to finish but I was listening intently for the load-end beeper, I can tell you! When the moment came to remove it from the machine I had scissors in hand to open the pillowcase as quickly as possible! I rejoiced to find it remarkable dry and in perfect condition - no felting whatsoever - and the wash had produced a squooshy-soft fabric, so true to the alpaca content, I couldn't be happier!!
The only remaining problem was how (and where) to lay it out to dry. My rack is a big rectangle and the sweater is a big circle! LOL!! I took it into the sun porch and found I could set the rack up next to some other furniture and managed to support the entire thing so it would dry without stretching. I think the coolest thing about using beaded trim is that I could break the oldest rule in the book and use only stockingette, right to the edge!! The weight of the beads and the yarn overs mean the edge doesn't roll, in fact it lays quite flat... imagine that!!
I'll post the finished pics soon, OK?
The fringe I used turned out to be different than the one I originally chose which had bright orange seed beads as accents as I realized they would make the orange in the sweater look washed out. This one, with the gold and browns seemed to add an element of class. The dangles are attached to a brown satin ribbon which (miraculously) matched the dark brown yarn - ya, I know - how did that happen?? And I wanted it to move fairly freely with the knitting - which meant only ONE solution - knit it in! It turned out to be surprisingly easy - K2 together, YO, weaving the ribbon forward and back in the YOs. I had to be extremely careful not to twist it and be sure the beads were always pointing to the top edge...
It really took a long time to do. It was easy, mind you, but time consuming. When I was done I sewed the ends together and started to admire my work - only to find there was , in fact, a twist, right close to the join! D'oh! So out came the embroidery scissors to snip my it-will-last-forever sewing, work out the twist and then re-join. This time, however, I used fabric glue because I realized the ribbon ends tend to ravel and the glue makes a sealed finish.
Then it was off to the sink for a gentle wash. They say you're only done with surprises when you're dead - obviously "they" worked with fiber!! LOL!! Imagine my surprise to find the color bleeding from the rust yarn!! Remember this is Tahki Stacey Charles yarn - commercially produced.... very interesting!
I let it drain for nearly an hour and gently hand-squeezed as much water from it as I could but it is a rather large garment. I realized, like it or not, it was going to have to go into the washing machine to spin! It was a 'given' that the beads would get stuck in the holes in the drum so I lay it out in an old pillowcase and sewed up the end. I used a large rubber band around the middle so it couldn't bunch up in one end. I was also hoping that it wouldn't endure as much self-friction this way.... then into the machine....
I had started a load in my front-load washer with 2 towels, stopped it at the final spin and added the pillowcase bundle. I knew it would never spin with just the sweater as the weight needs to be evenly distributed to spin and towels have enough length to ensure that. Then, I literally sat by the machine and watched it with great angst! It seemed to take forever to quit jostling the load for balance before it started to spin, the entire time I anguished it might be felting my sweater - after all that work! The actual 'spin' runs for abut 10 minutes so once it was finally in motion I could walk away, knowing if there was any damage, it was already done.
I won't say I paced the floor waiting for it to finish but I was listening intently for the load-end beeper, I can tell you! When the moment came to remove it from the machine I had scissors in hand to open the pillowcase as quickly as possible! I rejoiced to find it remarkable dry and in perfect condition - no felting whatsoever - and the wash had produced a squooshy-soft fabric, so true to the alpaca content, I couldn't be happier!!
The only remaining problem was how (and where) to lay it out to dry. My rack is a big rectangle and the sweater is a big circle! LOL!! I took it into the sun porch and found I could set the rack up next to some other furniture and managed to support the entire thing so it would dry without stretching. I think the coolest thing about using beaded trim is that I could break the oldest rule in the book and use only stockingette, right to the edge!! The weight of the beads and the yarn overs mean the edge doesn't roll, in fact it lays quite flat... imagine that!!
I'll post the finished pics soon, OK?
Posted by Gloria Patre at 4/9/2009 1:48 AM 
Categories: Sweaters
Tags: working with beaded fringe pinwheel sweater
Categories: Sweaters
Tags: working with beaded fringe pinwheel sweater
I can't wait to see the pics. The color is gorgeous. I tend to use jewel tone colors, but this is really pretty. Have a great day! Debbie
Reply to this
You make me tired just hearing about all the steps you took to ensure a piece of work staying intact!!!
can't wait to see it.
Elsie <><
Reply to this
Can't wait to see how it turns out! I'm not a bead person, but I love the colors in this sweater.
Reply to this
This was so interesting and I held my breath with you during the spin-dry.
Where did you get the beaded fringe? I've seen short lengths, but yours is one long length.
Reply to this
Wow- what a lot of work, and Angst to the finish line. As the others, I can't wait to see it modeled!
Reply to this
Looks yummy (what we can see of it!).... So hurry up and model it, already!
Reply to this