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fibre space

a yarn universe

Fall Knitalong with Miss Babs – Week 1

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Are you ready for our Fall Knitalong? We are! A huge shipment of yarn from Miss Babs just landed, the sweater has lots of options, and we’ve got the colored pencils to help. AND if you finish the sweater on time, you are entered to win a free skein of Katahdin from Miss Babs. Read more here.

Westbourne (Kinu Love) is worked seamlessly from the top down and was designed with two versions: night, which features 3/4 sleeves and a striped body, and day, which features long sleeves and all-over stripes. Might we suggest a third option, perhaps called dusk, with solid long sleeves and a striped body?

Beyond the design elements, the color options abound. We’ve pulled some of our favorites from Ravelry to help get your creative juices flowing.

HeleenK-Westbourne-big Mr-World-Westbourne-big Pantapus-Westbourne-big

 

This week we are playing with color and swatching. It’s important to plan your stripes, especially if you’re going to work with more than one contrast color. Join us tonight for Stitch in Space, when we’ll be putting colored pencils to paper and starting our swatches.

If you can’t join us tonight, or just wanted a quick swatching refresher, Danielle’s got you covered in the Ravelry forum:

Here are your swatch instructions, should you need them:
On the 3.5 mm (US#4) needle, cast on 32 sts. Knit 4 rows of garter stitch (knit every row).
Row 5: Knit all stitches
Row 6: K2, purl to last 2 sts, K2
Repeat last two rows for four inches.
Knit 3 rows of garter stitch. Bind off knitwise.

BLOCK your swatch. I like to put mine in a little bowl of water and let it soak for an hour or so. Then I put it into a towel and push out the excess water. Then lay it flat to dry.

Count the number of stitches you get in four inches.

Target Gauge:
24 sts x 32 rows = 10 x 10 cm 4 x 4 in in Stockinette stitch on larger needle, adjust needle size if necessary to get correct gauge.

If you count more than 24 sts, you are knitting too tightly. Go up a needle size and swatch again. If you get less than 24 sts, you are knitting too loosely. Go down a needle size and swatch again.

 

We’ll see you in space. On your marks, get set, swatch!