I love my cardi wrap. I got the idea after seeing a few others online, and wanted something similar, but different. Each knitted cardi I saw was either too blocky looking, too un-glamorous,too long, or too lacey. I wanted colorful, sort of substantial for warmth, sexy and fun. …And glitz. …At least a little. So, free range knitting it was, and irregular, sleek and body friendly, and beads that drip off the edges seductively. I made sleeves for it, but I liked the look without them, so much so, that I haven’t yet attached them. I will need to attach them in such away as to be able to detach, and re-attach, whenever the whim takes me. It hugs me without bulk, and the colors and yarns worked out so well. They reminded me of our South Carolina peach orchards, and thus it got a name: The Peach Orchard Cardi Wrap.
Writing up the pattern for the cardi wrap was a bear of a job. It took longer than it did to knit. Much longer! I am such a perfectionist that I wrote down everything I could think of to write, and the cardi wrap pattern is a full 13 pages long. The dressmaker came out, and I did illustrations for cutting strippons. Yes, that is a made up name. Jane Thornley dubbed my using fabric strips that on one occasion, and the name stuck. Strippons are thin strips of fabric that I like to tie together, creating little flags of fabric, into a long yarn. You can see them quite clearly in the photo to the right. Its the peachy part of the cardi wrap. I love texture! ...Love to see it and touch it. You will find the pattern here: Peach Orchard Cardi Wrap
I finished the wrap just in time to wear to my oldest son's wedding at the end of March, but even then the weather was a little too warm.
Now, it is way too warm to wear it, as our summers are long, hot, and humid. Come Fall though, it will be out in all its splendor, even though the peach trees will be bare.
For a lot of information on free range knitting, and some free patterns to explore using this style, visit my friend Jane's website. JaneThornley.com
I saw your post in the ravelry thread and decided to take a look at your blog.
ReplyDeleteI love your photos. Especially the 'action' shots. They really make your blog interesting.
That's a lovely wrap, by the way.
Thank you maryeb! If anything, my life is usually interesting. Being Aquarius born, I tend to do things impulsively and there is usually a passion for life and experiencing fresh and exciting (at least to me) things that cross my path.
ReplyDeleteIt's fabulous! Really glamorous and elegant. And wow - 13 pages of the pattern? That's some detail!
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad to have found your blog. It's lovely, and I will be reading often to see what you're up to next.
Thirteen pages? My God! I have to write my own patterns : not an easy task, as english is not my native langage...
ReplyDeleteYes, thirteen pages. I love the fabric strippons, and I guess you might say it is getting to be a trademark of my knitting. With tons of fabrics around, and many scraps of China silk lining fabric, I have found that they look wonderful -to me anyway. I went into great detail about how to cut and tie strippons. I also did a lot of illustrations. Also, with yarn changing and the many vignettes of stitches, the pattern got lengthy. In spite of all this, I would rank it as easy enough for a beginner.
ReplyDeleteHi Mardi,
ReplyDeleteI love the cardi wrap. I know what you mean about writing patterns. I really dislike that task. And not being really proficient with the computer makes formatting them a pain.
I have an idea for making the sleeves of the wrap detachable. You can get some coordinating buttons and sew them to the sleeves, or the wrap if you want to incorporate them into the design of the wrap, and then button the sleeves on when you want them or unbutton them when you don't. I'm sure there are other ways of making them detachable, but that's one way to do.