Balmoral #3

[usonian]

Inspired by Aspiringloser's bonnet I made another one with a skein of Paton's Moss Heather I had on hand. It's a really nice blended brownish green (or greenish brown).

I made the medium size again, and had plenty of yarn left over - not sure that would have been the case if I hadn't done dicing on the brim:


Balmoral #3 by Usonian, on Flickr

Speaking of dicing, I realized after felting it why the dicing seemed off - I goofed and knit the squares 2 stitches by x 2 rows, not 2x4. As a result the checks are a little bit squashed and small-looking after felting. Also, the off-white I used here didn't felt quite as much as the black and green, which may be due to the off-white being aran versus the others being worsted.

I think that I may have knit a little bit tighter this time around, as I used circular needles for most of the project (I did the previous two with double-pointed needles.)

Here you can see where I somehow got things going inside out when I switched over to double-pointed needles at the end. My lighting wasn't great where I was working and I was in a hurry, so I didn't even see it until I brought it back to my well-lit project table.


Balmoral #3 by Usonian, on Flickr

I was pretty sure this goof would disappear after felting, and I was right. You can't see the top in this photo, but you'd never know :


Balmoral #3 by Usonian, on Flickr

I still need to attach the band and a cockade. Not sure if I'm going to hang onto this one; I love the color but the dicing bugs me (and the more I look at it, the more I'd like to see white, black, and a dark red/maroon instead of just black and white.)

[piperdbh]

The problem with the white yarn not felting right may be the process they used to get it white. Generally white yarn won't felt as well as other colors. Or is it unbleached, real-sheep color?

[Pleater]

It does seem to be that the tighter the knitting the less the felting - the fibres need room to move to get themselves welded together really well.

If you have taken against the band you could try to remove it and make another - or just make another balmoral. Unpicking felted knitting can sometimes be done, but it takes time and patience even if it can be achieved so starting over can be a better use of your time.

Anne the Pleater :ootd:

[SemperFyffe]

I too have been inspired by the wonder balmorals y'all have been posting but my problem is that I don't know how to knit ... yet! Do any of you have any advice on how to get started? My wife has some great books on needle crafts and they have great instruction on how to perform the basic stitches and such, but I need some inspiration and instruction. Is there a good project or book for guiding the beginner?

[sydnie7]

I too have been inspired by the wonder balmorals y'all have been posting but my problem is that I don't know how to knit ... yet! Do any of you have any advice on how to get started? My wife has some great books on needle crafts and they have great instruction on how to perform the basic stitches and such, but I need some inspiration and instruction. Is there a good project or book for guiding the beginner?

Books are a good start, but I really like the various free videos available online. KnittingHelp.com is one source (although she can be a bit wordy and fiddles with her yarn!). Seeing is believing!

[SemperFyffe]

What a great resource! Thanks! I can't wait to get home from work and start knitting now!

[usonian]

dbh: The off-white is natural (as far as I can tell), Lion Brand Fisherman's wool.

Anne: I can't imagine investing the time to unravel a mostly-felted band! I will probably finish this one and give it to a friend (I had sort of planned to make him one for Christmas but ran out of time) and make myself a replacement with better dicing.

Jim: I always mention that I learned from my wife's copy of Stitch N' Bitch, which has really good illustrations and builds skills progressively. The first project is a scarf which is a fine unisex project. A lot of the others are more female-oriented, but there's nothing saying you have to do every project in the book. From there, videos on youtube are tremendously helpful for seeing how a particular stitch or technique works.

[Aspiringloser]

I made one with the white I was telling you about and it felted just as well as the other colors did. I still think it looks good but passing it on to a friend and making another isn't that big of a deal. It really isn't a tough pattern. I plan on making my next one without the notch and 3 flat rows. I don't have any double pointed needles that big so the first few I made were done all the way with a circular. The last 10 or so rows really sucks with a circular. I now switch to my biggest DPN's which are size 8 and it seems to work fine. I just make sure to keep my stitches loose.
To SemperFyffe: Get a simple beginner's book and do the projects in it. You can then learn pretty much any of the more complicated stitches you will need by watching videos on Youtube.

[Elf]

I still need to attach the band and a cockade. Not sure if I'm going to hang onto this one; I love the color but the dicing bugs me (and the more I look at it, the more I'd like to see white, black, and a dark red/maroon instead of just black and white.)

I like it. Thank you also for all the process photos and notes. The squashed check makes it sort of distinctive; proudly handmade, not mass produced. However ultimately doing it yourself is doing it the way you want. I have often revised my plan in the midst of production and started afresh as a result. Go for it and please yourself. Best wishes.