Several Projects from Mary Hodgman

Mary has just recently sent photos of several of her projects. What a fabulous bunch of well-fitting sweaters! Thanks so much for sharing, Mary!

Mary’s Koala Chenille Sweater

The green chenille is a bolero jacket pattern from Berroco using Koala chenille and Glace ribbon. I started it 7 or 8 years ago and put it down, I even almost sold it in a stash sale a couple of years ago. The chenille was very hard on my hands, but I love the color and feel of it. I had a terrible time with the tension on the ribbon, and had to rip it several times before I got it right. Then, when it was finally finished, and I was ready to wear it, I washed it, and it shrunk! (the chenille is rayon). I was whining awhile back to the list that I had ruined it. But, what do you know, after much pulling and stretching, I finally got it to fit.

Mary’s Beaded Cuff

My beaded cuff is knit with Jaeger Alpaca on size 0 needles. I used #6 glass beads from the craft store to make the design. I used the patterns from the Fall 2002 Interweave Knits to get started and figure out the size, but the design is my own. I started to chart out the beads, but got bored with that so I only really used the chart to figure out where the middle would be and “winged” it from there. This was my first experience using beads in my knitting, and I enjoyed it a lot. I’ve got another ball of the same yarn in a dark grey to make another pair. Fun, fun, fun!

Mary’s Trillium

The “Trillium” is a pattern from the Philosopher's Wool Company, and is featured in their great book, Fair Isle Sweaters Simplified.

Mary purchased this kit from her LYS. She writes, “I had plenty of yarn to make the sweater, but I ended up buying an extra ball of green and red because I wanted to continue with them as the dominant colors. I added extra stitches around to make it a bit bigger than the patterns finished width. I love this two-handed color technique and will never use anything else for Fair Isle!

The inside of the sweater is nice and neat, and there were no ends to weave in. I’ve heard some complaints about the scratchiness of the Philosopher’s Wool, but I can tell you that it does soften up after washing.”

In case your local shop doesn’t carry Philosopher’s Wool, Camilla Valley Farm carries both yarns and kits, and they are quite willing to accommodate larger sizes with suggestions for upsizing and additional yarn requirements.

Mary’s Einstein

Mary has already finished her Einstein coat! The Ample-Knitters started a knit-a-long doing this project back in December, 2002. (see the Einstein Project pages for more details.)

Mary knit her coat with Lopi yarn. She writes, “I made this coat in about three weeks over the holidays. I’ve never knit anything so quickly! I made the XL (I’m about a US size 20) and shortened it in length and sleeve to accommodate my 5’ 2” frame. I was a little worried when I finished the first upper piece because my measurement was shorter than the pattern schematic even though my swatch was perfect and I had the correct number of ridges.

I kept pinning it together and trying it on, and decided not to mess with it because I was afraid my sleeves would be too deep if I continued to the written measurement. I'm very pleased with the coat, and wear it often. I can’t wait to start on the Not So Warm Coat next!”