Dear Prudence

Although this blog is now mainly about crochet projects, I was a knitter long before I learnt to crochet. And, occassionally, I still like to get my knit on!

Over the past couple of weeks I have been knitting up a sweater, from a pattern called Prudence from the Kim Hargreaves book Amber. I have used Rowan Baby Merino Silk DK yarn. The Bamboo yarn used in the original pattern has long since been discontinued, and besides, it was a horrid yarn! I remember washing my first Prudence, made using that yarn, to find that it grew seemingly inches in every dimension, becoming unwearable!

I love this pattern - this is the third time I have made it now. This time I decided to try and modify the sleeves a little. The sleeves in the original pattern were a little too pouffy for my liking, a bit too over the top. I decided to try for something more subtle.

I am pretty pleased with the finished result. The sleeves still appear wider at the bottom - they are not close fitting around the wrist and lower arm, but they are much less pouffy than they were!

My modifications were as follows, for anyone interested.

Cast on 71 stitches. Work 4 rows in stocking stitch, followed by 2 rows in reverse stocking stitch, 6 rows stocking stitch and another 2 rows reverse stocking stitch. This retains some of the reverse stocking stitch design detail that was originally present in the sleeve design. Then work straight in stocking stitch until the sleeve measures 40 cm. Now simply follow the raglan shaping instructions as given in the original pattern.

For the cuff, at the cast on edge of each sleeve, pick up and knit 71 stitches (with the right side facing), using 3.25mm needles. On the next row, work knit 1, knit 2 tog, *knit 2, knit 2 tog. Repeat from * to last 3 stiches, then knit 3. Work in garter stitch for another 5 rows.

At the moment, I mainly follow blogs and Instagram accounts of other people who crochet. However, lately I have seen some of these people begin to branch out into knitting. I did it the other way around, and I have to say that some aspects of crochet (such as the way to hold the hook etc) came much more naturally to me than the equivalent aspects of knitting did (not that I am brilliant at crochet - I still struggle with some things!).

However, I still remember the difficulty I had in grasping the basics of crochet (especially working in rounds and turning chains at ends of rows!), and I imagine the experience is similar for those learning to knit. Well, if you are a crocheter learning to knit, and reading this, all I can say is - Don't Give Up! You will get there in the end and it will feel fantastic to have mastered a new skill.

xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xx