My 7 Day Challenge, making a jumper
Disclaimer: These 3 photo's above belong to and are copyrighted by Christina from 'a spoonful of yarn',who has kindly allowed me to use them for this post. They are not to be shared or copied with the permission of Christina.
Intro
For those of you who are reading this on niume; welcome to the 3 part mini series of My 7 Day Challenge. For those reading this one my blog, this will be a single post, under 3 parts.
So, before I start; I write a crochet and crafts blog over/here on wix. Here I share patterns, tutorials, and other posts about my work. So, as well as making stuff I spend a lot of time on the internet, getting inspiration, looking/using other artists patterns.
So, I stumbled upon a pattern that was out for testing. I applied, got a position and was sent the pattern. It's a beautiful crocheted jumper; and I thought that it might be an interesting read for those interested in how a jumper can be crocheted; whether you crochet or not. Testing a pattern for an artist means to follow their pattern, report any problems you encounter; update the artist of on progression and answer a questionnaire. It is quite literally testing out their pattern to make sure everything is correct, before it is released for sale.
So this is going to be a 3 part blog post which will include
photos,
my progression for each day
any problems I encountered
my experience overall
did I learn anything new from this?
At the end of of the project, I shall share my answers to the survey for this test piece. Also the artist has agreed to answer a few questions, which shall also be posted. So if there's anything you would like to know about the making of a pattern, ask away in the comments and I shall be sure to ask the artist.
Oh, I haven't even mentioned the artist! She's a lovely lady called Christina and runs the crochet blog 'a spoonful of yarn'.
If you would like to have a look at the pattern test page, then click this link.
If you like the pattern and would like a copy of it, either subscribe to 'a spoonful of yarn' or subscribe to my posts, I will update with a link as soon as the pattern is released for sale.
I have been in touch with the Christine, the author of this pattern, and I have been sent a wonderful photo's of the finished item (yes, I've been given permission to use them in this blog post).
Part 1
The Challenge
To crochet a jumper is 7 days.
Day 1
Picking the yarn. To start off with, the yarn suggested for the pattern is not sold in the UK; and with a short deadline there was no time to order online.
Instead, I went to one of my favorite shops on the edge of the market. Picked out some nice 4 ply in grey(for the main colour) and cream (for the sleeves).
Bargain price of just £1.99 per ball, and beautifully soft baby wool, so the jumped feels amazing to wear.
I later found out today (2 days later), that the wool was supposed to have been £3.50 each, but the owners husband was in left in charge and there were no prices on the wool.
So, I get home and work up the test piece. Which is a small square piece you make using the same pattern to test the gauge. For example you might need 10 stitch and 10 rows to make a 2 inch square.
For those of you who don't knit or crochet, this step is crucial. If you don't get the same gauge as the pattern requires, then your finished piece isn't going to be be the same size as the piece in the pattern. To get the right gauge is yours is off, you either go up or down a hook size.
Luckily for me, my gauge was spot on.
Unfortunately, whilst cleaning I through away my test piece by accident, and hadn't photographed it, and with time against me I didn't have a couple of hours spare to make another for photographing. Sorry!
So for this pattern, you need to make the flower motifs on the arms first. That was all I manged to do for day one.
Oh, and for the first sleeve, I kept reverting back to UK crochet terms instead of using the US terms, so I think I frogged (removed stitches) quite a few times.
Day 2/3
I say day 2/3 because, my day 3 was so hectic with general housing cleaning necessity, and shopping and writing up and such, that I only managed to get 2 rows done. I hoping to still class say 3 as day 3, but If needs be I will add an extra day to my challenge. Only because day 3 I have 0 time to do anything.
Day 2 however was very productive.
I blocked the 2 arms pieces during the night of day 1.
For those who don't know what blocking is; it's getting the the piece wet, then stretching it and pinning it out to dry. By getting the article wet, you relax the the stitches, and stretching and pining, allows you to shape the article and really show of any intricate details.
I started by crocheting the back top right shoulder, then the left, and joined the 2 pieces together. I then did the front shoulders, and worked down the body a few rows, joining the 2 sides as I worked.
Not really too much to comment on, at this stage. I a fairly competent crocheter, and pattern has been written out beautifully. So it's easy to follow without any hiccups.
I hope you've enjoyed part 1. I shall edit this post with a link to part 2, once I've lived the days required for this challenge and written it up. Lol!
Part 2
Day 3 (after writing up part 1)
Well, after writing up Part 1, it was only 11.30pm. So I put in a couple of hours as I was and still am worried about getting this finished in 7 days.
On Day 2 I finished the day after starting work on the body.
Being as I'm making a 'small', I have to crochet 80 rows before making the hem.
2 hours crocheting meant that I finished day 3 on round 15 of 80...65 left to go!
Day 4
Day 4 was spent on making the body. I thought it might be good idea to try and show you how long it actually takes to crochet. Round 20, I marked down my time, then at round 25. You can see that just 5 rounds of the body has taken me just over an hour to make! Although in all fairness, I did stop for a toilet break and to make a cuppa. (typical Brit, I'm never without a tea; even when I'm out and about!)
16:48 – round 20
17:51- round 25
finished the day on round 40. only 40 left to go!
After reaching round 48, I counted my stitches, and I was 1 under! Urgh, this meant that some where I had gone wrong.
So I spent 5 minutes looking at the seam of my jumper (as this is the most likely place I could have gone wrong), found my error; which was how I began my round. Place a stitch marker in the stitch before the wrong stitch and frogged (rip out my stitches).
I had to frog 5 rounds, which is a good 30-45 minutes work. :(
Then I received an email, saying that other testers jumpers were coming out bigger then the pattern stated. Which after measuring my jumper, it also was bigger then stated.
Christina altered the measurements in the pattern and sent out V2.5.
Turns out she had made an error with the body circumference. She had put the bust measurement instead of the body measurement.
My jumper might turn out a bit baggy. But It's looking a little bigger then the size of my store bought knitted jumper, that is slightly on the small side for me. I am hoping this jumper is still a good size for myself.
Day 5
Annoyingly, this was another day that I was unable to work on my project.
My best friend has been doing her level 2 in nails. I have such lovely nails; that I let her come round to mine to ruin my nails and practice her work.
This time, she needed be to go into college with her as it was an assessment. So at the ripe age of 26, I found myself in a college room full of students having a good natter. It has also inspired me to perhaps do the course myself next year!
So Day 5 was sent in Saltash college, then when we got back to mine, I wanted to have a go and doing her nails (professionally?). Lets just say the 45 minute natural overlay that I did took me 3 hours!!!! I didn't do a too bad of a job for my first try!
Anyway, I managed to get another 5 rows of the body done, before going to bed.
Day 6
A productive day!
I successfully managed to finish making the body and the front and back hem at the bottom of the body!
However, at this point I know I have failed my challenge, although not by much!
Day 7
I started making the left arm.
Please don't forget this is a pattern I am helping to test. This means looking for inaccuracies and giving feedback.
It took me a good 10 minutes to work out where I should be starting, from looking at the schematic.
Once I had worked it out, I then noticed a few other errors, that made the pattern unclear. So I hopped onto Ravelry, to testing thread page for this jumper and left a comment about a few changes that need to be made.
I have linked to the thread, and if you read through it you can actually see these comments of mine. (I am lasmith90)
I sort wrote down one thing, then realized after reading that it was something else. As you read my posts, you can actually see my train of thought.
Christina, added the changes I mentioned including adding another photo of the arm to make things clearer, but added few extra notes from other testers and sent out V2.
So day 7 was spent making the left sleeve, and just starting on the right.
Part 3
Day 8
I finally finished it! 1 Day over, but still.
Today I finished up the right sleeve then the hem to the top of the jumper.
It has been a long journey, and I have enjoyed every single step!
What did I learn?
This was the first jumper I have ever made for myself. So the one major thing I learnt, was the construction of a jumper.
I also learn a new way to crochet a hem!
For my old hems I would front post a treble crochet then back post a Treble. Now I know how to just make a hem using the front post treble.
Problems I encountered
As mentioned in part 2, there were a few errors with the pattern. Which is completely fine and normal, being as this was a pattern test. Best to work out the kinks before you release the pattern!
I found that, when it came to making the left sleeve, the instructions were not so clear, also Christina had made a mistake labelling the rows.
After I contacted her, she fixed everything and sent out v.2.6.
When blocking the jumper. I found it to bee too long and not wide enough. However this was just because of the way I was stretching it.
I was stretching in height rather then width.
Once I stretched it to the right width, the length had shorted and was the right length.
Blocking- is to get the garment completely wet, and carefully squeeze out the excess water, with out twisting your work. This relaxes the yarn and stitches. You then pin your work out on a towel or a blocking board, and stretch it out to the correct size. You also have to get in an pin out all of the little details. The difference between a blocked piece and an unblocked piece is amazing. An unblocked piece can be all curled up at the edges, and you can't see any of the finer details of your work. A blocked piece, as no curls and you can fully see the design.
Overall experience
Well, my overall experience was pretty good.
I loved this project. I had chosen some beautifully soft baby yarn. Which was amazingly soft to work with and my jumper is super soft to wear.
I had thought, I'd be able to finish this is 7 days. I did fail on this, but only by one day. Which I am rather pleased with.
When I planned out my 7 day challenge, I wasn't expecting to find myself with 2 days where I couldn't get more then 5 rows done. I think that if I didn't go to college, for my friend to do my nails for her assessment, then I would have had it finished in the 7 days.
I enjoyed every minute of this project and it feels like I spent so much time on it, that now I finished I feel lost.
However, it won't take me long to find something else I just loose myself in. :)
I will defiantly be making myself another jumper, very soon!
The pattern test survey
Being as this pattern was a pattern I was testing. At the end of the project, all the testers are given a bunch of questions to answer to give Christina feedback for her pattern.
Here are the questions and my answers!
Mistakes in pattern lines?
Yes, as mention via ravelry. Left arm on page 17, should be lines 4-9 instead of 4-10. This has been fixed now in V2.6
Mistakes in stitch counts?
None that I saw, however I wasn't counting my stitches after every row.
Are the Instructions if the separate row/rounds clear to follow?
After making the instructions for the sleeves clearer, yes it was clear and easy to follow.
Are the tips useful?
Yes
Are the photos and schematics clear?
Yes
Is the language used consistent?
Yes
Is it clear where in the instructions you need to go (next) and which instructions apply to which size?
Yes, I found that your pattern was very clear as to where you need to go next.
Is it clear which hook size you need to use and when?
Yes, very much so.
Is it clear which color yarn you need to use?
Yes
Grammar mistakes?
None that I could see.
How would you rate this pattern in terms of difficulty?
Easy to intermediate
Any other feedback you would like me to have?
I found that when blocking the piece, I was stretching it length wise instead of width wise. So my measurements came out wrong, until I stretched it width wise. Perhaps a note for blocking?
How is the fit of the sweater after blocking?
The sweater fit beautifully and has become my favourite sweater.
What kind of yarn did you use?
Main colour- James c.Brett Supreme soft and gentle Baby 4ply, shade SY10
100g skeins 482 yards.
I used just under 2 skeins, with roughly 2 meters left over
counter colour- stylecraft wondersoft 4ply , shade 1005 vanilla
100g skeins 461 yards,
I used less then half of it.
How much yarn did you use?
See 'what kind of yarn did you use?'
what kind of hook sizes did you use?(and tell me if your a loose/tight/average crocheter)
3.5mm for body, 2mm for hems.
I'm an average crocheter.
Did you use the chart or the written instructions for the strip or both?
I used the written instructions, but referred back to chart, as ideally I wanted to be able to make anything from just a chart. So I used it as good practice.
Questions to the designer
After finishing this project, I thought it would be nice to end the post with some questions to the designer, Christina.
when will the pattern be released?
I hope to publish the pattern in English (US terms) and Dutch at the beginning of March!
How long did it take you to make the pattern?
I never designed a sweater before, so I spent a lot of time figuring out what information I needed to properly make the sweater. I spent every evening for about a month writing and tweaking the pattern. After that it got tested for a period of 1,5 months. Due to the holidays (it was in December) and a lot of people being sick, the test took longer than the actual pattern writing. Afterwards there were a lot of changes to be made, so I edited the pattern again and put it up for a second test, which is being conducted right now.
I feel that writing up the first version of the pattern does not take a lot of time. Testing and editing (and re-testing if necessary) takes the most time.
Do you have a set method for sweater making?
This is my first sweater design, so I do not yet have a set method, but there are a few things I know for sure to use for future sweaters. I would like all my sweaters to be seamless (or near seamless) so there are not a lot of seams to be joined together. I also want to make my sweaters top-down, so they are easy to try on for the fit and can easily be shortened or lengthened.
Lastly I want to design sweaters with constructions that are not 'standard', like I did with the 'Picking Flowers' sweater. The construction for this sweater starts with lace sleeve strips and the rest of the sweater is crocheted onto those, which makes for an interesting and seamless construction.
What inspired you to make this sweater?
When I came up with the idea for this sweater it was the beginning of Fall. I already longed for those first spring days, when you feel that nice warm sun on your face and smell all those crisp and fresh smells. I thought about what would truly give you a spring feeling and that is where 'picking flowers' came to mind. The story is mostly told in the sleeves and as you might see, they are very flowery, haha.
The pattern also comes with a poem to ignite that spring feeling and get the creative juices flowing :)
How long have you been crocheting for? and how did you learn?
I started in 2010 and learned mostly by searching for tutorials and making a lot of different things. My late sister in law inspired me to start crocheting, since she was making all those pretty things and had a very popular blog. She was truly someone I looked up to and I wanted to make pretty things too! So that's how it all started. I cannot imagine ever not crocheting now! It is not only a hobby, but a true passion that I cannot live without anymore.
Being as English isn't your native language, how hard is it for you to have written this pattern up in english?
It's funny actually, but the fact is that I write all my patterns in English first! When I follow patterns myself, I tend to prefer English patterns, since they are shorter and it is what I am used to. This is probably why writing patterns in English come more natural to me than writing Dutch patterns.
How long did it take you to make your sweater?
I crocheted the sweater and wrote the pattern simultaneously, so it also took me about a month to complete. The actual crocheting part, though, takes the least time. You might think otherwise, but from the moment I first touch my hook and the moment the pattern is ready and published, I guess only about 15% of my time is spent actually crocheting. The rest is pattern writing, making charts and photo's, editing tutorial photo's, tweaking, testing, more tweaking, more testing, tweaking some more, translating to Dutch, writing blogposts for the publication, doing a shoot for the final 'show' photo's, setting up the Ravelry page etc. etc.
Did you make the pattern in your sweater size, then scale the mathmatics down/up for the other sizes?
I made a huge excel document which contained all the sizes and measurements I needed. Every time I needed to calculate something, I did it for all sizes, because I was already doing it anyway and it was not a lot more work, since I had set all formulas in excel beforehand. I don't know if this is the best way, but it worked for me and I see myself doing it again like this in the future too.
The only downside was, if there were minor differences between sizes that I could not put into a single instruction, I had to write those instructions separately for the other sizes. Most of the time I would do it for my size first until I had crocheted that part and then make it work for the other sizes, with instructions according to their construction needs.
if not, how did you go about making the pattern for all sizes?
see previous answer
Finally, this was such a beautiful sweater, will you be releasing anymore sweater patterns in the future?
Thank you for your compliment! When I wrote on my blog that the world was in need of more crochet sweaters, I really meant it! The ratio for knitted to crocheted sweaters is 2 to 1! So I really want to close that gap, if only for a little.
At the moment there is this one design which I can't get out of my head, so that one is next on my list! I don't have anything sketched out or written down, but I do save a lot of pins on Pinterest for stitches and shapes I might want to use. It's something that will not be available soon though, since I am working on a few other patterns at the moment that need my full attention.
If so, do you know when they will be available to either test or buy?
Like I said before, it will not be available anytime soon, but I have the whole summer off, so I hope to have a new sweater done by the end of 2017!
I hope you have enjoyed reading this post and having a glimpse into crocheting a jumper.
If you would like to hear more from me, then subscribe to my niume posts and wix site.
Many thanks
Layla
