Solving the Problem

You know when you learn something new, and you just want to share it with everyone you know? Well, here goes.

Last week, you saw the fronts of the baby kimono, with two glaring problems.


There are holes in the garment where I picked up stitches to add the garter stitch border, and the decreases along the sides of the Vee neckline don't line up in any orderly way, even though they're all directional and all leaning the correct way.

I know I said I'd leave it and not worry about it, but I can't leave something that glaring and not worry that my Mad Knitting Skillz would be called into question. Normally, I'd reknit, but given that I'm going away for a week and don't have that kind of time, I opted for a cover up.

I went to the Button Emporium and Ribbonry downtown. They're serious about buttons there. Don't make jokes. Buttons and ribbons are Not Funny. Not At All. It's a bizarre shop, but an awesome one, and I got buttons for the front, and some ribbon which the lady assured me could be machine stitched to the knit garment.

Now, I know I have only been knitting for two years and all, and I only learned to sew last summer, but the idea of running my knitting through the machine freaked me out. Knits stretch, and the last thing I wanted to do (to the knitting AND to the machine) was to have some ply of yarn get wrapped up in the undercarriage of my Brother machine, ruining everything. But the lady, she told me it wouldn't happen. She said it would be just fine. Promised.

Also, should I mention that I'd need to sew straight lines on a quarter inch piece of trim? Hello? Have you seen my curtains? I can't sew a straight line on anything!

But, in my usual way, risking the machine and the kimono, I decided to give it a try. I asked Bob at knit night, and he gave me the excellent suggestion of pinning the whole thing to a dryer sheet. It was ribbon, then knit, then dryer sheet, so the sheet was on the machine, not the kimono.

I swatched. It worked. I ran upstairs and showed John, who was excited (actually excited...not even fake excited...not even, "Here she goes again" excited). I tried it on the sleeve. Yeah. It worked. Totally worked. I had to go really slowly, and I pinned about every quarter inch (partly because the neckline is curved), and I stitched on the top and bottom of the ribbon.

I don't know how I'll manage not to put ribbon on everything from now on.

Pictures. Righto.







Now, picking out the dryer sheet afterwards was no picnic, and my mom claims that tissue paper also works. (I'll swatch and test this and get back to you.) I'm a little ashamed that I'm covering up errors rather than fixing them, and I appreciate all of your suggestions on fixing. Next time, I promise.

The deets: Plymouth Dreambaby 4 ply in blue grey, 100% non-natural, but I wanted it to be machine washable. US5 and US 6 needles. 4 x 3/8 inch brown buttons, and 1.5 yard of 1/4 inch elephant trim. 12 month size of Harvey's Baby Kimono from Natural Knits for Babies and Moms by Lousia Harding. Changes to pattern: none, though I added the ribbon and put 4 buttons on the front so that it could be buttoned either way. There are 4 white buttons on the inside as well, behind the brown ones.

Let me say this: I am Pleased as Punch and Lucky as a Leprechaun that this worked out. There would have been tears otherwise.

Let me say this, too: Last week, when I was photographing the turtles, the President and the Provost of the University walked by but ignored this faculty member, lying on the ground with knit turtle hats. Today, they stopped me and asked, "Why are you in the dirt taking pictures of baby clothes?" Ummm...I don't know how to answer that, but wonder how it's possible that my timing is THAT bad, two days in a row. Dang.