Thursday, May 16, 2013

My Counterpane Sweater or "The Beast"

My Beast-The final knitted on band balances the counterpane squares with a nice vertical look


I have just finished a new jacket that I have christened “The Beast”. I designed it using ideas that I teach in my knitting class, “Take The Pain Out Of Counterpane.”
If you are not familiar with counterpane, here is a small history of the counterpane knitting technique.

History

The Counterpane can be found as far back as the 15th century. The Oxford English Dictionary describes the Counterpane  “The outer covering of a bed generally more or less ornamental, being woven in a raised pattern, quilted, made of patchwork, etc.; a coverlet, a quilt”.

During the middle 19th century “Counterpane” became more specialized. Museum samples show it to be a hand-knitted or crocheted bedspread composed of squares knitted on four double pointed needles, and then sewn together to create a completed bedspread. These knitted covers were generally white, textural (still keeping with the 15th century “raised pattern”) and geometrical masterpieces.

The back shows off one counterpane square beautifully

My Take

I use this traditional technique and create modern items. Up to this point, I have only knitted hats, mitts, and scarfs. It was time for a sweater, especially, as I am teaching the course this summer at the Mid-West Weaving Conference (Emporia, KS) in June. 

A view of the three squares before sewn together. 



The Beast Itself

The sweater is knitted in all garter stitch. This makes for a lot of texture, which I like in a sweater. Yarn is changed every two rows. This sweater is a great “stash buster”. Every yarn came from my very abundant yarn collection. I even had the button.



The yarn that gives the jacket its name is “Hippy” by Katia. Half way through the sweater I just knew I was going to trim some of “Hippy” down when I finished. But I tried it on and absolutely loved the way it worked.  This iss a true statement sweater.


Construction

The body of the sweater is three 21 3/8” counterpane squares sewed together. Each square was bound of on three sides with one side left with live stitches. These stitches were put on a piece of waste yarn.

After sewing the three squares together, the live stitches were picked up on a circular needle. Staying with pattern, I knitted a band of about 3.5”. The band is the bottom edge of the sweater.  When finished, I had a large rectangle of 64” x 25”. 


Leaving 9” for the back neck, the sides are brought up to the top and sewn into place.



I finished the piece off with a knitted I-cord button loop and a knitted I-cord edging for the back neck.


This piece fits in nicely with my  “Great American Apparel Diet”. Even though I have given myself leeway to purchase anything to finish a garment, I had everything I needed for this piece. 



Close up view of the stitches and yarn. The squares creates a triangular effect on the arms which contrasts nicely with the vertical look of the band and the square on the back

This photo shows a close up of the knitted I-Cord edging on the back of the neck. It gives stability and a nice finished look.

My next project is to finish a knitted square counterpane scarf that I started three years ago. So this will be the last article from me on this blog for a while. 

I am trying to talk Michael into donating some of his gardening insight for The Journal. After all, it's that time of the year again isn't it.

So until next time, Terri