I am planning on knitting the Mood Cardigan from stash but what is holding me up is that I’m not sure how to swatch and block my swatch. When I knit a lace shawl, I typically pin it out as much as possible. But what about a lace garment? Lightly pin? Don’t pin?
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Well the pattern says to block the rectangles to size before you seam, so I’m guessing pin the swatch but don’t go crazy.
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I’m in with some lovely 4-ply from Viola and the Moon. Now to pick the color between the 2 sweater quantities I got-hmmm
I’ve swatched and am ready to start. Not sure I’ve ever used hand dyed before. The tags on my Rustic Fingering say to alternate skeins. Am I alternating all 4 of them at once? Do I start with 2, use those up and alternate the remaining 2? Any guidance here would really be appreciated. Thanks!!
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There are a lot of views on this. If they look largely similar, I would alternate with 2. I think the laciness of the pattern will also help. Any color pooling will not be as noticeable.
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i’m not big on blocking in the best of times - but blocking in the middle of the project??? yikes - well i knitted the sleeve and am on the body and decided this morning to start to block the sleeve. i’m glad i did. it took a lot of coaxing to get it to the right dimensions then i sprayed it and will wait for it to dry while i still work on the body. Here it is 39x18 with a 3 pattern repeat instead of the 4 called for in the pattern.
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I’m thinking about marling this as well. I have a bunch of lace weight in my stash that would make a pretty marl. I may have to swatch the lace pattern.
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There are instructions that have you block the pieces. Rather than stretching them out as far as you dare, these will be blocked to the measurements for the size you’re making. You can still pin it out or even use blocking wires if you have them. In fact wires may help you get a straighter line than just pinning.
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Maybe a fade? You have plenty to choose to make a pretty fade.
Thanks! I think some kind of a gradient would be fabulous! I’m reading Making Marls right now to get ideas.
OK Great!!! Thank you for your help. This will be fun!! Casting on right now!!!
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New to the Lounge and playing along on this KAL.
I am in awe of this Gleem.
I also submitted a topic for the lounge, but I suppose it really belongs in this string.
LOVE crochet cast on, zippety do dah!
HOWEVER, the pattern calls for beginning the lace right out of the gate, and I’m really curious as to how the first row of lace will take to being upzipped when the time comes. K2togs, YO’s and double stranded stitches. Sounds like a potential nightmare. Wondering if it would be wise to start with 2 rows of stockinette before the lace pattern…thoughts? feelings?
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Jeanette answered this very question in the comments on the Mood Cardigan pattern page on Ravelry. Basically, we do knit the first row of the lace chart into the provisional cast on. Then when it comes time to work those live stitches you do a combination of unzipping and unpicking. Jeanette said she is going to post a video on her website to help with this.
Love your color!
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I held out for Rustic Fingering to be available and now I have mine in a not-usually-me-but-will-go-with-everything-hope-it’s-not-too-brown color, Petworth! Came here to get a crocheter’s version of this provisional cast-on because the written instructions version were stumping me - I came to the conclusion that decades of crochet made me now unable to follow them, lol! Got the hang of the pattern (should have started here instead of Tumbling Blocks!) and happy to go watch Jenn’s tutorial for the casting on!
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Hi Kay,
I just finished the tumbling Blocks scarf in pressed flowers as a warm up. I am getting ready to cast on the mood Cardigan in the Pebble Beach colorway of the Gleem yarn. I’m looking forward to this project!
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I’m joining too although I’ll be going slowly. There are some other projects to finish. I just ordered my yarn in the Cooper Circle colorway. It looks lovely on the website and I’m looking forward to its arrival.
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I’m planning to block it just as I would a non-lace sweater–not stretch it a lot but block it to the measurements I need. I see that Koshababushka spray-blocked hers, pinned to measurements on a blocking mat, and that makes a lot of sense to me. I hope I get there soon!
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Hi Dawn,
I posted this further upstream but here is Jen’s excellent video on the crochet provisional cast-on: https://youtu.be/FKfXOroCrqE
That’s the one I used, worked like a charm.
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Hi there dear babooshka,
I was troubled by this too. I tried knitting the first row of the pattern straight into the cast-on and I didn’t like the way it felt and didn’t want to have to pick it out later.
So, I purled a row and then launched into the lace pattern. I did this on the sleeve panel and also to start the body section.
I hope I hope I hope it works out ok. Very interested to see Jeanette’s technique. It is very in-character for me to disregard instructions in our own book. 
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This is just me but I can’t think of hardly anything I’d hate worse than alternating two skeins of yarn, so I never do it. What can I say, I like to go for the gusto, live on the edge, and not fight to keep multiple balls of yarn from tangling.
I’m posting tomorrow some photos of how that is working out for me in the Rustic Fingering/Cooper Circle shade. Spoiler: I love it and there is no unsightly pooling or anything like that. It’s a glorious blend, just as it is in the skein.
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