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A Test Knitting Story: Birdie Blouse


When I saw the test call on Instagram for this blouse I didn't care that I was already in the middle of two other knitting commitments or that my course was about to start. I had to sign up. Thankfully Sanne of ChaiCrafts is a wonderful designer and had made a size inclusive design so I was able to participate. (Believe it or not, some knitwear designers still don't cater to people my size!)

I excitedly purchased a cone of 3-ply 80:20 wool:silk from YarnOnCone. There's not that much difference between 3 and 4 ply right? Plus it was such a pretty lavender lilac I wasn't even thinking!

More fool me. This yarn turned up looking more like a lace weight and my gauge swatch confirmed that. One strand was far too airy and showed more skin than would have been appropriate! Two strands was much better so that's what I went for. I didn't think too much of it at the time. Silly me. Yarnage obviously halves when you hold something double. My brain didn't register this. I assumes I had more than enough with my 500g cone. And I would have if I'd held it single and went for that more airy knit.

Categorising yarn can be awkward at the best of times, as a spinner I know that. There's meterage per gram, WPI, width in NM. I don't blame the yarn company. It's so hard to judge especially when shopping online. And for a wool/silk blend it was very reasonably priced. (I'm not sponsored, just a cheapskate.)

The obvious solution is ordering more yarn, but when I checked it had been too long and the yarn didn't even exist anymore. The only yarn on the same website with the same weight and colour was a cotton. I had no choice but to buy it and hope for the best. And then the worst thing happened. It was a completely different shade of lavender...

This project also taught me that I purl *much* looser than I knit. When I stopped working in the round it became extremely obvious from the wrong side. Were this not a test knit, it would sit in a basket for two years while I ignore it and try not to think about how sad it makes me. I've recently learned that sizing down one needle just for the purl stitches will remedy the rowing out. I'm going to try it the next time I'm switching between knitting flat and in the round. I wish I could tell my old self that.

Once the body was complete it was clear I was in trouble. I did not have enough yarn left. My solution to avoid an ugly obvious line when the yarn stopped somewhere down one arm was to hold one strand of the old wool yarn with one strand of the new cotton. If all the arms and details were a slightly different shade it might look more intentional.


You tell me, does it look that obvious?

In the end, I only had around 60g of the original yarn left over, so I think I made the right choice. The colour also looks more cohesive in person, I promise.

Overall, I'm very happy with this blouse. I did a little 4am photoshoot which I will include at the end and on my Ravelry. That said, I don't think I have anywhere to wear it, unless I want to be extremely overdressed in Tesco. My course is all online and my illness usually means I am housebound most days, if not asleep.

Holding the yarn double ended up making the blouse heavier than it was intended. So now I have to make a summer version too. Maybe I should pick a better yarn, a true 4-ply perhaps, and I should definitely buy more this time!! I'll also add a few more inches to the body. Genetics gave me big tits and a long body. Sanne added really good bust shaping but even that isn't enough. I don't think I've ever found a knitting pattern that was long enough in the torso region (weird flex, I know!)

Final thoughts: thanks Sanne for letting me be part of this test knit. This was my first experience double knitting and a great excuse to procrastinate doing coursework ☺

Happy crafting

You can find Sanne here or on IG @ChaiCrafts

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