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Wednesday 13 September 2017

Fair Isle Beret and Waistcoat


I have been working away at this project for many weeks. I started the beret as my holiday knitting. Perhaps fair isle is not such a good idea for knitting in the car. It is a present for my great niece, who lives in Ireland, and has just turned one. But having finished the beret I thought it would also be nice to make a matching waistcoat. 
 

Both are now off in the mail, and I am hoping they fit her, and I will get some photos of her wearing them. But until then my model is Clopper, my daughter's toy. Clopper has appeared on this blog once before, when he went on holiday and met a Dartmoor pony. He seemed more or less the right size, although I am sure my niece is not as tubby as him.


Both beret and waistcoat are knitted from a book I bought in a charity shop Bright Knits for Kids by Debbie Bliss. In the pattern the beret was knitted flat with a seam, but I decided to knit it in the round on 4 needles. That was fine for the lower section for which there was a chart, but I may have got slightly muddled at the top, where the instructions were written out with knit and purl rows. I sometimes forgot to convert this, as in the round you are always on a knit row. But I think it looks OK.

I also found adding the buttonband to the waistcoat difficult. It is a little puckered. It shouldn't have been hard, but it is a long time since I have made a garment in this way. Then I accidentally sewed up the side seams, before adding the armhole bands. So instead of unpicking I knitted these in the round as well.

Knitting fair isle is extremely satisfying. The end result is so pretty, but running in all those ends was very hard work.
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7 comments:

  1. Sandra Nachlinger16 September 2017 at 07:34

    Adorable, and I love the colors. I hope you get a picture of your great niece wearing the beret and waistcoat and that you'll share it. Although you pointed out your challenges and "errors" in creating this project, it looks perfect to me.
    My Saturday Snapshot post features picture-taking tips.

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  2. Laurel-Rain Snow16 September 2017 at 08:05

    I love the beret and waistcoat...and Clopper! It will be fun to see photos of your great niece wearing them. Thanks for sharing, and here are MY SATURDAY SNAPSHOTS

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  3. Carie @ Space for the Butterflies19 September 2017 at 00:04

    Oh she's going to look adorable in it - what a gorgeous set! It's been years since I knit in pieces too, I just gravitate to projects worked in the round- perhaps we're all going back to our historical roots!

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  4. Cheryl19 September 2017 at 06:37

    I have that book. I was actually contemplating letting it go, as my lot are all too big now. Maybe I need to hang on to it. I think you have tremendous patience to knit with so many colours and sew them all in. It has definitely been worth it. A really lovely present to receive, I'm sure. #craftingon

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  5. Julia19 September 2017 at 14:46

    Clopper looks very stylish, though I am sure it will look even better on your niece. Fair isle is fun, and I didn't notice any mistakes. Naturally you see them, you know where they are.

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  6. Teresa B22 September 2017 at 08:05

    It's a really pretty set and I love the colors you used. Thank you for joining The Really Crafty Link Party this week. Pinned!

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  7. Sum of their Stories23 September 2017 at 11:41

    I've hardly done any fair isle knitting, I remember doing some as a teen. My mum used to do a lot although cable was always her favourite.
    These are both lovely, I'm very impressed. Looks like a good pattern to have, I have a Debbie Bliss book somewhere but I don't recognise this so it must be a different one. I honestly can't see any mistakes!

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