Sirdar Indigo Denim Cotton & other bits!

The Idea:

I've got 7 balls of this denim cotton in Mid-Denim shade idling in my tiny stash & wanted to use it somehow. I've always wanted a denim-look knitted something or other. I found the 2 Twilleys books for their denim cotton. I decided this would be a suitable project, the 'Macy' vest:

The Swatch

OK, I hold my hands up, I NEVER swatch, I grab the pins & knit. (I've only knit one swatch in my life) Thats' a really bad confession to make, but I've done it now. I wanted to know how much the denim would shrink by as I was using a Twilleys (with 15% shrinkage) pattern So, I grabbed the 4 mm, did a swatch, cast off, cut the yarn, picked up the tape... OH crap, it was measuring 19st/26r. OK, it must be the way I'm holding the yran, let's try again, same pins, an extra wrap around my finger... nope 20st/26r. Maybe I need to change pins, let's try 3.75mm that'll be right... nope still 20st/26r. I'm getting rather pee'd off by this point. I dropped to 3.5mm & hooray, I got the required 21s/28r. This took me a whole evening to sort out.

I chucked it in the machine with a white wash on 60C & after washing it was measuring 21s/31r, approx 10% shrinkage, just like it says on the leaflet.

The Knitty

When the maths of converting the pattern got too hard, I decided to bite-the-bullet & just cast on! A moss-stitch project in dk is not the quickest of knits, but I love the feel of it, especially in cotton, all crunchy & lovely. DS kept stroking it as he likes the feel too! You can see the white core showing through:

The Completed Item Pre-wash

I spent nearly a week on this, but at least the cotton is nice to work with & not rough like some other denim cottons can be. I tried it on for a pre-wash fitting:

I hope it doesn't shrink too much, I like it like this! anyway off to the machine it goes. I've left some of the ends loose to sew after they've shrunk in case it puckers.

The Completed item post-wash

It did shrink & fade, but I was able to pin it to the length I wanted, 23" as opposed to the 24.5" pre-wash. I'm sure it got wider, but I fixed that too! Here it is, I used all but a tiny scrap of my 7 balls & still need to put a tiny band around the armholes (just one of those where you pick-up & then cast it straight off) but was reluctant to order any more just for that in case it didn't work. I might use my washed swatch of the cream & see how that looks for the bands & the lace.

I really want a denim jacket in this yarn & there are patterns in the Twilleys books, but I might contact Sirdar & arrange a copy of one of theirs as my maths won't cope with sleeves aswell!

Action-man has blagged himself another sweater & a bag. I wonder if I could enter it for Gilraens' Bag-along on the Craft Threads Forum:

No, I don't think she'd accept it LOL! But this might do instead, made in Sirdar Spree for 49p a ball at Kemps. I'm hoping to use it as a beach-bag, assuiming we get a late deal somewhere.

Don't laugh, look, I even gad a go at lining it. I've had a new sewing machine since April & this is the first time it's been out of the box!!

I'm currently knitting in Sirdar Snowflake Chunky, I'll save that for another day!