Neither Here nor There

There are some patterns that are almost impossible to write and this is one of them.

All hand crafted garments need to fit the body they are made for. How can you add length to this one without distorting the curved design detail?

This sweater is inspired by the members of our family who have migrated from one country to another. My great grandfather migrated from Scotland to South Africa with his English wife in 1877 to be a missionary to the Gcaleka tribe. My Grandmother Lizzie was born in South Africa during the Ninth Frontier War in which the mission station that they were to have lived at, was burnt to the ground. If you are interested you can read about this war here: https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/eastern-cape-wars-dispossession-1779-1878

Grandmother Lizzie married another would-be missionary, Grandpa George, who also left Scotland. He landed in South Africa after barely surviving a bevy of tropical diseases in Calabah (today’s Nigeria). Granny Lizzie went back to Scotland on sabbatical as a child; Grandpa George never returned to his homeland.

On the other side, my mother’s father left England, arriving in South Africa just after the Boer War, and a few years later married my Grandmother whose native tongue was Danish (though she was born in Germany). I can’t help wondering if all these ancestors felt at some time that they were Neither Here nor There – Too Scottish/English/Danish or German to feel at home in their new country , and too ‘foreign’ to fit in when they were in their former home lands. My parents lived in 4 African countries, and my generation has migrated to 3 different continents. That’s 4 generations of migrants.

So, this background is the foundation of this design: a sweater in a mottled colour due to combining a pale blue fingering yarn, with a darker blue, lace weight, Mohair yarn. Half of the back and front is knitted in Stocking stitch (St st), and half in reverse St st., separated by a wavering line.

One sleeve is St st, the other reverse St st. It’s the wavering line that makes it impossible to write this pattern for, if you need to add an inch, or shorten it an inch, that line will no longer have its shape. The garment is embellished with a Flat I-chord that follows, and emphasizes, the curving lines. This and the neckline are knitted in the pale blue yarn on its own. That curving line emphasizes how some time a migrant feels more at home in one place, and at other times, more comfortable in the other.

If you would like to copy this idea you will have to make your own pattern and I’ll tell you how I did it.

I drew the garment outline on 1×1 inch flip board paper. I knit and washed a swatch to work out how many stitches to the inch, and how many rows to the inch, my design would need. I sketched in the neckline, lowering it the extra inch I would need for the neckline finish. Then in free form I drew a squiggle on the outline that was pleasing to me, baring in mind where, on the sketch, my bust line would be.

I didn’t want a close fitting garment but I did want to reduce some fabric from the back, so I sketched in where the back darts would be.

[ To do this you need to know where your waist line is, and where your widest part of your rear end is – these things vary from person to person, and you want your narrowest part of the dart where you are the narrowest, and the dart to end just before you reach the widest part of your hip. Get a friend to help you measure where this is. Don’t estimate – and don’t ask me how I know!]

Having drawn this on my graph paper, I printed out some gauge paper in the gauge from my gauge swatch. I use http://tata-tatao.to/knit/matrix/e-index.html for this. Then I took tracing paper and laid it over my design and traced the shape of the squiggle. I had to overlap my pages and use more than one to cover the area. This traced line I then laid over the gauge paper and as I knit I marked off each row. In this way I could work out where the stitches changed from row to row. The actual line was covered when I sewed on the Flat I-cord .

I used a narrow garter stitch on the edges of the hip hem and wrist cuffs. Garter stitch tends to grow horizontally and as I wasn’t sure if the mohair (which has no elasticity) in the yarn combination would exacerbate this, I moved down an extra 2 needle sizes to knit those sections. I’ve worn this garment extensively and the hems have kept their shape.

Down each side is a panel for ribbing. This helped to add some subtle shaping.

I also added darts at the back,

and short-row bust darts in the front

Knitting this garment was a delight and wearing it has been even more so. It’s light, soft and warm and would make an ideal garment to take along on a journey as it doesn’t take up much space in luggage either. Of all the garments I have made, this is the one I have the most positive comments about. For such a simple garment it has surprising versatility and appeal. I’m sorry I can’t write a pattern for this one but I hope that by giving you my design technique you might make one that fits your body perfectly.

Yarns used in this garment are:
African Expressions Hope and
African Expressions Soul. Both are available through Annette Oelofse at http://www.mohairblanket.co.za/