Showing off a finished object

[hyperbole]

Hi all!

I started this capelet/shoulder warmer thingy early in the year but finished it in September or so (it took a few months to work up the courage to cut open the steek!). I recently found the photos on my phone while searching for something else so I thought I'd share the project here.

The capelet is knit out of three natural colours of sheep's wool from a small producer in the area where my parents live. The wool is naturally very soft and warm. It features the silhouettes of two cats whose tails are laced together to form a heart, and it's knit in stranded colourwork. I designed it myself, starting with "I need something to keep my shoulders extra warm", passing by "I know of this lovely wool...", and ending at "it needs cats!!". I found the cat chart by image searching something like "knit cat chart", made a swatch, and off I went.



From the front. (It's modelled over my favourite cardigan, which I made up myself after basing the shoulder area on a pattern that uses the contiguous sleeve method.)


From the back.


Detail of the steek, which is covered with scraps of fabric from a dress.

I'm very happy with this, it's really warm (which is needed at my office!) and very "me" with the neutrals and the cats. Possibly my favourite knit of the year? Except now that I've typed that out I come to think of some really lovely other things so maybe they're all equal or something. ;)

Comments

[kaberett]

Ooh, that's lovely! I can't quite see from the photographs -- is it fixed across the front/to your cardi, or is it shaped enough to stay put?

(The motivation for the question is in part that I'm a manual wheelchair user so loose things just Don't Work for me; I'm consequently curious!)

[hyperbole]

Thank you! :D

It's shaped enough to stay on without fastenings when I'm by my desk, which I am 95% of the time at work. It slips off pretty easily if I do anything else.

I was originally planning to put buttons and buttonholes down the front but couldn't be bothered to find buttons and work out where and how to do the buttonholes when I needed to finish it. (Plus it turned out a little more snug than I intended so this one wouldn't have been as comfortable with buttons. If I make another one I'll take more care with the gauge and think ahead a bit more, because buttons would be better.)

Instead I plan to get a shawl pin (if I can find one), or I might get one larger button and crochet a loop. That way only the top corners need to touch comfortably, which they do.

[ingridmatthews]

Amazing. Love it!

[hyperbole]

Thank you! :D

[slashmarks]

That cat pattern is great!

[hyperbole]

Thank you! I forgot to mention it was a chart I found online, I didn't create that part myself. It came up when I searched for something like "knit cat chart".

[curiosity]

Great work. That is a lovely pattern. :)

[hyperbole]

Thank you! I forgot to mention the cat silhouette was a chart I found online, I didn't create that part myself. It came up when I searched for something like "knit cat chart".

[grayestofghosts]

Steeking! You are much braver than I 🤭 It looks great.

[hyperbole]

Thank you! It's nerve-wracking but worth it in the end if you use yarn that isn't too slippery and take it slow. It was actually less scary than I thought, but before this I'd only done it once several years ago so I didn't know that before I started. :P

[kathmandu]

Clever and interesting, and it harmonizes really well with the sweater!

[hyperbole]

Thank you! I'm especially happy to hear it goes with my sweater because I wear them together a lot and sometimes I feel like I just wear all my knits together haphazardly...

[onlysmallwings]

That is amazing! Steeking seems so terrifying.

[patelyne]

So cute and cozy looking- Works well with the sweater too!
I’m am soooo scared of steeking, so bonus points for bravery :)

[oakmouse]

That's gorgeous!

Another knitter who's scared to death of steeking. I would have probably taken years to work up the courage to cut it!

[readera]

Wow!

It's gorgeous!

[horusporus]

that is some gorgeous work, wow! nicely done!

[attie]

It's gorgeous! I love the cat pattern.

Also, I hadn't heard of steeking before, but just reading the description made me go 😰! So glad it worked out!

[pensnest]

That is really charming. Go you for having the courage to steek - I haven't dared try that yet!

[rainbow]

ooooh, it's *lovely*!!!

and i adore anything with kitties making hearts of their tails *grin*

[cesy]

That's gorgeous!