Committing to the Sweater

A sweater is a big project. It takes time. So I enter the process slowly. I decide on the parameters of the sweater: pullover or cardigan? Will it have color work or texture or both? What technique have I never done before?  Most importantly what will make it a, relatively, quick knit?

I want a pullover. I start looking at patterns in books and magazines. I browse patterns in ravelry and there are many sweaters I like but either the yarn is fingering (that will take forever) or there is too much colorwork (colorwork slows my knitting time down). I do not see any pattern that calls out to me. 

 I have an old sweater that I love to bits because of how it fits; oversized and sleeves long enough to roll up but I never really liked the v-neck. So I measure this sweater, every dimension very carefully and create a diagram with all the measurements noted. 

I have been swatching a new yarn. I asked the mill to experiment with the polypay fiber I left there and create a 3 ply fingering and a 3 ply worsted. I had been swatching the worsted polypay and I was impressed by how the yarn knit up. I obtained a worsted gauge with both a US 8 and a US7. The main difference was that the fabric created with the US 8 was just a tad more firm. The US 7 created a fabric with more body and when blocked, it was lovely.

I still have not found a pattern to suit my vision and my lovely 3 ply worsted. I decided to create my own sweater based on my swatch and the description of a yoke sweater in “Knitting without Tears” by Elizabeth Zimmerman. The recipe she lays out is bottom up, uses steeks for the armholes (I have never done steeks, it is time to learn) and a simple yoke that I can finish with a crew neck or boat neck or whatever I think of when I reach that point. 

I used a provisional cast on. The last step will be to go back and knit a folded hem. I decided to place a cable going up the front and a cable up the back. There will be lots of stockinette, which knits up quickly. 

I am committed. I love an adventure.

beginning of sweater, bottom up, green yarn is provisional cast on

Baby Bandit -machine washable BSJ

When the Baby Bandit arrived I had to cast on for a Baby Surprise Jacket (BSJ). The BSJ is one of the few patterns that I have knit more then once. I have done this pattern at least five times. I love the way the BSJ does not look like a sweater when one is doing the knitting.

The BSJ is a series of increases and decreases at marked points. This makes it good travel knitting, one can shove it in a bag and pick it up at any point, look at the markers and continue knitting.

BSJ, finished except for choosing the buttons

It is only after you flip the bottom edge and make the fold that creates the sleeve, that one sees that this is a wearable piece of knitting.

What I also love about the BSJ is that it is proportional. You can follow the exact same pattern but use a different yarn (baby, sock, sport, worsted) with a needle appropriate for that yarn and you will obtain the same knitted object, exactly proportioned but in a different size, the perfect pattern to test a new yarn.

I did my latest BSJ with Baby Bandit in the color Frolic (think bright green) using a 3 mm needle. I used a 32” circular because I like using a circular needle to accommodate all the stitches. One could also use a long straight needle. I made no changes to the pattern. I used an i-cord bind off. Did an invisible seam and then continued the i-cord along the neckline for a smooth, continuous i-cord edge. I placed my buttonholes on the left side and the buttons will be on the right.

Baby Bandit is a 50g ball, 178m; the BSJ used 70g of luscious machine washable merino wool. Looking at the finished BSJ, I could easily have done up to a 3.25 mm needle. I admit I did not do a swatch. A slightly larger needle would have produced a slightly drapier BSJ. However, I just may do a matching hat and socks.   I am going to put the BSJ through the washing machine cycle to see how Baby Bandit stands up to machine washing. Stay Tuned.

finishing and necklines

first attempt at neckline, a few rows of garter stitch

The red and white striped sweater is finished, except for the final fitting session. The last task on this sweater pattern was to pick up stitches around the neck and work three rows of garter stitch. I did this. It did not look neat. So I took a photo, for comparison purposes, pulled all the knitting out and contemplated the sweater. I believe the purpose of the three rows of garter stitch at the neckline was to connect the neckline visually with the garter stitch border at the bottom edge of the sweater. I thought that a rolled edge, with the knitting rolling to the “right” side of the sweater, so the purl side was visible would be visually similar to the the bottom of the sweater, providing continuity of design. I began by picking up the stitches around the neck, beginning at the back of the neck. I was more interested in picking up stitches evenly and not allowing any small gaps then in picking up the exact number of stitches noted in the pattern. I ended up with slightly more stitches. I worked six rows of stockinette and bound off using a stretchy bind off. I am very happy with the result. But will reserve final opinion until I see the sweater on a body. Hopefully, the neckline will lay flat and drape as intended.

final neckline, six rows of knitting, creating a rolled edge, simple and neat

Seaming and the excitement of Startitis

Wires and pins and a considerable amount of time, but the result is worth it

The famous red and white striped sweater has been blocked. When knitting sweaters the instructions will usually say seam and then block to measurements in schematic. If I think blocking will make it easier to seam, I block first. This sweater was a combination of knitting in pieces (front and back were knit flat) but the sleeve stitches were picked up from the seamed front and back. Once both of the sleeves were knit I could lay the sweater out flat and block it easily. Blocking made it much easier to seam the sleeves and the sides. Once all the seams are done and ends woven in, all that remains is to pick up the stitches at the neck and work a few rows to polish the neckline. Why have I not yet finsihed the neckline? Because this new yarn arrived. Bright colors, machine washable baby yarn and I just had to try it out. It was almost a compulsion. What better way to test a new baby yarn then to knit a Baby Surprize Jacket (BSJ)? Soft yarn, intriguing pattern, OK, I have knit the BSJ previously, but the result always amazes me. Stay tuned.

BSJ in Baby Bandit, color is Frolic, a bright green, the computer monitor does not due it justice

The never ending sleeve

Bohemia sport in carnivale and parchment.

Sweaters take time. No matter how you do it, top down or bottom up. Sweaters are large swaths of knitting. And at some point you end up knitting 12 or more inches of the same thing. This is a cropped sweater, super easy. Knit the back, knit the front and sew the shoulder seam. Pick up stitches and knit the sleeves. Sleeves, long sleeves are 19 inches of the same thing. I like stripes and it does mean one must focus so that all the stripes are the same. At least three times I have had to frog back a row because I was more focused on the movie than the knitting and the red stripe was suddenly three rows wide instead of two rows. The second sleeve has seemed to go on for infinity. I think it looks long enough and when I compare it to the first sleeve I am only half way done. I knit for hours and I still have several inches left to knit, a knitting condundrum. I have compared to the first sleeve, I have counted stripes and I have measured. There are still 4.5 inches of sleeve that must be knit.