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

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.