Seamless Sweater Redux

I finished this sweater three and a half years ago. It never saw the outside world.

Since then has been sitting in a drawer in my closet. In the back of the drawer, I might add, squished behind other stuff so I could forget about it.

Why?

Because I hated it.

I didn't want to admit it that I hated it. What would it say for my love of the craft if I acknowledged that after spending so much time and money on this sweater I couldn't stand it?? What would it say about the zillion skeins of yarn that lay un-knit in my various yarn compartments and drawers?

I often thought about ripping it out completely. But then I'd have to face the curly, trying-to-look-normal, rewound yarn every time I opened my stash. It was all to much to fathom. So in the drawer the hated sweater stayed.

Until it hit me:

Re-engineer it! Figure out what I hated so much and make it better.

So, what didn't I like?

Other than the fact it was too big under the arms (something I knew could not be fixed), I really didn't like the button-less cardigan style that just flapped open. It reminded me of my friend's mom's famous line:

"Touches you everywhere, flatters you no where."

I didn't like the tassel-y thing that tied the top of the cardigan together.

And I didn't like that the sweater hung oddly on the body when worn. It just wasn't shaped properly.

Thankfully, the tie-thing was the last part of the sweater to be knitted, so it was a cinch to make it disappear. That and and the two or three rows of the neckline it was attached to.

To fix the hanging open problem, after re-knitting a new neckline, I seamed the front of the cardigan closed and turned it into a pullover. Because the left and right fronts on the cardigan were done in seed stitch, the seam is virtually invisible.

Then, since I was not aware of the concept of blocking when I first made this sweater, I blocked the sucker, in hopes of having it lay evenly and take the shape of an actual sweater.

Cardigan-turned-Pullover re-inventing itself

I am very happy with my re-engineered results and can admit this sweater has seen the light of day on more than one occasion. It's still a little big, but I look at that as experience in knowing how to size seamless sweaters better in the future.

In fact, I "tested" it by wearing it to work the day after it finished drying on the blocking board. No kidding, three people commented to me at different times before the clock struck Noon.

"Wow," they said.

"That's a really nice sweater. Is it new?"

Felted Winter Tote

A few years ago I bought 10 skeins of orange Jaegar Como online for a pretty sweet deal. I planned on using it for a sweater in the Jaegar book. But once the yarn arrived, I wasn’t sure I liked it for a sweater. It felt kind of acrylic, even though it’s 90% merino.

(Note to self: buying yarn cheap online is only good if I'm familiar with the yarn...)

I'm lukewarm on the sweater now, too. Not sure if that cable on the neckline would look nice or ridiculous.

Since the yarn has a high wool content, I felted a small swatch of it to see if it would (despite its 10% nylon) and it did. I decided to save it for something felted. My friend copied a pattern for me (I know, not Kosher...but we all do it) from the Holiday Knits book, and I planned to use the yarn for that project. I even (because I'm sick) ordered more of the yarn in pink, so I could make the bag with an accent color. This was after I knew I didn't even like the yarn much...

Fast forward three or four years, enter my obsession with either getting rid of yarn I know I'm never going to use, or starting the projects that have been waiting for me for so long. I cast on for the Felted Winter Tote.

I believe that the authors of this book from where the pattern comes own the store Noe Knits in San Francisco. I was there a few years ago, and remember they had the book on display in the store with an errata note that the yarn should be doubled for this pattern.

I'm only a few rows into it at this point but will make a swatch of doubled yarn and re-felt -- just to make sure it doesn't turn out too thick. Because knitting the whole thing and discovering that after the fact would truly be a drag.

I'll order the suede handles and bottom online and see where this project goes...wish me luck. At the very least, I'll clean out some of my stash.

Dollar and a Half Sweater

I have many projects waiting to be started. I have many hanks and skanks and skeins of yarn waiting to become projects. But I've been scared off from making sweaters because my last few attempts have failed.

Then I saw the recent issue of Interweave Knits and I fell for the dollar and a half cardigan.



Sure it looked complicated. But at the same time it looked pretty simple. Twelve rows of reverse stockinettte, 12 rows of lace. Repeat. Sure it involves decreasing for the sleeves. And sure, some of this happens in the lace sections. And, oh right, there'a a cable thrown in there, too. But what the hell. I'm a trooper. I can get over my fear-of-making-sweaters and jump right in.

And jump I did. I even joined the Dollar and a Half KAL (which, for those not totally up on knitter's lingo, stands for Knit-a-Long -- a group of people who knit the same project and share their successes and sometime failures.) Gotta love knitters. One thing they're never short on is acronyms: KAL, LYS, WIP, UFO*...

Here's my first post to the KAL:

After driving myself crazy and swatching about 4 different yarns for this sweater, I finally decided on Solitaire in charcoal by GGH.


I had about 14 skeins of it in the drawer purchased for an entirely different project. Let's just say that project never happened...

I still love the sweater pattern planned for said yarn, but it's only written for a small and medium and I'm scared of the maths it will take to adjust the pattern. So I avoided it for more than a year, wondering if this nice yarn would ever become something other than balls taking up space in a drawer.

Enter Dollar and a Half Cardigan and Solitaire has found a home.


Chance Kitty approves of the sweater's start

It took a few swatches of lace practice to get it right, but once I remembered that it's a multiple of three PLUS one -- all worked out well. Al's tutorial for row 7 was extremely helpful, as well.


Close up of lace

I'm this far along on the back. I got a little nervous after the first few rows because I was getting the Michelin Man effect, so I blocked it to make sure it would look OK. That's why the bottom is flatter than the rest. (That's if you can see that in this crappy photo... )


Almost up to sleeve shaping...Scary

I have to say, getting the correct gauge in lace was a bit beyond my knitting abilities. It's measuring to the width I want, so hopefully it won't be too big or too small. (Not that I've even done that before.)

After completing the first section each of stockinette and lace, I didn't like that the stockinette section was wider than the lace. So I've altered the pattern a bit: in the the first row of reverse stockinette (a purl row) I decrease a total of 3 stitches. In the first row of the lace section (the knit row), I add the 3 stitches back in. I'm hoping this won't bite me in the ass later, but the edges are more even this way.

Being home sick with the cold from hell for the last week has really moved this project along. And I totally agree with Chef Messy. By the time I get to the end of the stockinette section, I'm so ready for something a little more exciting. Then, by the time I get to the end of the lace section, I'm so sick of counting I can't wait for the simplicity of purl a row, knit a row.

Wish me luck. I'm about to start decreasing for the sleeves...

*Now you can be hip to the lingo of the knitter: Local Yarn Store, Work in Progress, Unfinished Object.

Short Rows for Busty Babes

I started this post weeks ago. Since then, my job got crazy and kept me from knitting anything all that substantial, which also meant not a whole lot of blogging. (I work for a company that produces trade shows and for the last 6 weeks or so leading up the event, I've been working most nights till 9 pm -- so you can imagine how much time that left me to have a life, yet alone a life where one knits and blogs!)

Prior to work going nuts, I had made progress with a particular sweater project, so I started this post, thinking that I would add an ending quickly...and that it would be positive. That's not exactly the way things turned out. So here's how the post originally started, with the unfortunate ending.

Short Rows

I have heard that short row shaping is a great way to add, well, shape, to a sweater for those who fall into the "busty" category. Since that's me, I wanted to discover more about these things called short rows.

(Hi co-worker Ben who for some reason likes to read my knitting blog. This is all about knitting for girls with big boobs. Are you blushing yet?)

I did a little online surfing and came up with this very helpful article in Knitty. The image below, in particular, really visualizes the benefits of short rows for busty babes.


See how short rows provide a little cuppage? (Thank you Knitty for the image.)

Upon further searching, I found this article from MagKnits, also with detailed instruction on short row shaping -- and it included how many stitches to increase on each side based on bust size:

6 for C cup, 12 for D and 18 for DD.

(Ben -- still with us??)

Better still was the video from one of my favorite websites, Knittinghelp.com. Reading how to knit something is one thing. Watching it on video is completely different. That's why I love knittinghelp.com. If you haven't checked it out yet, you should.

I'm working on my seamless sweater again. Only this time I have the right gauge, so it's coming along nicely. I was at the point for adding short rows, and I decided to give it whirl.

But...I screwed up when it came to knitting the stitches with the wraps.


Those obvious lines? I'm guessing they shouldn't be visible

So I ripped back and redid. (This orange yarn is convinced it will never truly be a sweater. Ever.)

Attempt number two seems to be successful. I'm not sure I like the way the stockinette stitch changes direction -- but the weird stitch line from the first attempt is gone -- and the short rows do provide added room in the front of the sweater.

One thing that bugs me, though, is that because this sweater is knit from the top down, the darts aim in the wrong direction. I'm concerned that may be bad.

I asked Helen from Urban Knitting if it looked bad enough to rip out. She's the queen of telling me to rip, and when she said no, I was thrilled. I'm continuing along --not convinced I won't rip -- but for now I keep knitting.

Update: I decided I hated this sweater. Not so much because of the short rows, but the whole sweater. It was too tight. Yes, the short rows provided extra give, but it just didn't work. It was a boobfest. (And not in a good way.) So I ripped again. But this time I ripped the whole sweater. Not just to where I started the short rows.

I'm not sure it it's me, the yarn, the pattern, the phase of the moon...But this sweater may not ever happen. For now I just end this post, frustrated that I've started and restarted this sweater too many times. This yarn will sleep soundly in my stash drawer until I find a different pattern...

Ben, you looking for something in a nice orange worsted wool?

Who Invented the Phrase: Ripping is a Part of Knitting?

Because I'd like to give them a big kick in the ass, thankyouverymuch.

I haven't been blogging so much, but I have been knitting. And ripping. Lots of ripping.

I started a new seemless sweater because I fell for some beautiful orange Nashua Creative Focus Worsted 75% wool/25% alpaca yarn.

Self, I thought. I've made two of these seemless numbers so far: a crew neck sweater and a cardigan. Who's counting that I really don't wear either becasue the crew neck just looks dorky and the cardigan needs to be reblocked or reknitted or who knows -- sold on Ebay.

But I saw this orange wool and thought: Maybe three's a charm?

So I bought the wool and start making my third seemless sweater -- this time with a v-neck. I followed the pattern but altered it slightly because I wanted a deeper V than the pattern called for. How cool was I altering a pattern to adjust the V? I'm such an advanced knitter!

Not so fast hot shot.

About a third of the way through the sweater I looked at it and thought -- "WTF? Am I making this for Barbie? Because it sure looks teeny." No way this sweater is going to fit across my bust. This is an alpaca/wool blend. Not expando-elastic.

I made an emergeny trip to Urban Knitting, where I bought the yarn, and showed Helen my work-of-art-soon-to-be-disaster sweater.

Helen: "Oh yeah. This is way too small. Your gauge is supposed to be five stitches to the inch and you have five and a half."

Me: "Well, um. yeah, mumble, mumble. I know that, mumble, mumble. I just figured I would make it slightly bigger than the pattern says."

And this is when I was reminded: I am Math Challenged.

More stitches to the inch on your gauge and your project will be SMALLER, not BIGGER.

Doofus.

And so I ripped. 350 yards of beautiful orange yarn. Now nicely wound up waiting to be started again using bigger needles that give me a gauge of 5 stitches to the inch.

It was a painful lesson.

Quit And Knit

How's this for progress? I quit my job and finished my cardigan.

Oh, I'm not saying that everytime you have a sweater that's taking forever to complete that the solution is to quit your job -- but for this particular cardigan at this particular time in my life -- it worked out rather perfectly.

See, this cardigan was time consuming. What with sized 7 needles and a zillion rows to knit. And my job? Well, it was boring. So I killed two birds with one stone. I quit and then had more time to knit. And finished it just in time to wear to the last-Thursday-of-the-month Knit and Wine at my LYS.

Quit and knit. Could be a new craze taking over the country. Forget that stitch and bitch thing. I think I'm on to something.


It's really not crooked on the bottom. Just looks that way here...

Of course, I start my new job tomorrow. And I'm not expecting it to be boring. I'm just hoping I can still find some free time to knit and blog.

Patience, My Little Grasshopper

It's no surprise to me that I have no patience. I've lived with myself for as long as I can remember -- and I've never had any.

So why now, as I've taken up knitting these past few months, did I expect anything else?? Let's look at my cardigan. What did I say recently? "I should finish the sleeves in about a week."


Um. This is how "complete" my cardigan sleeves are today. And we're way past the one week mark.

Is it a patience thing? Or a stupidity thing? Or a combination of both?

Let's tackle stupidity first:

To knit the sleeves, once you start decreasing, the circumference gets too small to continue with one pair of circulars. So you add a second pair. (Or you can go with dpns, but supposedly two sets of circulars are easier.) Easier? If this is easy, knitters may soon require PhDs to call themselves "knitters..."

No exaggeration -- I frogged the same 7-10 rows of knitting in the round with two sets of circulars AT LEAST 10 times. The yarn was getting thread-bare. I even went back to my LYS for help. And continued to frog even after getting help.

Now let's tackle patience.

While at the yarn store for yarn "instructions" last week, Norma and I did a little yarn purchasing, too.

She bought Rowan Biggy Print to knit a scarf called Pia. I bought some Rowan Big Wool because I wanted to make a cute sweater vest called Click-Clack to wear over a long-sleeved white t-shirt. Both came from Rowan's Big Wool Just Got Bigger pattern book.

The next day Norma sends a photo to my cell phone of her progress on the scarf.



My patience with my constantly-being-frogged-sleeve wore thin. I thought to myself: "Self, look how much progress Norma has made in less than 24 hours. You could knit up that big wool vest in NO TIME, feel accomplished, then go back to your hateful sleeves."

Yes. Of course I could. Because I'm neither stupid nor impatient. Or so I thought.


Impressive, no?

No.

The back is too long and the edging stitches are all screwed up so it will need to be redone from the armholes up. The front has now been frogged twice. Maybe three's a charm?

So thanks to my knitting stupidity and lack of patience, here I sit with two uncompleted sweaters and no feeling of accomplishment. Thankfully, I finally did get the hang of the double circulars. And while it's no speedy Gonzales process, I really can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

And Norma?


Wearing her completed Pia scarf.

Rumor has it, she's considering purchasing more Biggy Print for yet another. Which I'm sure she'll finish before either my cardigan or my vest...

I'm Stacy, Fly Me

I finished the seamless sweater a few weeks ago. I tried it on and said to my husband:

Me: "Look honey. I finished my seamless sweater. Do you like it?"

Husband: "That looks great. But what are you going to do, go flying with those sleeves?"


Seamless sweater version 1.0


Close up of bell sleeves that I thought were such a nice touch...

Denying that the bell sleeves were, in fact, a bit too bell-y -- I wore my sweater to work and used my co-workers as a small focus group.

Nice co-workers: "Wow, the bell sleeves are pretty. I really like them. Unique."

Wise ass co-workers: "Hmmm. Nice sweater. But what's with those sleeves? Are they supposed to be that way?"

Oh well. As the saying goes: Ripping is a part of knitting...so I ripped. And re-did the sleeves.


Seamless sweater version 2.0


Missy says: "Even with my one eye, I can tell this version is better."

The Bear in a Shameless Seamless Sweater Plug

Profile: The Bear (aka Boo Boo Bear)
Age: About 3
Story: Rescued from Madera Shelter duing the Marin Humane Society's yearly Whiskers on Wheels event.
Personality: Sweetest cat that ever lived. Come on -- he lets me put a not-yet-completed sweater on him.


He looks pretty cute if you ask me. (The cat. And the sweater too, come to think of it.)