I finished a thing!
The sweater I wrote about a few posts ago, the one with sock yarn, is finished. It had a few false starts, as I knit the front shorter than the back the first time.
I designed the pattern using Garment Designer. I have narrow shoulders compared to my thick abdomen, and I believe that is why I often have trouble with commercial patterns. The shoulders on them are usually too wide. I don't like the drop sleeve shoulders, since there is too much fabric draping and bunching around the underarm. So I chose a set-in sleeve.
What do I like about this project?
1. It is a classic style.
2.The yarn is soft.
3. It is a lightweight sweater that is perfect for snowy days.
4. The neutral color will coordinate with anything.
5. I made it from yarn that I initially purchased as raw wool.
What mistakes did I make?
1. I initially knitted the front too short. I discovered this after I knitted the back and compared the back to the front. What happened? I believe I deducted the bottom ribbed band from the total rows to knit, when they should have been included. When I decided to make the front again, I was able to use the yarn from the first front to knit the first sleeve and part of the second.
2. I am not sure why the set-in sleeve cap seemed too short to ease into the armhole. It seemed like the underarm was shorter on the sleeve than on the garment. But if the sleeve underarm had been wider, the entire sleeve would also be wider. I did not mark the points to sew together.
3. I had some trouble with the ribbing for the neckband. The long section, which was one side of the front plus the back, was no trouble. The short section gave me fits. I knitted it four times. There was a needle on the main bed, number 5, which was inconsistently not knitting. After the first two attempts, I changed out the needle. Then the third time, the tension of the ribbing seemed mysteriously too big. I had knitted with garment tension 10 and ribbing tension 8. Thinking perhaps I had knitted the ribbing at tension 10, I unravelled and knitted it one more time. There didn't seem to be enough weight on the piece, so I pulled it down with my left hand while moving the carriage to the right. When taking it off, I realized it was also too loose. It was after 11 pm, and I decided to put it on the garment anyway, hoping that blocking would make the slight difference go away.
4. When I initally washed the sweater to prepare for blocking, I used the "handwash" cycle with Ecos detergent. As it was lying flat to dry, I noticed a dark line on the front at the bottom of the V neck where I had taken half the front off on waste yarn. I wasn't sure if it was oil from the needles or lint from the dark green waste yarn I had used. I sprayed the line with De-Solve-It and put it back in the washer for a second cycle. This time I used Persil detergent ande "delicates" cycle. The sweater had significantly less moisture when I removed it. I think there must be a longer spin cycle on the delicates cycle. It seemed like there might have been a little shrinkage, which I did not notice the first time. The good news is the line is gone!
What would I do differently next time?
1. Determine the issue with the set-in sleeve if using this style again. Maybe print the pattern and tissue-fit or make a muslin from some commercial fabric.
2. Indulge my inner perfectionist and make that ribbing a fifth time.
3. Send the swatches through a "delicate" washer cycle instead of just washing by hand.
4. Stop knitting before 10 pm. I make bad decisions when I am tired.
5. Perhaps add some embellishment in the form a a wider fully-fashioned seam for the armholes.
Next project:
I have so many projects going on, it's hard to choose.
I purchased some items at auction which included some weaving yarns and sewing supplies. Also to my surprise, at the bottom of a bin, were some lovely crocheted tablecloths, placemats, and dresser scarves. It is sad to me to see these items which represent hundreds or perhaps thousands of hours of effort valued so little. I am celebrating my acquistion by proudly displaying the large tablecloth on my dining room table.
In the same auction lot was some very nice wool yarn. The labels appear to be of varying age. They say "Davidson's Old Mill Yarn, Eaton Rapids, Michigan". I have visited that place many years ago, and in fact some of my overflowing yarn stash was found in the large Gaylord boxes in the middle of their warehouse. But this yarn apparently was actually spun for or by them. This company has moved to Allegan, Michigan, where the Michigan Fiber Fest is held annually, and has changed owners. The older, yellowed labels have DOMY hand-written on them along with 490 yards/100 gms. The newer, brighter white labels have the same information printed, and say 475 yards per 100 gms. There were four skeins, two grey and two amethyst, and one ball of grey. I wound them into cakes. There were several breaks in the yarn, perhaps due to insect damage, but I saw no other evidence of pests. I tied the broken ends together.
The yarn is a beautiful heather color. I knitted a swatch. 40 stitches by 60 rows = 5.5 inches, or 7.27 st. and 10.9 rows per inch at T7.
There is a broken end with knot in this swatch, and you can't even see it! I am not sure how I will approach the broken ends. I am concerned I may not have enough for a long-sleeved plus-size sweater. So I checked Ravelry for projects using this yarn. I found 582 matches for the yarn in the Projects category. This surprised me! And opening up some of the projects, I found a few people raving about how this was their favorite yarn. The projects I looked at, long-sleeved sweaters, ranged from 2 skeins to 12 skeins. The 12-skein project won a prize at the Minnesota State Fair!
It was a size 42" and I am a size 48". I have 5 skeins. I will have to supplement with a similar yarn. Hopefully I already have some of a similar weight in my stash. I am thinking of making a fairisle pullover. I'd like to make a yoked sweater, but I haven't found a pattern to match my gauge in my size yet, alhough I spent several hours looking yesterday. I have both Design-A-Knit and Garment Designer, and although I can probably achieve a yoked garment with a lot of manual adjustmentes in both of them, neither of them has a yoked design "out of the box".
More to come.
