Stripey
Another FO! This one is long overdue; I finished the knitting well over a week ago, but I couldn't seem to motivate myself to weave in all the ends. I finally finished this week, and threw it in the wash over the weekend.
Pattern: All from my little head, with some help from Elizabeth Zimmerman's percentage method. I worked it hem-up in the round, joined at the underarm, then raglan decreases to the bottom of the front neckline. Some short row fun, then a turtleneck, and voila!
Details; I worked the hems and the turtleneck in 3x3 rib. The hem depth is about four inches on each, and the turtleneck is six inches long total. I continued the ribbing up the sides of the body (7 ribs) and the sleeve (3 ribs). The raglans are also three stitches wide; one center stitch, and a K2tog or SSK on either side. Yarnmule likes symmetry. Here's a shot of the ribbing on the side:
And here's one of raglans and the turtleneck:
Yarn and Needles: For some reason, I was sure that I would run out of yarn on this. I actually calculated the number of stitches at one point. Let's just say that math is devious and dastardly. Either that or I cannot count.
All the yarn was Suss Cotton. I used almost 3 jumbo skeins of red, less than 1 skein of brown, and about 1/2 each of khaki and teal. This leaves with two untouched skeins, and a whole bunch of partials. I really liked working with this yarn. It's a single loose ply of cotton, but it's wrapped with a tiny thread that appears to be mercerized (it's kind of shiny). This gives the yarn a little texture, and it also seemed to give it a little more bounce than your average cotton yarn. I didn't have any trouble with snagging on the needle tips, and it knit quickly.
The needles are a story all their own. I swatched with size 8 and size 7, and decided on the 7's (I've had about enough of floppy stretchy cotton sweaters). I worked the body on a Boye interchangeable metal circular. Then I worked the sleeves on Bryspun DPN's. After I joined it all, it went back on the metal circ. After I finished I started the post-project clean-up; bagging up the leftover yarn, putting away the needles, etc. I twas then that I realized I had done the body on size 7 and the sleeves on size 8. In all honesty, I tend to knit a little tighter on DPNs than on circs, so the difference is completely unnoticeable.
If I Could Do It Over: You've probably already read The Story of the Ugly Stripes. Obviously I'd do that right the first time. I also had a sizing issue that I'm not going to fix. Every cotton sweater I have ever knit has grown in the laundry or on the body. When I say grown, I mean GROWN; we're talking sleeves that are three inches too long, bodies that could be classified as dresses, the whole deal. When I calculated my measurements for this one, I took that into account, and worked everything about an inch shorter than I really wanted. Lo and behold, the thing shrunk in the wash. After a full day of wear, the body is fine, but the sleeves can best be described as 3/4 length. Not what I was going for. In the end, I tend to push up my sleeves anyway, so I'm going to keep it as is. The sleeves are a little tight too, but only in the forearm. In the end, I tend to push up my sleeves past my elbows anyway, so I'm going to let it go.
The only other minor quibble is with the raglan decreases. I did the standard "decrease on either side of the marker every other row" raglans. This works fine, and if this were a bigger, baggier sweater I'm sure it would be great. But in this slightly fitted version, the sleeve is just a wee bit tight over the shoulders. Shoulders are pointy, after all. Next time I might try to plan the raglans a little more carefully to compensate.
All in all though, I'm pretty pleased. It's a great weekend sweater; very comfortable, pretty well fitted, and more attractive than my average T shirt.
Pattern: All from my little head, with some help from Elizabeth Zimmerman's percentage method. I worked it hem-up in the round, joined at the underarm, then raglan decreases to the bottom of the front neckline. Some short row fun, then a turtleneck, and voila!
Details; I worked the hems and the turtleneck in 3x3 rib. The hem depth is about four inches on each, and the turtleneck is six inches long total. I continued the ribbing up the sides of the body (7 ribs) and the sleeve (3 ribs). The raglans are also three stitches wide; one center stitch, and a K2tog or SSK on either side. Yarnmule likes symmetry. Here's a shot of the ribbing on the side:
And here's one of raglans and the turtleneck:
Yarn and Needles: For some reason, I was sure that I would run out of yarn on this. I actually calculated the number of stitches at one point. Let's just say that math is devious and dastardly. Either that or I cannot count.
All the yarn was Suss Cotton. I used almost 3 jumbo skeins of red, less than 1 skein of brown, and about 1/2 each of khaki and teal. This leaves with two untouched skeins, and a whole bunch of partials. I really liked working with this yarn. It's a single loose ply of cotton, but it's wrapped with a tiny thread that appears to be mercerized (it's kind of shiny). This gives the yarn a little texture, and it also seemed to give it a little more bounce than your average cotton yarn. I didn't have any trouble with snagging on the needle tips, and it knit quickly.
The needles are a story all their own. I swatched with size 8 and size 7, and decided on the 7's (I've had about enough of floppy stretchy cotton sweaters). I worked the body on a Boye interchangeable metal circular. Then I worked the sleeves on Bryspun DPN's. After I joined it all, it went back on the metal circ. After I finished I started the post-project clean-up; bagging up the leftover yarn, putting away the needles, etc. I twas then that I realized I had done the body on size 7 and the sleeves on size 8. In all honesty, I tend to knit a little tighter on DPNs than on circs, so the difference is completely unnoticeable.
If I Could Do It Over: You've probably already read The Story of the Ugly Stripes. Obviously I'd do that right the first time. I also had a sizing issue that I'm not going to fix. Every cotton sweater I have ever knit has grown in the laundry or on the body. When I say grown, I mean GROWN; we're talking sleeves that are three inches too long, bodies that could be classified as dresses, the whole deal. When I calculated my measurements for this one, I took that into account, and worked everything about an inch shorter than I really wanted. Lo and behold, the thing shrunk in the wash. After a full day of wear, the body is fine, but the sleeves can best be described as 3/4 length. Not what I was going for. In the end, I tend to push up my sleeves anyway, so I'm going to keep it as is. The sleeves are a little tight too, but only in the forearm. In the end, I tend to push up my sleeves past my elbows anyway, so I'm going to let it go.
The only other minor quibble is with the raglan decreases. I did the standard "decrease on either side of the marker every other row" raglans. This works fine, and if this were a bigger, baggier sweater I'm sure it would be great. But in this slightly fitted version, the sleeve is just a wee bit tight over the shoulders. Shoulders are pointy, after all. Next time I might try to plan the raglans a little more carefully to compensate.
All in all though, I'm pretty pleased. It's a great weekend sweater; very comfortable, pretty well fitted, and more attractive than my average T shirt.
Labels: FO's
