Tag Archives: bottom up

Winging It On Sleeve Island

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I have officially reached sleeve island on my Weekender sweater!

I picked up the pattern recommended number of stitches at the arm hole and knit an inch or so to where the pattern wanted me to start decreasing. Then I stepped back and looked at my sleeve and looked my arm….and looked at my sleeve and back to my arm. I’m confident the sleeve will fit my upper arm as it is now but I’m just as confident it will not fit if I work the pattern decreases as written.

My arm and shoulders are a little robust from hauling around a 31 pound toddler who still likes to be carried and snuggled. My arms taper more sharply at my forearms to my wrist. So based on this I have decided to wing it for the sleeve shaping. I’m going to just knit and keep trying the sleeve on as I go. I’ll start my decrease at or just below the elbow. I dug out some locking stitch markers to start marking my decreases to help me remember how to knit the second sleeve.

I am also pleased to be using my Chia Goo mini twist set that I got last Christmas so that I can knit the sleeves on a tiny circular. This way I can just zoom along and not fuss with changing DPNs or creating ladders.

I’m really happy with this sweater and hope to have this done very soon. Though it is now officially 100 degrees Fahrenheit here in Kansas so I won’t get to wear it until the Fall. Oh well, sometimes it’s just about the process right?

Happy Knitting!!

A Body Complete

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I did it! I finished the body of my Weekender!!

The short rows were easier than I thought and I did manage to do each side the same. The ribbing was a bit of a challenge as I had an extra stitch on one side and one short on the other. I just fudged it to make it work. And bonus, I was able to try this one!

As suspected, the sweater is not exceedingly oversized on me. It still has positive ease but it’s not exactly boxy on me as it is in the pattern. But the length is nice and I’m glad I added the 2-3 extra inches in the body.

I finished the body and I have two 100 gram skeins left for each sleeve. So I have more than enough yarn to knit each sleeve and I won’t have to alternate skeins. I measured the armhole and my arms will fit through but they don’t have a ton of ease either. I think I will have to call an audible and knit my own sleeves. I will not have a lot of space in the upper arms to do the decreases the pattern calls for. I think my plan is just to knit a tube to my elbow and then try it on. I will just crunch the numbers and plan out my decreases from elbow to wrist.

I’m getting so antsy to finish this! I can’t wait to wash and see how the final garment is going to come out. I am also seriously considering casting on a second one in the next size up right after I finish this one! Am I crazy?

Weekending Short Rows

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I’m inching every closer to finishing my Weekender Sweater. I had split for the armholes and knit up both sides in the plain section. I’m finding it helpful to knit the sections in one after another. Meaning I knit up the front until I got the right height and then I counted my rows and knit up the back to same measurement.

The next step in this project is to knit a series of short rows before the final ribbing that will create the boat neck collar. I think I will like ways knit those in a similar fashion. I hope these will mean I can keep them symmetrical and therefore matching.

I’m keen to get this knit up and bound off so I can try the sweater on. I am thinking its not going to have as much ease as the pattern suggests. That is what I get for not swatching but I do believe blocking will add some because the Malabrigo is superwash. And for my body shape it is not always a bad thing not to have a huge amount of ease and be a little closer fitting. I just need to knit faster so I can find out!

Happy Knitting!

Adding To Weekender

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I’ve been quietly working away on my Weekender Sweater. And as of last night I hit the pattern mentioned 15 inches of body knitting. I’m using helical knitting and I’m pleased with how the skeins are working out color wise.

Now here’s the deal, I have a friend from college theater group who also knits and she knit the Weekender last year. She did not add any length and regrets it. I want a big cozy sweater and I feel like my waistline post two babies and how tall my torso is……that 15 inches is not sufficient. I need to add some undetermined amount of body length.

My project has been made even cheerier by the unicorn stitch marker ala Hannah of the Corner of Craft. I have knit maybe three to three and half inches of body since I last blogged about this. I’m going to move my marker and keep knitting the body.

I hope to actually be allowed to see my Mom soon and have her help me measure my torso. I’d like to get an idea for my length from underarm to torso so that I can do some maths to figure out an optimal body length using the pattern schematic. And also to make sure I’ll have enough yarn to make decent sleeves, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

Ladders….Not The Good Kind

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I have continued to pick up my Weekender and knit a few rounds at least a couple times the past week. This is good knitting for movie night with the husband because I only have to pay attention to two spots and they have stitch markers. I am now just beyond four inches done for the body. But once again that little knitter in the back of my brain was jumping up and down trying to get me to notice something…

I am getting pretty significant ladders on the other side of my slip stitch detail. Like I can see my fingers through them when I pull at the work. I am pretty sure this has something to do with my tension and I am working the slipped stitch.

Now the really big question is….how much does this bother me? You can’t really see it when the knit just hangs. But I feel like I could adjust my technique and correct for this. Am I really ready to rip back four inches of sweater body? I think I need to sleep on this one…

 

Weekender Progress

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I took my Weekender along with me on holiday travels. It got a fair bit of activity on it before the Arya Shawl took over my brain. I think now I have roughly three to four inches of body knit so far. That is decent progress considering last we spoke about this one I had only just connected the ribbing in the round.

Being as I’m working with Malabrigo, I am alternating skeins using a helical method. It can get kind of tangled and I have to stop every inch or so and untwist my working yarns. But I’m pretty sure that says more about my knitting skills rather than the method. With small humans in my house I have to pick up and put down my projects A LOT.

Everyone once in awhile I flip my project over to look at the “right” side. Thank goodness Andrea Mowry designed this to be worked inside out. This knitter could not purl that many stitches in the round! But I do find myself admiring the slip stitch detail on the front and back.

I do admit that I’m a little concerned that A) this Kansas winter won’t stay cold enough for long enough for me to need a worsted weight sweater and B) I won’t actually finish this till spring at this rate…oh well!

Happy Knitting!!

Let’s Helix This Thing

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My Weekender is joined in the round! I flew through the first hem like it was nothing. And then it took me a day or so to power up enough for the second tubular cast on for the back hem. But I managed quite nicely and have the whole project joined in the round.

My next new challenge is to use helical knitting to alternate my hand dyed skeins. This is my first go at it and I’m interested to see how managing the yarn cakes will go. I used a single skein to knit my ribbing because honestly I didn’t have the brain space to alternate while knitting flat and absolutely no one would notice if I had or hadn’t. I have markers in for the center front and center back slipped stitch detail.

I’m knitting the 48.5 inch bust sweater for roughly 4-5 inches of positive ease. Which is less than the pattern calls for but as I’m more average size than most knitting models I don’t want something so baggy that it will make me look bigger than I actually am.

I also would like to note that I have not gauge swatched either. I am going to gamble on this one because it’s an over sized sweater anyway and I hope to be able to block it a little either way if needed. Surely this will end in disaster but I’m doing it anyway!

FO Friday: Worsted Boxy

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Y’all….I made a thing and it is done! My Worsted Boxy is off the blocking mats and ready for fall.

Pattern: Worsted Boxy by Joji Locatelli

Yarn: Berroco Vintage in Mushroom. I used 437 grams or 948 yards of yarn.

Needles: US 7 and US 9

Mods: Omitted rolled stockinette collar and used a single crochet edging

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I realized as I was packing away my supplies from this project that I might have made an oops. I’m pretty sure I knit the body of this sweater on US7s instead of US 9s. Between that and the fact that I picked a pattern size to purposely have less positive ease I have probably four to five inches of positive ease instead of ten as called for in the pattern. And the sleeves hit me above the elbow instead of below as shown in the pattern.

I am still happy with this project. The fabric I created is nice and dense enough that I don’t need a tank underneath. It’s definitely boxy shaped and I think hangs nicely on my frame. And I only had 70 grams of yarn left so I probably could not have made the next size up. I don’t know, maybe with the larger needles I would have not used as much yarn? I might go back and add another row of single crochets around the neckline. Simply to add more stability and make it look like a formal neckline.

I’m not sure I would knit this particular sweater again. I could possibly be tempted to do a fingering weight boxy or the v-neck boxy?

P.s. the hem totally stopped rolling after blocking! I win!!!

Happy Knitting!!

I Win At Sleeves

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Sound the trumpets because I have FINISHED THE KNITTING OF MY WORSTED BOXY!

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I stayed up embarrassingly late last night just to finish the second sleeve. I’m going to need a second cup of coffee to make it to work but it was totally worth it! And I was watching “I Mom So Hard” on Amazon video and laughing until I cried and my husband asked if I was okay. If you are mom, seriously check it out! But trigger warning it does have strong language and adult humor. It might not be for everyone.

The arms of my sweater can often feel tight. So I picked up a few extra stitches and worked the instructions for the next size up in the pattern. It worked great because now the sleeves are snug but not bindingly tight.

Now I’m off to weave in my ends and get this ready for a blocking/bath this evening after dinner. Soon this sweater shall be mine!!

Happy Knitting!!

Debating Necklines

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Over the weekend I applied the pattern written neck band to my Worsted Boxy. Guys…I hate it. Straight up white hot disgust. Take a look….

It looks sloppy and when I try it on, the weight of the sweater pulls ALL of the roll out of the collar so it’s just a big chuck of stockinette. And my tension got wonky in a couple of places and I may not have picked up in the cleanest fashion. It all just look Homemade instead of Handmade.

So I ripped it back and grabbed a crochet hook (that took me like 24 minutes to find) and added just a simple single crochet edge treatment. I have a few ends to snug up and weave it. But this feels MUCH better to my eyes. And it sits much nicer around my shoulders when I tried it on.

Now on to sleeves! Happy Knitting!!