Knitting update

[tephra]

And with that, 99.99% of my potential readers have skimmed right past this post. :D

Finally completed the first full pattern repeat on my sweater!



Just click to embiggen, and embiggen it will. The full size is 1033 by 683.

The color is pretty danged close to accurate for a change.

I'm not a huge fan of deep ribbing on this sweater so rather than knitting 3" of the first two rows of the chart on size 9 needles I knit just 7 rows (about 1.5") on size 10s. The change in needle size has to do with the next bit.

I knit the first repeat on size 10.5 needles rather than 10s so I would have about an inch of positive ease over my hips and butt rather than about three inches of negative ease. At this point the sweater is about the desired hem to waist length so I'm going to drop down to 10s as the pattern specifies for the rest of the body.

I'm not really going for a shaped sweater, I'm just aiming to have a minimum of 1" of positive ease at the hips and bust.

Planned modifications:

The original pattern is a modified dropped shoulder style and if I kept that I'd have to drastically shorten the sleeves. Since I'm not really a fan of dropped shoulders anyway I plan to convert the pattern to set in sleeves. I'll be running a lifeline before I start the armscye shaping in case my planned decreases don't work.

In addition, I will be dropping the front neckline a couple inches since the depth as written will be tighter fitting than I like to wear. There will be a lifeline before I attempt this too. (And when I do the ribbing for the neck I'm not going to do the 3" and fold to the inside deal, I don't have so much neck that I can afford to have a bulky neckline, one to one and a half inches will be plenty without any folding.)

And, since I'm changing so much anyway, I'll probably add back neckline shaping. The original is just straight across and that tends to pull my clothing back in ways I don't like. Yep, another lifeline is going in here.

Once I get the front and back done I'll join the shoulders and baste the sides to try it on and then get to totally redesigning the sleeves since I want a tighter wrist and will have to alter the sleeve cap to fit my new armscye. I'll be changing the amount of ribbing here as well, maybe I'll do only five rows rather than seven for the sleeves.

You know, technically this is my first sweater...

I first learned to knit in my early teens, which for those of you not keeping track was back in the mid-80s. Sweaters back then were generally of the "big rectangles with blocks of color" design school when they were bat-wing/dolman sleeve things. My patience and sticktoitiveness was even less back then so while I could knit, I mostly left it to Mom. Our gauges matched well enough that I would pitch in for a few rows here and there but the only sweaters I did mostly myself were done on a Bond knitting frame (leaving the boring ribbing to Mom). My major craft back then was sewing, not knitting or crochet (yeah, I do some of that too).

Enter about 20 years of sewing off and on and no yarn crafts.

Over the last few years though I've been getting this urge to knit. So finally, last summer, I gave in and picked up the needles again. With the exception of some swatches, one plain garter stitch moebius scarf, and one finished and dorky looking (though warm) hat, those of you that read my blogs have seen everything I have knitted in some form.

So, this is my first hand knit sweater, the shrug doesn't count by virtue of being one piece and requiring no shaping of any sort.

It's only my third or forth cable project (depending of you count two hats of the same style as one or two items).

So, if anyone of you have found this post via Ravelry or Craftster and were thinking that this sweater was too much for a first project... well I don't think so. :)

Comments

[morganalilith.livejournal.com]

that's absolutely gorgeous!!!
i LOVE cables. can't wait to see it finished. :-)

[tephra]

Thank you! :) I'm very fond of cables and lace patterns, not so much with color work (though I'm capable with intarsia and probably could manage stranded color work). Color work is pretty but it's not terribly fun to knit for me.

I was pondering hunting you down the other day to ask a spinning related question. I was going to ask if it was possible to ply two already plied yarns together but Google lead me to a page on spinning cabled yarn that answered that for me. So my question is now, is there a practical way to make a cabled yarn without a spinning wheel? I assume there must be a way to ply with a drop spindle.

[morganalilith.livejournal.com]

yes, a drop spindle would work fine. you'd just spin the two yarns together in the opposite direction of their original twist. most likely you'd spin the spindle counter clockwise. you can make a drop spindle pretty easily if you don't already have one. there are directions all over the internet to make one using a dowel and a discarded cd. i've known of people to learn to spin on one made from a pencil pushed through a potato or apple. basically, you need a shaft (dowel or pencil, lol) and a whorl (a weight, preferably centered on the shaft so that it spins without wobbling).
google drop spindles and you'll likely find a ton of info. if you don't find what you need, give me another holler.

[tephra]

Excellent. I have a ton of failed DVDs and a dowel left from making my size 13 DPNs, just have to figure a way to close the gap between the DVD hole and the dowel... I'm sure I have something around that will work.

I imagine the cats will find spinning endlessly entertaining.... :D

[havocmangawip.livejournal.com]

Beautiful! Jealous of your mad skillz!

[tephra]

Thank you. :) Knitting isn't that hard if you want to give it a shot. :)

[watanukisuki.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is super impressive from my I-have-no-earthly-clue perspective. I mean, it's cabled! O.O To me it seems a bit like magic. Good luck with the continuation of the project!! :D

And I was totally back in the 80's with you talking about the sweaters of that time; I can see some of the horrors I wore. Gads, I'm glad that's not back in style... yet.

[tephra]

I love cables. ♥ And I even like knitting them now that I learned to do them without the extra cabling needle to fiddle with. So. Much. Faster. :)

... I've seen some dolman sleeves around.... They claim it's just a poncho with a waist band and cuffs, but it's definitely a dolman sweater with open sides.