Knitting Salad: July 2006

So I wanted to post the pictures of Ruby Red, but I didn't have the time or energy to really say much about it. Plus I hate what Blogger does to my mental state when I try to make the pictures and text line up in ways that I like while Blogger tries to line them up in ways I never even would have thought possible, probable, or least of all...desirable. Like for instance when it lines up pictures next to the previous day's written post. I frankly was not only amazed and irritated, I was so bewildered that after trying to resize the screen, open it in a different web browser, and then finally insert 50 rows of hard returns I went into the code and tried re-writing it in various configurations and with a few new < things > inserted. Of course the preview button does no good when it comes to the past creeping up on you, or at least prior day's posts, so 5 or 6 republished pages later I thought of the few people that might have RSS feed or something to my sight and all the terrible atrocities of malaligned, repetitive posts they were receiving in their mail and resigned myself to malalignity (if this word has not existed in the past it should have and does now).

So on to the part where I actually discuss the knitting...

I loved this project. I loved the cable cast-on and how it looked in the smooth cotton. I loved how I just kind of measured my shoulders, measured my swatch, did some calculations and then threw all that info out and cast on stitches until it seemed there were enough. I loved working the entire piece on circs, I loved making up a lace pattern on the point that I got to it and thought I should start, and I loved that every step of the way in making this piece I used my problem solving skills to just "figure out" what would be best.

A few things I didn't/don't like from this project: Worsted weight cotton yarn on size 4 bamboo needles= a bit hard on the hands; my sweater "twists" which I think might be the result of the ply of the yarn, as I know of no other reason why something knit in the round would pull continuously to one side; cotton yarn is no fun when weaving in the ends; the sweater only has about a 10-12 hour half-life before it cinderella pumpkins-out and becomes a big bag that continuously slides off my shoulders.

On to the details of the knitting (probably only interesting for the hardcore):

Pre-1.Buy 3 skeins Cascade Sierra cotton on sale at 40% off at Loopy in GORGEOUS colors! Re-read the Tivoli/Picovoli Tee pattern. Measure, calculate, and ignore all conclusions.

1.Cable Cast on (my favorite) until it looks about right (similar to # from Tivoli)
2a.A few rows of stockinette, establishing the 4 corners of the Raglan increases and accounting for my narrower shoulders and desire for lower neckline (longer sleeve depth)
2b.--note: later I dropped back to add 3x1 ribbing to the sides destined to become the front and back to prevent rolling, these ribs lasting for about 5 rounds while the sleeve portion only had about 3 rounds of stockinette and the rolling is slight and unnoticible on the sleeve portion so no ribbing was added.
3. Lace stitch is a YO,K2tog lattice stitch (staggered rather than stacked to create a diagonal pattern--basic rule being either always keep YO left or always right when K2togethering) but I alternated doing a round with knits and one with purl stitches to give a look a little bit more like a diagonal Purse Stitch--bumpy. If I were to do the shirt over again I would probably reverse the pattern on the other sleeve so the diagonals didn't go in the same direction on both...but I didn't on this one.
4. After the lace panels were long enough I did about 5 more rounds of stockinette on the sleeves and body then slipped the sleeve stitches onto holder yarn (note-I always make long loops of yarn for these holders so that I can slip my arms through them when test-trying on the shirt).
5. I did about 5 rows of short row shaping on the front side with increases on each row to create a curved arm hole opening in front and increase both the length of the front and the number of stiches without having a huge arm hole opening (this makes the back of the shirt's neckline a little lower than the front and seems to work well with the sleeves as well, as it seems as if the back of the shoulder is a little longer than the front anyhow)
6. I created a few cable cast on stiches under each arm and knit an inch or so before trying it on and making sure everything fit alright.
7. With the shirt on I placed markers aligning with the center of each breast and then matched those markers on the back of the piece (located center of back and counted stitches to each side to match distance in front)
8. A round or so after reaching the fullest part of chest did right and left sloping decreases at each marker decreasing center panel and leaving side stitches alone.
9. Decreased every third round until shirt fit snug
10. Few inches of straight stockinette and then began increases at same stitch markers, increasing to center every fourth round.
11. At hip size did another inch or so straight stockinette
12. *YO, K2tog* one round.
13. *K,P* three rounds creating 1x1 rib with purls under the K2tog stiches.
14. Split yarn in half (2plys)and BO in 1x1 rib pattern.
15. On the sleeves I came back and using a halved piece of yarn I did a *K1, BO, K2tog, BO* to bind off the edge and pull the cap sleeve around the shoulder without adding a visible edge. I then stiched the edge of the sleeve down about three stiches on front and back with the body of the sweater which further curved the sleevecap and made a smoother line with the armhole opening. The raglan increases made it easy to hide these stiches.

What fun! (I'm such a nerd)

There you have it!

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