Sleeves + Seams = Sweater and Shipped

It is finally finished! It only took two years....

Well, sometimes that is what it takes. The main hold up for this one was that the colours I had weren't right for any kind of striping but there wasn't enough of any one colour to use. I decided I could dye two of the colours, but that didn't get done for a long (long) time.

I did finally get to it earlier this year and was able to continue the sweater. Fortunately the notes I made in the printed pattern, which was more like a recipe than a pattern, gave me enough information to carry on.

Last time you saw this sweater, the front and back were done and the collar was knitted on. Everything was ready for the sleeves.

Yes, the sleeves.

The first problem was to address the amount of yarn I had in each colour. I first attempted to knit them in the same stripe pattern as the body, but I didn't have enough of a couple of the colours. I worked on both sleeves at once so I could know right away if I had enough. When I realized I didn't, I had to rip out both of them and decided on a different striping pattern you'll see in a minute.

Then I had decisions to make about the shaping. The pattern called for sleeves with flat tops - no armhole or shoulder shaping at all. This works, but it's not a very nice fit. With wool this thick, it would be especially uncomfortable because of all the unnecessary bulk under the arm.

So I worked on figuring out a shaped sleeve cap that would work. Hmmm, I don't know what I was thinking the first time, but you can see it on the left:

If you can't see how wrong that shape is, let me assure you that it is way wrong. Of course, I had to try sewing it in anyway just to see if it would work. It didn't. So I put it aside and worked on the second sleeve, making a few improvements. You can see it on the right - much better. Once I ripped out the left one and knit it to match, I was able to sew them on to the body.

I decided to use a thinner and stronger wool to sew the seams. As I mentioned before, the yarn it is knit with is a single ply and doesn't hold up very well for seaming. It would also make the seams much too bulky. So I grabbed a leftover ball I had in a sort of "neutral" matching colour and used it instead.

Here is a shot of the mattress stitch before I pull out the slack:

Give a gentle persistent pull, and your seam is all sewn up:

You can't even see the sewing yarn anyway. Here is the seam from the inside:

Still a little bulky. Sometimes people will sew the seam using only half of the selvage stitch instead of the whole stitch. That would cut this bulk in half. I decided not to do it because I didn't think it would work well with the slipped stitch selvage stitches that I do.

Here is a shot of the sleeve seam as well:

And here is the entire sweater:

I don't think you can tell that purple strip had to have surgery:

I adapted the collar of the pattern and I think it worked out well:

I finished the sleeves and hem with a garter band. I prefer it lately to ribbed bands and it matches the garter collar.

Project Stats
Started: 7 Jul '15
Finished: 17 Sep '17
Pattern: The Steppe Ahead Sweater by Irina Makarow
Materials: Various balls of Lopi, picked up here and there.

Once this was done, I felt it was worth sending a box of woolly goodness to Wool-Aid.

The organization was just recently able to reconnect with a monastery in Gamrau, India. We haven't been able to send to them since 2015. We didn't know why but now know it was because of internet problems and no one who spoke English. Somehow a sponsor in Belgium is now able to act as a go-between and organize things.

There are now 32 young monks, ages 7 to 17 living there (up from 19 a few years ago), plus six elders. Winter weather in Gamrau is severe, and this group has always struggled to stay warm. They have restrictions on what colours they can wear, but my red socks will work perfectly. (And don't worry, the other socks and sweaters will work perfectly well for another group.)

After finishing this sweater, I didn't have a big quantity of any of these colours. I sent them to my sister who's always knitting hats so she could use them up. It will be fun to see what she comes up with.

ETA a picture of the hats she made:

She had them done so fast she was able to get them to me before I shipped the box!

Project Roundup

I'm not really up to pulling together a narrative today, so I'm going to give you an overview of the projects I have on the go, showing progress since the last time you've seen them.

1. I'm on the second sock of this pair that I started during a trip in July. This might be the first time you're seeing these.

I think this is the prettiest stitch pattern I've ever made:

It reminds me of stain glass somehow.

2. I'm making steady progress on my "Jeans socks" with the yarn I dyed. It's lovely to work with. The rayon in it gives it a very silky feel to my hand.

3. It took a few tries, but I got the sleeves done on this sweater for Wool-Aid. It's partially assembled, as you can see.

4. I like to sit and sew sets of these squares in the evening. I'm keeping them organized in sets for each star.

5. This bit of kntting will turn into a cowl. I've made the pattern before as a gift and wanted one for myself.

It's actually just a start to the set. I really started on it because I want to use a big fur pompom I bought myself a while ago on a chunky hat that will match.

6. This red and yellow quilt is on my list of projects to work on with the UFO* club on Ravelry.

We make a list each quarter and cheer each other on. And hopefully congratulate each other when we finish projects.

The quilting is finished except for the yellow squares so I've been making my way through them. This morning I got the second of three sections of the quilt done.

And there finishes this virtual tour of projects I have on the go.
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*UnFinished Object

Fix It Friday - Saturday Edition

So I'm cruising along on the Wool-Aid sweater I told you I started on again.

The front and back get done. I seam them together at the shoulder (3-needle bind off). And I even pick up the stitches for the collar and start knitting.

Things are feeling pretty good. Until I lay it on my lap and take a look. Something was off and my heart sank (a little).

Can you see it?

The purple stripe on the front isn't as wide ("tall") as the back.

Do you see it now? And it's not as long as the rest of the stripes either. Somehow I knit that one four rows short! I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that I was working on that part either in the car on the way to camping or at the actual campout.

Obviously I need to stop and "admire" my knitting more often.

With so much being done on top of it (the whole front, seaming, the collar), I was not about to rip this back to the purple stripe. I knew it would require surgery -- that is, take out a row to get live stitches, knit the missing rows and then sew the whole thing back together. (Yes, pretty much all of my knitting fixes involve Kitchener. Good thing I like it.)

Since I'm working in stripes, I didn't have to cut any yarn. I could just start pulling out one row at the beginning of the purple where there was already a cut end.

 So I "unpicked" the stitches and put the released stitches onto needles:

You need a needle for both the stitches above the row you're taking out and the row below.

Once that was done, I had a sweater in two parts:

I attached purple yarn (from the ball) and knit three of the missing four rows on top of the tweed stripe. Et voila:

The fourth row was added by Kitchenering the two parts together. (To carry the surgery analogy a little further, this would have been the part where I rip off my mask and gloves and tell someone else to "close it up. My job is done here.")

The yarn is a single (or, one ply) and this means that it is relatively weak. I examined the long end resulting from picking out the row and it looked pretty good--not too worn from being pulled through all those stitches on its way out.

But when I started to sew with it, it came apart in a few spots. So I had a few more ends to work in than I originally thought I would:

That will just make it extra warm, right? :)

The tension of the Kitchenered row isn't quite the same as the knit rows, but it's not bad and I expect the difference will pretty much disappear after blocking.

I also missed a stitch about a third of the way. I didn't skip it entirely, but each loop should have two passes of the yarn through it, and two stitches beside each other only got one. (I jumped ahead one stitch.) Anyway, I didn't notice until I was nearly done and was counting the remaining stitches to make sure they were even. (They weren't.)

When I saw the issue, I decided not to take it out and fix it because the yarn wouldn't have been able to take the wear of sliding it through the loops two more times. (Once on the way back and once on the re-do.)

So, instead, I made the same mistake on purpose on the other side to even the number of stitches on the two needles. Not ideal, but it will affect neither the function nor aesthetics of the sweater adversely.

And here you go:

The purple stripe is now equal to the rest and the front is now equal to the back. The side seams aren't sewn yet, but I did get the collar done.

I improvised it from the pattern, which didn't have the crossover in the front. I think it makes a really nice neckline in looks, ease of getting it over your head, and warmth. I may fiddle with it some on the next one, but I think this looks good.

What Happens When I Try to Declutter

Two years ago I started a sweater for Wool-Aid. Remember them? I haven't been knitting much for them. I think it was getting stuck on this project that kept me from doing anything else for them.

I'm using a pattern that's more like a recipe. You provide the measurements and it tells you how to get there with your gauge. I had a bunch of Lopi that my sister found at a second hand store and I figured out a way that I could use the different colours and have enough (I hope) for a sweater.

I liked the various colours (teal, plum, light purple) and I liked the tweed colour and thought it would be good for a stripe between the colours. But the "oatmeal" and "light brown" weren't going to contrast with the tweed enough.

So I tried to dye the light brown to a green with KoolAid. It was not pretty. It was mostly green, but the brown came through as an orange undertone and highlights. Really not pretty.

And the project sat for two years because continuing meant I had to figure out what to do about the dye and included the risk of ruining the yarn for this project.

In the meantime, I had purchased some Wilton icing dyes, something I had read a lot about from others who have dyed with KoolAid. Being an icing dye, it's still food safe and can be easily handled in my kitchen. But it also comes in many more colours and the liquid ones can be combined in many ways to make even more colours. It's also a little more complicated because you have to add acid separately to set it (unlike KoolAid which contains the acid).

So just recently, (probably when I was trying to clear up some clutter and found this project bag in a corner of my living room), I decided to give it another try. I took the horrible green and put it in the pot with a recipe for a deep brown. I took the "oatmeal" and put it in a pot with Wiltons Juniper Green.

Besides adding more green to the pot, I was very happy with the results. The colour was very even and deep. The tone is not perfect with the other colours but is within the acceptable range.

Here's the brown:

And the green:

And so I picked up my needles again and was able to continue the project.

It's a very thick wool being knit into a dense fabric, so not the best summer knitting, but I like to be warm so it's all ok. :)

I'm also happy to say that I kept good enough notes that I could decipher them and think I know the plan for this sweater.