Sweater for Wool-Aid

Here's a project I've been working on in the background. I had a good quantity of wool raveled from a sweater. I believe I purchased it from someone on Ravelry, but I can't find any record of it.

If that memory is correct, what I actually purchased was a half-finished project. I raveled it and ended up with a lot of different balls (about 25) from large (182 grams) to small (7 grams).

It was a nice colour of red and quite a bit of yarn so I thought I would make a garment for myself with it. But after a few years of not doing anything with it, I let that idea go. It was enough that I could make a sweater (or two?) for Wool-Aid.

In February I finished my last vest for Wool-Aid and when I went to post it in the group (we all like to share finished projects), I saw their posted theme for February:

We have a special request from the Kyegu Monastery in Gamrau, India, for turtleneck or high mock-turtleneck sweaters for next winter (maroon, brown, red, and gold items are appropriate). The young monks in Gamrau are between 12 and 18 years old (I’m figuring sizes 32” to 40”). Perhaps we can get a good start on this special request, so we have enough sweaters in their sizes to ship by early fall.

This seemed like a good way to use this red yarn--it was the right colour, I had plenty for a sweater, I like doing the larger sizes, and my favourite shawl colour Vneck style would work great.

So I cast it on and worked on it for the following three months. Then it sat waiting for buttons until the week before the fair. (I entered it in the Pullover-Child category.)

Since they asked for high necks, I adjusted the shawl colour so that it didn't angle in from the lower point. The collar was worked straight until I increased for the upper collar portion.

I had thought I might be able to put a button near the top so that it could be a full turtleneck if the top button was done up,

but decided it was too tight around the neck to actually wear that way.

I also thought about putting the top button further up (see finger below) and spacing three buttons from there to the bottom of the collar. (The top button would not be done up most of the time.)

But in the end, I went with just two. You can still pull the collar up if more warmth is needed on the back of the neck.

Once I had the position of the buttons, I crocheted some loops on the one side.

I slipped stitched from the bottom, working just inside the selvage stitch (along green line). When I got to the place for the button loop, I chained 10, and then continued slip stitching in the next stitch.

After both loops were done, I slipped stitched twice and then pulled the end to the back through the last loop to finish. I thought about doing the trim all the way around the collar because it was a nice finish, but decided not to because both the top and bottom of the collar are seen and the slip stitch looks good only on one side.

I did a 4x4 basketweave stitch for the main part of the back and front (the texture makes it warmer) with stocking stitch on the sleeves. I did my usual garter stitch edge for the hems of the sleeves and body.

I tried it on to check the collar fit but you can see the sleeves are way too short.

Wool-Aid likes the sweater body to be longer than usual for extra warmth, but it makes the sleeves look really short. I try to make the sweater into "realistic" proportions, but in the end, I figure anything close to reasonable will fit someone!

Project Stats
Started: 27 Feb '19
Finished: 21 May '19 (the knitting; buttons not until July)
Pattern: Based on the Steppe Ahead Sweater by Irina Makarow
Materials: wool (485 grams); raveled from unknown sweater
Ravelry project page: Wool-Aid Sweater 2019-1 (4)

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!

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.

Green and Striped All Over

I have finished another sweater for Wool-Aid. It was knit quite some time ago, but there were a lot of ends to weave in and apparently I didn't feel like seaming! :)

I think it sat in my living room for a couple months before I finally picked it up again. It look two tries but I did get all the ends worked in and seams sewn.

It's the same pattern I did previously in pink. I'll probably do more of them for Wool-Aid because it so closely matches the type of sweater that they need. I especially like the wide neck that will get over a head easily (an issue in children's wear) but with a collar that wears close and warm.

I took the stripe pattern from the original sweater I raveled for the wool. I liked the stripe pattern for one thing. But I also figured it was a good way to make sure there was enough yarn of each color.

It came out very close! There was less than 1 gram of the gold left, 3 of the grey and 7 of the natural.

I had thought about more stripes on the collar, but with the amount of yarn I had left, I went with a simple white stripe:

I think it's a nice touch to set off the collar without being too overwhelming.

I really enjoyed knitting this sweater. The yarn was not too heavy and was nice to work with. I like the colours too. It's a little larger than the last one and I couldn't think of anyone to model it for you.

But I'm sure you get the idea! :)

Project Stats
Started: 21 Feb '15
Finished: 2 Jul '15
Pattern: Max (s23-51) by Drops Design
Materials: Wool raveled from an Abercrombie & Fitch sweater (309 g)