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Before I begin, if you are someone that I call Pop and you have decided for the first time ever to actually look at my webpage, please close your eyes and don't read any more of this entry until after February 9. Thank you.
For Christmas I knitted up the Avast sweater for my brother with minimal alterations to the pattern. I made the pieces a little longer than indicated, and I did the sleeves in the round. It turned out very nice and fits really well. As this was the first sweater I've ever completed, I feel pretty much like a knitting rock star. I did discover that my method of joining the sleeves in the round, with a 4-stitch bind off in the armpit was not as clever as one might have hoped. The first few rounds after the join were very persnickity, and finishing the armpit was tricky and ended up looking a little, well, homemade.
I mention these "what I learned" thoughts because I am making a second Avast-ish sweater, a pullover, for my father's birthday. He is definitely not a cardigan guy (even a cool cardigan like this one), and I didn't think my brother would enjoy having totally matching sweaters even if he does live 500 miles away. So I'm going with a pullover in a different color. It'll be great. This weekend I joined the arms (again, stitched in the round) to the body (which I am also doing in the round). Planning for this event, instead of a 4-stitch bind off, I bound off 6 stitches--because 2 stitches makes a huge difference! Let's be realistic. In the grand scheme of a sweater, 2 stitches don't mean squat. For about an inch after the join, things were very tight, but I perservered and started to get a bit worried about neck shaping. Having never actually shaped a neck, especially in the round with raglan shoulders, I've got no idea what I'm doing. I, very belatedly, turned to my trusty Vogue Knitting and discovered all sorts of helpful tips--including the brilliant idea to put armpit stitches on some waste yarn to work at the end, maybe with some sneaky Kirchiner action.
All those super tight rows making me crazy crazy crazy were unnecessary! If only I'd looked up how to do this intelligently I could have refrained from turning the air in my apartment blue! Of course, since I spent a lot of the weekend watching The Sopranos while I was knitting, the air was pretty blue already. I have a question about this, though. If I put a bunch of stitches aside on some waste yarn, would my raglan decreases still work out right? Or would the shoulder-to-armpit length shrink, and a sag be created in the armpital area? I guess this is something I'll have to discover through trial and error, the next time I sort-of make up my own pattern on the fly. Is it wrong that I am seriously considering, out of fear, little-to-no neck shaping? Sometimes sweaters have identical fronts and backs, right?
Just to let y'all know I didn't spend ALL weekend with my hiney ensconced on the sofa, I applied myself to some geekery work I've taken on and had some fun times with my Mammacita yesterday eating the glart, going to the movies, and having the children teach me the wonders of the Wii! I took my Mii bowling*, and kicked those children's asses (even if my two highest scoring frames were actually bowled by the youngest child in residence). Oh! And I was very pleased with my penchant for having multiple project going at once as I could feign pure dedication to my Bobbles & Brambles project when Pop stopped my to work some wizardry on my new washing machine cover counter top!
*Now if only I could erase the Camper Van on repeat in my cranium ...
