Friday, December 14, 2007

Reknit Revisited



Regular readers will remember that I frogged a sweater I made for the Other Half of wonderful coarse wooly tweedy goodness many years ago because it was Just Too Big to wear. See October 20 post (I apologize. Some day I will learn how to link to specific posts. Just not today.)

Bottom line: The Other Half likes the yarn (he picked it himself). The sweater I knit from it grew over time (not a good thing) and the Other Half shrunk a bit (planned, a good thing) and so, the Sweater That He Loved no longer fit.

Thus, it was frogged back to balls of yarn.

Enter this pattern*. Simple, bit of interest in the Cable From Nowhere. And so, I cast on.

It will come as no surprise that Body Image Issues reared their ugly heads and by the time I was about 10" or so into the front (started with the front) it was obvious that this was Not Going To Fit. Too Big Yet Again!

So I frogged. Yet Again and started over, this time in a smaller size.


Then I started thinking (uh, oh) and decided that I was not knitting another sweater in This Yarn ** and seaming it because, folks, this stuff is 1) loosely plied and b) singles. It's not very useful for seaming (the last time, I wound up using Persian tapestry yarn in a similar color to seam--not going that route again, no sir!)

So. What's a knitter to do?

Think on it for a few, then convert it to seamless.

And so I did!

I'll knit the sleeves to the armpit first. I'll put them on bits of yarn and put them off to the side.

Next, I'll cast on a whole big bunch of stitches and knit the body up to the armpits as well. Then I'll join the 3 tubes and do the raglan decreases.

The neck will be a little tricky, but I think I can manage knitting back and forth after the bind off for the front neck.

Anyone who sees a flaw in this scheme should speak up now.

* Pattern is from Vogue Men Special Collector's Issue (2002)

** I have No Idea what this yarn is other than that I bought it 15+ years ago in Lambertville/New Hope area along the PA/JN border at a LYS that no longer exists and that it is wool (passes all the tests including smell), possibly superwash (because efforts to shrink it in hot water failed miserably). It's Wool Tweed. Probably long-discontinued. You can't buy any. Get over it. Which also means that if I run short, I'm screwed!

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// posted by Ann @ 12/14/2007 06:31:00 AM
Comments:
Don't see a problem with that plan... and why should you run out of yarn? After all, you frogged a giant one and you're going down several sizes.... and just tell it that kicking in the butt is currently not allowed!
# posted by Blogger Nancy : 8:20 AM
 
I think that if you run out of yarn, seeing you can't felt it you should just write it off as a bad job, give it to the DH with a set of needles and tell him to make his own darned sweater!
# posted by Blogger Rabbitch : 2:18 AM
 
Why do the bind off for the front neck? When you finish that last cable crossing, start working short rows to raise the back neck. Take them to about a midway point between the raglan shaping and that front center cable, so your raglan shaping continues at the same time, then gradually do fewer sts until you're knitting only the back neck. Then work a round or two after the SR shaping to close up those SR wraps, and before beginning the neck ribbing. If you look at some neck-down patterns that include lowering the front, you can use those numbers to guide you with "reversing" those SR turns.

Debbie / NAS
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 11:04 AM
 
Do you have any of the Zimmerman books? This is her perferred method for many types of sweaters. Perhaps there would be some good ideas about the neck. Forgive me if this was too elementary to pass on! Bev Watts
# posted by Blogger Bev : 5:05 PM
 
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