Not Martha
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my third sweater: four of six

the pattern: Central Park Hoodie
the yarn: Dark Horse Fantasy in Charcoal (#13)
the previous entries: 1, 2

The CPH is moving right along. I have the back, both sleeves and the left front done. After this it’s the right front, a lot of seaming, then the hood, then a lot of picking up stitches and the button band.

I’m going to attempt to block the hell out of this, though I’m afraid of the abilities of a little dampness to combat the nylon/acrylic. When I measure lengths (as in, “work until piece measures 6 inches from start of…”) I take it to my cutting table and pin it so that piece is the width of where it will stretch to when being worn. As you can guess, a lot of length is lost when stretched to nearly twice it’s relaxed width. I’m working on a test swatch right now to block, which I’ll also try the button band on.

Here are my messy looking pieces:

All those markers = good thing for me as it’s easy to count rows and compare armhole shaping for front pieces. I tend to not trust my notes or my row counter (which I never, ever remember to push and then end up counting a lot of work to figure out if the row counter is right and so I’ve given up on using one, problem solved).

Pre-finishing plans include doing a swatch with ribbing and some cabling to test-block, also to see how many stitches per # of rows to pick up for the button band. Learning to graft for the shoulder and hood seams. And buying a sweater shaver since this baby is gonna pill.

In the Just Knit Through It push I have done, or not done, the following:

– Did the left and right slanting increases backwards on one of the sleeves.

– Did the first sleeve possibly too too long, decided to wait and see (after the 2x lengthening of last sweater). Did the second sleeve to match the length.

– Ugly 2×2 cast on for one of the front sides, in order to get the stitches to sit as they needed I cast on an extra two and decreased them away during the first and second worked row. It’ll be hidden behind a seam, but it’s not the prettiest thing.

– I needed an extra decrease for top of sleeve to get the number of stitches that should remain, this included a four row repeat so I just did it instead of spending an hour trying to figure out where I went wrong. The second sleeve also had the same extra two stitches so maybe it was the pattern. In any case, the sleeves are identically incorrect.

· comments [9] · 04-16-2008 · categories:knitting ·

9 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Jenn // Apr 16, 2008 at 6:05 am

    I never thought my arms were super short, but I shortened the sleeves of my CPH by a couple inches and they are STILL too long. Not long enough to bug me, but they could stand to be an inch shorter.

  • 2 Chelsea // Apr 16, 2008 at 6:13 am

    I love how your approach your sweater knitting. it’s very scientific. I work in the science field at the moment yet my knitting is more along the lines of guessing and hoping it all work out in the end.

    Oh, instead of a sweater shaver, try a disposable razor. Works really well on my socks so far.

  • 3 megan // Apr 16, 2008 at 7:38 am

    Chelsea – I once saw a post by somebody who had used a razor to shave her sweater, it was fine until she slipped and severed a strand near the cuff and the arm started to unravel!! So, I might slave away with a n electronic shaver to avoid this tragedy.

    Jenn – I’ll be sure to check carefully before sewing the sleeves in. I left both arms attached to theirs balls of yarn so I can unknit and shorten if needed.

  • 4 Sarah // Apr 16, 2008 at 9:47 am

    Have you ever tried a sweater stone? I haven’t yet, but I’ve heard they are supposed to work better & last longer than a typical shaver.

  • 5 megan // Apr 16, 2008 at 10:05 am

    Sarah – I fear that a sweater stone will mangle acrylic where it works well on wool.

  • 6 Jody // Apr 16, 2008 at 10:06 am

    My CPH sleeves were too long too! I basically just roll them up once and they are ok. Then I can unroll them to cover my hands when it’s chilly. I never did add the button band. I got too anxious and wanted to wear it. I like it the way it is now and probably won’t even go back and add it!

  • 7 Lesley // Apr 16, 2008 at 1:23 pm

    “identically incorrect” = “design feature” in my book! :)

  • 8 Lisa // Apr 17, 2008 at 12:03 pm

    Love the counting method! I will try this next large project! Thanks!

  • 9 greta // Apr 18, 2008 at 8:32 am

    Wait, is that what you’re supposed to do when measuring length? I’ve always just measured it straight from the needle on a flat surface, without pinning out the sides. The only sweaters I’ve made have been for babies so I don’t think it’s a big deal, but I am thinking about tackling one for myself and this could make a big difference! It never even occurred to me to do fake-blocking when measuring length.

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