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I’m knitting another sweater: where I’m glad I bought too much yarn to start with

the sweater: Ribby Cardi
the yarn: Cotton Ease in Stone
the previous entries: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Just before the final steps I decided the whole sweater was too short and I ripped back. Before the moment where I took the scissors to the top of the collar, however, there was a 72 hour stretch where I alternately talked myself out of and into redoing so much work.

I would slip the sweater on and it looked too short — it wasn’t as long as the hems of the type of shirt I normally wear. Then I would think about the amount of work it would take, look in the mirror again and decide it was good enough. Give it four hours and thought process would start all over again. The thing fueling my desire to go ahead and finish a sweater I didn’t quite like was that I’ve decided, thanks to Ravely, to make my next sweater the Central Park Hoodie, which, lucky me, only recently became available as a pattern to buy online. I’ll be using the Berroco Comfort yarn, which is soft and seems very warm, and it’s been pretty cold around here, and I was looking forward to tackling some cables, and etc.

But in the interest of not becoming a knitter with a pile of unfinished sweater parts, the ends of the yarn flopping about forlornly, I instead ripped back the body to just before the armhole shaping starts. It is particularly disheartening to take a sweater shaped object all the way back to a rectangle shape. It wasn’t until after I undid all that work that I checked to make sure I had enough yarn to lengthen the sweater and rework the tops and collar. I’m smart like that. But I’ve been listening to the advice of my fore-knitters and bought lots of extra yarn and I have three full balls still, plenty.

After the Central Park Hoodie I’m planning on making Chicknit’s Twist. I think I like the Twist even better than the Central Park Hoodie, but decided to make the Twist second because the cables are more complex and the shaping around the waist seems a little more challenging. I’ve only done cables once, and not very seriously. But if you’re looking at both projects, I suspect the Twist’s shaping makes it a better looking sweater overall.

· comments [21] · 12-18-2007 · categories:knitting ·

21 responses so far ↓

  • 1 christina // Dec 18, 2007 at 10:16 am

    I have a basket full of abandoned, half-made scarves, etc in my yarn basket… made with yarn I bought two years ago and have no chance of ever finding a matching dye lot.

    Potholders?

    A moment of silence, please.

  • 2 Karrey // Dec 18, 2007 at 10:18 am

    Oh my, that Central Park Hoodie is lovely! I don’t know why I’m so afraid of cables, but that fear has kept me from attempting the DNA scarf pattern for my best friend, which I’ve had the yarn and needles all ready for for two years now.

  • 3 Cheryl // Dec 18, 2007 at 12:06 pm

    Why of why don’t I knit? You can make some gorgeous things! Good luck!

  • 4 Emy // Dec 18, 2007 at 12:44 pm

    Central Park Hoodie is an excellent project.

    And Karrey…cables are just knitting stitches out of order. Really.

  • 5 Lisa // Dec 18, 2007 at 12:54 pm

    Why don’t you do a top down sweater first so that you can try on as you go and know better what measurements you want before the armholes (keep in mind it will be slightly different with each fit type)? I work top down whenever I can since I am not thin enough to pull off tops that don’t fall in just the right place.

  • 6 megan // Dec 18, 2007 at 1:09 pm

    Lisa – My only answer to that is that this is only my second sweater and I needed to stick to a pattern I liked, and could find a lot of support for online. I haven’t looked all that hard, but I have not yet seen a top-down sweater pattern I like.

  • 7 barenakehd // Dec 18, 2007 at 1:26 pm

    You’ve inspired me to step out of my scarf/mitten/cap rut and actually attempt wearable objects post-Christmas. With any luck, Santa’s bag carries some exciting patterns and plush yarns :)

  • 8 Jenna // Dec 18, 2007 at 1:32 pm

    I just love your blog! It’s one of the ones that I stalk to read – and I love all the great tips for Seattle finds.

    Thanks and crossing my fingers!

  • 9 Kristi // Dec 18, 2007 at 1:35 pm

    Central Park Hoodie looks like a great project. The grey will be really nice.

  • 10 Diane // Dec 18, 2007 at 2:23 pm

    You can always put shaping into the Central Park Hoodie so that it fits more like Twist. CPH is the sweater I’ll probably be doing next as well, and there seem to be long stretches of stockinette on either side of the cables, just like in Twist. However, since there are two cables on each side of the buttonband in CPH, each with their own purl trough, I think it might work just like the ribbing does on the Ribby Cardi — drawing everything in and eliminating the need for shaping. I have yet to decide on the matter.

  • 11 Jennifer // Dec 18, 2007 at 2:47 pm

    Hi Megan. For top down patterns, I wanted to suggest Stephanie Japel and the girls at Zephyr Style. Stephanie’s book, Fitted Knits, can be a little Pride & Prejudice-y, but it’s good nonetheless. I have Zephyr Style’s Tree Jacket in my Ravelry queue. Can’t wait to find the right warn to make it!

  • 12 Lindsay // Dec 18, 2007 at 6:31 pm

    Hey, I see from your pictures that you’ve been salt roasting. How’s it working? I haven’t tried it yet (though everyone seems to be talking about it) because I hate salty things and can’t talk myself into believing people when they say it actually doesn’t make things salty.

    Opinions?

  • 13 megan // Dec 18, 2007 at 10:59 pm

    Lindsay – I’ve only done the potatoes so far, but we’re planning on a pork loin tomorrow. It doesn’t make things salty, but you have to be careful to brush the salt off as you’re removing it. That said, I don’t think things will emerge completely un-salty. But the salt did not permeate into the potatoes. If you’re going to try it, I recommend going with potatoes and a box of fairly inexpensive Kosher salt to start with. The LA Times does a 6-to-1 salt-to-water ratio, but I just added a bit of water until the salt held together a bit when I closed a fist around a handful.

  • 14 megan // Dec 18, 2007 at 11:11 pm

    Thanks Jennifer!

  • 15 Kristina // Dec 18, 2007 at 11:29 pm

    Oh No! You did not have to unravel so much of it. Next time, should there be a next time, you can pick out the cast on edge and knit down towards the hips.

    But c’est la vie. Armhole and neck shaping move along quickly.

    Regarding twist vs. central park hoodie, I vote for twist. You cannot beat BMB patterns and the cable will not be that difficult to follow.

  • 16 megan // Dec 18, 2007 at 11:40 pm

    Kristina – I hear what you’re saying, but my tubular 2×2 cast on with an extra stitch thrown in where it it switched to 3×1 was precious to me.

  • 17 Karin // Dec 19, 2007 at 2:06 am

    I am planning Twist for the new year too, looking forward to it!

  • 18 maya // Dec 19, 2007 at 6:50 am

    I am making twist right now and even for a beginner, i would say it’s not too hard. The cables are the same cables as on the central park hoodie, they just twist more often and travel a little bit. The shaping is also really straight forward. Granted, you are sometimes twisting and shaping on the same row, but as long as you’re planning ahead and following the pattern, I think you’d be fine! CPH is a great sweater too, don’t get me wrong, but I admit I prefer Twist too and I figure why not just make the one you prefer? :-)

  • 19 megan // Dec 19, 2007 at 9:16 am

    Don’t get me wrong – I like both sweaters but the order I’ll be making them in was determined by the Central Park Hoodie having less complicated looking cables.

  • 20 miriya // Dec 20, 2007 at 12:15 pm

    I just knit one of Cat Bordhi’s Mobius scarves out of Comfort (Sachet Mix colorway), which I very much enjoyed and will do so again. I like the finished product and it is quite soft, but the yarn is many-plied and every so often I would pull one out of alignment somehow (possibly from catching it on my alligator-like winter skin) and I’d have to try to wiggle it back into place. Something to keep an eye on.

    I’m also doing my very first cables now, with the Yarn Harlot’s Unoriginal Hat.

  • 21 miriya // Dec 21, 2007 at 12:47 pm

    Should clarify: I’m going to make more Mobius scarves/wraps but out of other yarns in my collection. I only had the one skein of Comfort, but perhaps given another project that seemed appropriate I would get more.

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