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

It’s true what they say, the CPH pattern manages to be fast and interesting. This sweater is coming along very quickly, it’s luxuriously, thrillingly satisfying. Especially for very slow knitters like myself.

After holding the yarn to my so-sensitive neck I’ve decided to go ahead and make the hood instead of a tall collar, therefore simply following the pattern. The yarn is very soft on my fingers but ever so slightly not-soft on my neck. I have a second yarn that pases the neck test so I’ll use it to make a tall collar version of this sweater. I’m happy with this since the cabling that travels up around the hood is very charming.

Thanks to the forums at Ravelry I discovered that the pattern errata which was supposed to be included in my second-download PDF version of the pattern was, in fact, not included. So I’m putting it here just in case somebody needs it. Note: These corrections might not work with the original version of the pattern printed in Knitscene magazine.

pattern corrections for the downloaded version of the Central Park Hoodie from Knitting Daily:

Under “Back” on page two, the first sentence after armholes should read:

Armholes: BO 4 (5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8) sts at beg of next 2 rows, then 2 sts at beg of foll 2 rows-66 (72, 78, 84, 90, 102, 118, 126) sts rem. Dec row (RS) K2, ssk, work in patt to last 4 sts, k2tog, k2-2 sts dec’d. Work 1 WS row. Rep last 2 rows 1 (1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 5, 7) more time(s), then work Dec row every other RS row 0 (0, 0, 0, 0, 7, 7, 7) times-62 (68, 74, 80, 86, 80, 92, 96) sts rem.

And under “Right Front” on page 3, the first two rows of instructions after the sizes should read:

Sizes 32 (36, 40, 44, 48)” only:
Row 1 (RS) *P2, k2; rep from * to end of row.
Row 2 (WS) *K2, p2; rep from * to end of row.

Also, on some charts on page 6, the row numbers may have shifted. The corrected charts are now available.

I’d like to take a moment to say that I love it when patterns take the extra space to tell you how many stitches you should have before you proceed.

I’ve been keeping track of my work using loops of yarn. The pink markers indicate every 10th row as shown in the cabling diagram in the pattern. This also helps me count my total rows so I can make the fronts the same length. The green marker shows where I started the armhole shaping. I’ll put another where I start the shoulder shaping. This will, again, help me determine where to do shaping on the front pieces.

If you’ve been following along with my light gray ribby cardi since the beginning you’ll know that I am a bit of a perfectionist and ripped back from the collar all the way down past the armhole shaping twice because it wasn’t quite happy with it. The second time was after I had inserted the zipper. It was very very annoying.

So, this time I’m practicing the simple principles of JKTI — Just Knit Through It. It’s a mantra that makes knitting a far more enjoyable hobby. Because it is a hobby and perfection is not required, or so I’ve been trying to convince myself. I have not quite finished the back part of this sweater and I’ve already logged these moments where I found a mistake, took a breath, and just kept going. This is big for me, people.

• About five inches up I found I’d dropped an (remain calm) edge stitch. I pulled out a crochet hook and did the best I could to bring it back up. It’s ugly, and it will create trouble when I go to pick up stitches for the button band, but it won’t be visible.
• Just before I was ready to do the armhole shaping (about 14 inches up) I found stitch in the stockinette on the center back, way down near the ribbing, that I had knit through a split piece of yarn. I resisted dropping down a while column, it’s not that noticeable.
• I did too few bind offs for the first row of armhole shaping. Instead of ripping back I simply added them to the second set of bind offs. Once the sleeves are it won’t be noticed.
• Not stressing over the loose stitches around the cabling. They don’t show once you’ve knit a few more rows anyhow.
• I found a knot in the yarn and kept going.
• Shortly after that I found another knot in the yarn and kept going despite considering tinking that row and re-knitting it a little tighter in the hopes that I could get that yarn to fall right at an edge. It was very close to the start of a new ball of yarn which just made me crazy with the desire to pull out two rows and start again. But I resisted.

I’m, sniff, so proud of myself.

Here is something that is shockingly helpful, Crossroad Knits on tightening loose knit stitches in ribbing and near the cables specifically in the Central Park Hoodie.

One last note, I am afraid that the sweater will hang incorrectly when worn since I cannot block the acrylic yarn, at least not as well as wool blocks. When worn the sweater will stretch widthwise quite a bit and I’m afraid it will look strange when buttoned. I found this page on how to block a sweater at Knitty very helpful, and I might have a go at making a homosote blocking board one of these days.