Here's the yarn - I liked it a lot, and that's saying something because I am a self-admitted yarn snob. I was able to buy this yarn on sale; I needed a total of five skeins and the entire cost was $30. Just for reference, the Madelinetosh yarn I love to knit with is $24 per skein. I usually buy it on sale, but still, it's never $6 a skein.
The actual knitting of the sweater went very well - with bulky yarn I used large needles, and except for the ribbing around the bottom and the cuffs, it was entirely garter stitch, which is super easy. I'd hoped to finish it by the time Allie came home for Christmas so I could make sure it fit and make any adjustments if necessary, but I had to set it aside for a few weeks to finish my Christmas gift knitting. Finally, in late January, I had all of the pieces finished:
From left to right: arm, front panel, back panel, front panel, arm.
All that remained was the seaming and to put an edge around the front panels and the neck. Simple, no? Well, no would be correct. As much as I can knit, my brain just has an issue with sewing. I watched several YouTube videos on how to seam a knitted item and I began. I used the mattress stitch which was a pretty technique. I seamed one of the front panels onto the back panel, pulled the top and bottom strings of yarn that I'd sewn it with to close up the mattress stitch...and somehow I'd gotten it on backward. Right side of one panel seamed to the wrong side of the other panel. You might think, well, that was an honest mistake but throughout the pattern it was noted to be sure and seam the wrong sides together. What a ding dong move! So I pulled it apart and began again. And somehow I couldn't get the mattress stitch, which I'd just done, to work properly. Fine, fine. I know enough to know when to set something aside for another day when my brain is less muddled.
A few days later I got one of the front panels seamed correctly to the back panel. Then I decided to get a sleeve seamed up so I could attach it to the side of the sweater that I'd just sewn together. That went decently well, but I had to stop for the day. The next day I picked up the sweater and seamed the other front panel on. Backwards. I mean SERIOUSLY. How in the world is that possible?? Undid it, got it done correctly, then I sewed up the other sleeve and attached it. NOW I was cooking! I picked up the stitches all along the front panel, along the back of the neck, and back down the other front panel, and then knit on the edging in gray. It looked cute and all that was left to do was to weave in the ends, yippee! I started doing that, and got down to the second sleeve that I'd sewn on and realized it was inside out. WHAT. THE. HECK. Now, in my defense - well, basically I'm an idiot when it comes to logic and sewing - but besides that, with the mattress stitch and seaming two sides of garter together, it could go either way and you wouldn't notice right side from inside...except that I had used a different color - gray - for the ribbing, and that's where you could tell.
I was not about to undo the seaming of the sleeve to the sweater and then the sleeve. I've read enough knitting blogs to know that it's a common thing to MacGyver a project, so I decided to remove the gray cuff and redo that so it would match the other sleeve. And that's what I did. And guess what? It still doesn't match, but it's close enough so I'm good with that. I am a perfectionist when it comes to my knitting, but I'm also a realist, and if I wanted to get this sweater to Allie so she could wear it this winter, I was going to have to accept the flaw. Besides, that makes it look like a handknit sweater instead of something store bought, right?
Here's the finished sweater. Don't look too closely at the cuffs! I probably should have made the edging along the front a little wider, just to cover the blue a little better, but hey, one of the fun things about knitting is learning from one project and applying that knowledge to the next one. Pattern is The Downtown Cardigan, yarn is Lion Brand Color Made Easy in Huckleberry and Basalt.
This is meant to be a chunky comfy sweater, and although I made it according to Allie's measurements and the pattern's sizing, it could have been a touch bigger to achieve that look. Still, it fits Allie, she likes it, and I'm happy:
Wearing her Ravenclaw shirt to go with the sweater, of course!
Cute, but she looks pretty cute in just about everything, so it wasn't a stretch with this sweater.
So, there's my tale of this sweater. I have yarn to make one for me, but so far I haven't been able to bring myself to begin, knowing of the seaming ordeal that lies ahead. And now you know why I knit so many hats and socks...no seaming!
Have a great weekend!
from My Journey to Fit https://ift.tt/2EPlyK2
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