I’ve mentioned that I was working on a new sweater a few months ago, but I’ve neglected to post or write about the project at all. Let’s change that now:
In most respects it’s just like a number of existing sweaters that I’ve made: two color patterns, using a combination of mid-sized extrapolation of Scandinavian mitten patterns, with some influence of Turkish stocking patterns arranged in panels to convey strong vertical lines. The yarn is Harrisville Shetland, and another unidentified Shetland from a cone I got years ago and have now used in three sweaters. The plan is to have a simple fisherman’s-style drop shoulder construction with a simple short crew neck color.
The plan diverges somewhat from “tychoish standard” in two respects:
The biggest change is that it’s going to be a cardigan. I’ve never made a cardigan that I’d call a rocking success. I can do it, but the finishing always leaves something to be desired and it hangs funny or flares in a way that I don’t want.
The plan for finishing the cardigan opening this time around is to use the steek (the bit that you cut open) as the facing for a hem. the idea is minimal prep and let the yarn do its thing. For closure, I’ll do an attached i-cord band with room for buttons.
The slightly smaller change is that rather than use a hem, I used the “purl-when-you-can-and-want-to” for bottom hem treatment. The idea is that if you purl occasionally for the first few inches you can counteract the tendency of knitted fabric from rolling. It’s not perfect yet, but I’ve not steamed it, so we’ll see.
It’s fun to knit so far, and I look foraward to finally conquering my fear/avoidance of cardigans and perhaps finding the perfect lower edge finishing approach for stranded sweaters.
Onward and Upward!