Ripping back already

I'm already going to have to rip back much of what I knitted last night.

Here's what it looks like now before the ripping begins.

I waited 2 weeks for the white yarn. It came in yesterday while I was in the yarn shop. I bought it and started using it right away. I didn't look carefully enough at the label to make sure it was the right weight. Even when I felt it was a bit heavier than the other yarn, I still thought it was just due to a variation in the yarn. Later after I had knit many rows I looked at the label and saw that it was sport weight and I had wanted fingering.  Grrr. But that's not the worst of the problems and is not the reason I'm going to rip back.

 

I also messed up the pattern. We were watching TV last night and I was happily knitting away on the 3-color pattern. It was going pretty well for a 3-color pattern and I was making good progress. Then suddenly I noticed that I had shifted the pattern at the point where I started with the 3rd color. I think if you scroll down to my gauge swatch 2 posts earlier, you will be able to see that this is not coming out right. I considered just changing the pattern, but I don't like it as well, so I'm going to redo it. It's less than an evening's work, so very small in terms of the whole sweater. And if I don't do it, I'll always be unhappy with how this border looks.  That's why you rip out, so you don't wish later that you had.

 

Well that's it for today. I need to go back up to the shop and get the right yarn. I hope she has it. I'd better call first. Fortunately it's less than a mile away, but I don't have other errands I need to do today, so wasn't planning on going out at all.

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Well, I'm editing this to add that after I called I found out they did not get the fingering weight in. Now I have to decide if I'm going to rip back and try again with this yarn, which was working pretty well, or rip back and put it aside again until I hear that they have the right weight in.

I have a design for the rest of the sweater

 

I knit the cuff of the second sleeve--started it last night and finished up this morning. Since I had to stop at that point, because the next row should have the white color in it, which is the color I am waiting for, I decided to spend some time designing the rest of it.

 

I went on-line and found a free demo of the Sweater Wizard. I really wasn't sure what that program would do, so thought this would be a good way to test it out to see if I do want to buy it. So I down-loaded the free demo and entered the numbers for my size, stitch and row gauge and needle. I think the program did fine printing diagrams and stitch numbers. I could have calculated the stitch numbers required just as easily myself. What is harder is to get the decreases for the raglan sleeve and upper body. Unfortunately the program gave me different numbers for the decreases on the sleeve and the yoke and I want to join all the pieces at the underarm and work the yoke in the round as one piece, so I want the decreases on both pieces to match up. I will have to figure that part out I guess. I will also work the body in one piece in the round with a steek for cutting down the middle to make it a cardigan.

I used my stitch and Motif maker (it's linked in the previous entry) to come up with some designs.

Here's what I am working with at least for now. I may tweak them before I actually get to that part of the sweater.

This is the 2-color border that will go in the sleeve and around the hem of the body and maybe in the yoke.

This one I took from a Gjestal pattern that I have.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this is the main pattern that will go around the body just below where the sleeves are joined.

And here is the next pattern that will go on the yoke above where the sleeves are joined. Does it look wavy to you? It's an optical illusion.

I used the dark blue to represent the teal color yarn I am working with.

The star pattern that will go in the center back and front, I took from Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting. The rest of that one I made up. It may be too irregular, but it will be a bit like knitting complicated lace patterns where you have to watch each stitch. It's only for 27 rows, so I think it won't be too tedious.

Anyway that's where I am with this sweater now.

Designing a Sweater for Fingering Wt. Yarn

I've been knitting some things, but just haven't felt it was of enough interest to post here on the blog. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to keep doing this. It just doesn't seem to be my thing. I need feed back. If there are only 2 people reading this then it's not worth my time.

 

I bought this Diaketo Diagold yarn in Osaka nearly 2 years ago with the idea of making myself a sweater from it.  I've looked for patterns using fine yarns, but not found much. I bought a book by Ann McCauley.  I like the book a lot and will definitely make a sweater or more from it. The book is Together or Separate.  But I tried doing a gauge swatch for one of the patterns that had a similar gauge to this yarn and it just wasn't working. I decided this yarn needed to be used with another color. I had this other teal colored yarn that was also a hand-wash wool. I thought the 2 would work together.

This photo is my gauge swatch. I have only one skein of the teal (300 yds), so I thought I could also add in some white, which I would have to buy, but that didn't seem to pose a big problem.

 

The lower pattern above came from a book on Setesdal sweaters

 

Setesdal Sweaters: The History of the Norwegian Lice Pattern

by Annemor Sundbø

 

 

 

 

 

 

and I used another pattern from a pattern booklet I have, which I bought in Norway. It was published by Gjestdal.

 

I worked that pattern with 3 instead of 4 colors in my swatch:

I was happy with that, so decided the sleeve cuff would be these two patterns. I cast on 72 stitches for a sleeve on #2 needles and did the 2-color part. I ordered the white yarn, but it will be a couple weeks before it comes in, so I will put this sleeve on a holder and start the second one and then wait till the white yarn comes in. In the mean time it would be good to design the rest of the sweater.

The sleeve so far:

 

Here's how the sleeve cuff would look with the facing turned under:

 

 

And that's really as much as I have now. I'm up to the part where I need the white on this one.

I think the body of the sleeve above the 3-color border will be done in a lice stitch with the white. There will probably be another border near the top and I'm thinking of joining the sleeves to the body and using a raglan construction.

 

I have the Stitch & Motif Maker software, which I use to print up the design for the color work. I'd love to have a sweater design program, but I think those are a lot more expensive and for as much as I would use it, I'm not sure it's worth it to me. I just do this for myself.

 

Any questions?  comments?