See how much better the second one is? Now I just have to buy buttons, decide where to put them and how to do the button holes and work the second band.
Unfortunately my plans to do that today may be affected by the blizzard we are having. March is living up to its reputation of going out like a lion. We could hardly have asked for more difficult, wintry weather today. It would be a good day to stay in and knit, if only I had the buttons I need.
At least for me. I can never get them right the first time. I usually expect I will have to rip out the first attempt. I did this yesterday and then ripped it out last night.
You can see that it is a little too long. I measured the front of the sweater. It was 20". My gauge is 8 st/inch, so I picked up 160 stitches along the front. (Oh yeah I cut it down the middle first.) I thought I wanted some pattern in the band, but after trying it on, decided I don't. It detracts from the other patterns. In rosemaling you learn that a border should complement but not overwhelm or detract from the main pattern. I think this is detracting, so the new one will either be plain or have just a little white in it. I picked up 144 stitches the second time. Hopefully that will be the right size. I do the side without button holes first for obvious reasons. (Remember the photo is backwards, since it is taken in a mirror.)
I also decided to do the front bands before the collar.
And in case you want to see what else I am working on, here are pictures of the project we've just completed in our house. Hallway renovation
I've never done a collar like this on a full-size garment. I have done them only on doll sweaters. I did this much in the car on the way down to Indiana from Duluth, but when I tried it on, it was all wrong--way too wide.
So I ripped it out; went back to where I started the bound off stitches for the front neck opening, because I didn't like how the decreases looked and went higher than I did before, but it still looked too big on the needles. so I knitted one more row around adding decreases in the front and back (k2, k2tog around the back and shoulders). Then I bound it off rather tightly. Since it will be a cardigan that wasn't going to be a problem. I tried it on and now I think the neck opening is the right size, so I'll knit the collar separately and sew it on.
I'm not sure why but this step seems to be going very slowly.
I don't have a plan yet for the collar. But since this is going so slowly, I guess I have plenty of time. I keep thinking it's too big around the opening, but when I lay it out like this it looks okay.
So that's where I am now.
...the pieces, that is. I have reached the point where the 3 pieces will be joined and become one. The advantage to doing it this way is when I am done there will be very little seaming up. I have another raglan sleeve cardigan that was done in 5 pieces and then sewn together. The tops of the sleeves didn't match the top of the body, so I had to rework the back and the top of at least one sleeve. The next raglan I did was the Sapporo ski sweater designed for the Norwegian ski team in Sapporo. That one was joined at the underarms and done in one piece from there up. It's a little tricky just where you join them up as there are lots of stitches and it's tight under the arms, but as you go it becomes easier. I just need to figure out how often to do the decreases, so that I have a neck the right size when I reach that point.
So here are the pieces. The right sleeve actually needs a few more rows. I stopped because I thought it might be getting too long, but have decided that the left one is just right, so I'll make the right match it and then join them up.
You can see the steek in this picture, which is of the front of the sweater. It's kind of messy looking, but none of that will show when it's finished. This way the 'jog' you get when you knit in the round is cut out and completely gone when you finish the sweater.
I haven't decided yet if this will get buttons with button holes, or with loops or clasps. I think they will be pewter, but I'm open to suggestions.
