I’m Knitting As Fast As I Can

I’m done fooling with the process of reworking the Scroll Stitch scarf. I love the stitch pattern because of the undulations it creates but I think it just can’t be worked in my handspun yarn. The yarn is too sproingy and I don’t want to ruin the clean lines of the stitch pattern by adding a border. Possibly a flatter, less elastic yarn might result in a scarf that doesn’t curl so much. Gosh, even acrylic would work better since you could block the hell out of it and never worry about it springing back to life. So the handspun is going back into the stash and the process has come to an end with no final product to show for it. Sad.

But frogging the scarf freed me to finish a baby cardi I’ve been working on. It just needs buttons and a blocking and then I’ll share all the details.

And a third process has also come to an end. My son has finally decided which college he’ll attend in the fall. Oye! What a painful, drawn-out process. Although my husband and son bore most of the organizational burden, I bore the lion’s share of the stress. It was a difficult decision for him and it came down to a choice between Macalester and Occidental. In the end, the lure of year-round golf in Southern California tipped the balance in favor of Occidental.

Can anyone say, “Los Angeles yarn shopping.”

Pattern: A cobbled-together mix of the Gathered Pullover, the Looking Glass Top, and my own elements.

Yarn: Cotton Fleece - 5 skeins of Dusty Sage (this is the third sweater I knit from these skeins of yarn and it was only a bit worse for the wear).

Needle: 3.5mm for the edges and the I-cord; 4.5mm for the main parts of the sweater

Time to Knit: This sweater knits up fast. My wrist gave out on me when I had only the last sleeve left to complete. Consequently, that sleeve took me as long as the rest of the sweater combined since I only knit a few inches each day. I suspect I could have knit this whole thing in a week, otherwise.

Mods: Oh, dear, where do I begin.

I loved the cable when I first saw the Gathered Pullover pattern in Interweave Knits but the rest of the sweater didn’t do anything for me. Plus, it was knit in the round and, believe it or not, I’m not a big fan of sweaters knit in the round unless there’s a purpose to it–like lace patterning that would be broken up by side seams. So right away I knew I’d knit the pieces flat and seam them. I also dislike rolled hems, so the rolled edges on the Gathered Pullover had to go. I also felt the V at the neck would be a little too low for my taste and I didn’t want the cable to sit quite so low either. And the line of increases/decreases on either side of the cable definitely had to go. Ick.

I pulled out some old IK issues and found a V-neck top (Robin Melanson’s Looking Glass Top from IK Summer 2006) that had exactly the same gauge as the Gathered Pullover and an identical number of cast-on stitches. So, I started with that even though it had 3/4 sleeves and a funky hole thingy in the front that I didn’t like. But, it was knit flat with waist shaping and a sleeve cap that I liked better than the one on the Gathered Pullover so I used it as a template for the body of the sweater.

In the end, I used only the cable from the Gathered Pullover and I placed it higher on the front. I used garter-stitch edges at the bottom and the sleeves. I knit the body flat and I added some waist shaping. I used the armhole and sleeve cap instructions from the Looking Glass Top but I made the sleeves long instead of 3/4 which required some adjustments to the cast-on.

But, my favorite part is the I-cord edging I used to finish off the neckline:

I feel like it gives the sweater a nice, finished look.

I wore the sweater all day yesterday and it was really comfortable.

Now that I’ve re-worked the pattern so it fits me (link to my Ravelry project page with a photo of me wearing the sweater) I might make another!

Guess what I’m wearing today: