Finished Object: Narragansett Sweater

This finished object, the Narragansett sweater, isn’t a “ta-da!” so much as a “ta-hmmmm…”

This really is the kind of sweater I love to wear (and the kind of project I like to knit): it’s relatively plain and straight-forward, but with a really attractive detail to keep things from being too boring.

I do, however, have a little bit of a fit issue. The neckline is wide wide wide, so it just doesn’t stay up on my shoulders. I also find the yoke (neckline to under the arms) a little too long. This will be a relatively straightforward fix–just cut into the yoke, pick up the live stitches and re-knit the top band of twisted rib, with a few decreases worked in there to tighten things up. Not a big deal to do, but something I am not in the mood for right now. This sweater’s going into the closet, rather than back into the pile of unfinished projects.

And I did, by the way, fix the incorrect ribbing at the bottom. Of course I fixed the incorrect ribbing at the bottom!

Sleeves, and a Mystery

When I bookmarked this Chic Knits blog post, I re-titled it “Sleeve Genius.”

I was in need of a sleeve-related kick in the pants: I have two (two!) almost-finished sweaters that just need sleeves and final touches. Also, it snowed again earlier in the week–yes, snow in April! Thanks, Yukon!–which was another hint that sweaters are still seasonally relevant here. So: sleeves on sweaters happening now.

It’s not that the Chic Knits advice is particularly ground breaking. It really just boils down to two things: get comfortable and use stitch markers. But it was some much-needed inspiration.

(Please ignore the mural behind the futon. I rent. There is nothing I can do but bleed from the eyes.)

I settled in with some classics (The X-Files and Fringe) and tackled my Narragansett first. I added one thing to the Chic Knits advice, which was to work both sleeves at the same time. I think one of the reasons I hate doing sleeves is the whole they-have-to-be-the-same thing, so working them both at the same time was an easy way to avoid lots of counting and re-checking and trying to remember what I did on the first time around.

I was feeling great about progress on the sleeves. Things were going swimmingly and I was so sure this sweater would be done and on my body in no time. And then I noticed something funny about the body of the sweater.

 

The collar of the seater was cast on and knit in a 1 x 1 twisted rib pattern. The bottom hem is knit and cast off in a 2 x 2 rib. Huh? I can’t remember if this was a deliberate move–if I cast off the body not in pattern because I hate working 1 x 1 twisted rib. Or did I just screw it up? I’m just not sure.

I have decided to cast off the sleeves in the correct 1 x 1 twisted rib, and if that amount of 1 x 1 twisted rib doesn’t make me want to die, then I’ll frog the bottom and finish the sweater properly.