Fell: after the sleeves

My first attempt for the sleeves started at 24 stitches. This was “on the tight side”, and eventually I came to my senses and frogged back to start on 28 stitches. Much nicer! I also did a new cast on- basically the cast on for double knitting (the fabric, not yarn weight), and then move stitches around so it all flows nicely. I didn’t make a note of how many increases I did (why would I do something that sensible??), and I did the shoulder cap shaping as stated. It seems a smidge small, so I’ve left the yarn attached so I can more easily frog and reknit if it is too small. (It’ll depend on how big the shoulder shaping is on the body, etc).

I am…not sure I’ve got enough yarn. I ordered half as many skeins as the pattern calls for (I have 5), beause I have twice as much yardage as the yarn the pattern calls for….and I used most of 100g on each sleeve. Leaving me about 3.5 balls for body, collar (and it’s a big collar) and button band. We’ll see. I’m not that fussed about dye lots (watch that come and bite me later!), and it’s not like I’ll have much of a choice if I have to get more anyway… *sigh*

I’ve also found some nice antler buttons, but the shop only had 5, so I emailed them asking whether that was a glitch/when they’ll get more. Hopefully I’ll be able to get them in January (it’s one of my goals:) )

Now, on to knitting the body. I double checked on a favourite jumper, and apparently I actually want this 20 inches accross. *sigh* This is why we check (I had thought I wanted smaller than the smallest size, and instead I want between the second and third sizes. *eyeballs yarn again*). Whhhhhich still ends up being too big when I add in my gauge issues.

Ok, so the smallest size back will come out at 21.5 inches. 1.5 inches is 18 stitches (I have 12 stitches to 4 inches), so let’s go with 46 stitches for the back, and, 9 stitches off each of the fronts for 23 stitches each. This seems wildly wrong (for one thing, this doesn’t include space for the button band), but we’ll try 92 stitches anyway. I can always frog back if necessary (one of the things I’m trying to get better at is frogging when necessary).

Time to get knitting!

Fell: Planning stage

I’ve decided to take on a more measured, thoughtful plan for this blog (and life in general!). Specifically, to think and prepare more for each thing I make and how I should change bits to suit me more. And also document how I go about planning things for others to see and maybe take inspiration from (if anyone knows other blogs that do this I would be delighted to hear about them 🙂 )

The pattern I’m talking about today is Fell (Ravelry link), also available here (Rowan website). I’m using a dark red yarn from Brooklyn Tweed (Quarry, I had to buy it from a Canadian website and get it shipped over here to the UK).

First step is a gauge swatch. I get 12 stitches to 4 inches (4.5mm needles), the pattern calls for 14 stitches. I like the fabric I have, so I’ll reduce the numbers to make it work. The size I want is the smallest, so I can’t just sneakily knit the next size down. The last page of the pattern has blocking measurements, and I like the length of the sleeve, but the body seems a bit long. I’m doing the sleeve first for a number of reasons, and there’s some interesting stuff going on with the body anyway.

The next step is to have a look at the project notes- most people don’t have much to say about this. A few people say it comes out big, a few others say it comes out true to size. One person specifically mentions the sleeves are wide, so I check that- I’m going to be making the smallest size, and according to gauge the sleeve comes out at 14 inches around. I want about 12, so I definitely need fewer increases.

So, I want about 2 inches fewer, which if I had gauge would be 7 stitches. (Lets round that down to 6, because even numbers are much nicer for sleeves). Given that the pattern only calls for 10 stitches increase, I think I’m also going to need to reduce the number of stitches I cast on for the ribbing of the sleeve. In the first instance I’ll guess at 6 (I would usually do half, so 4, but then I’m also knitting it in the round and you lose 2 stitches to sewing up so I’ll take out 6 and see how it goes). I can always frog if things don’t work out.

Looking through the pattern gives some interesting gems as well. The pockets- when I helped a friend do a simpliefied version of this pattern, we omitted the pockets because I couldn’t figure what was actually going on with them. Looking back at them now, I have no idea what I was thinking because they make perfect sense…*facepalm*. So I’ll be doing the pockets as written, or maybe making them slightly deeper (at the moment the opening goes all the way down to the bottom of the pocket, which to me feels like it’s a recipe for things Falling Out). The other thing about the pattern is that the sleeves and body pattern has to match at the underarm. This is…slightly awkward if you only notice when you want to start the sleeve cap. I’ll be getting around that by doing the sleeves first, and seeing where on the sleeve I want to start the body patterning, and work off that.

I’m also going to knit the sleeves in the round and the body all in one piece, because what sort of heathen doesn’t? (This is a joke. There are many reasons why you may want to knit sleeves flat, and the body in pieces and seam. If I didn’t hate seaming so much I would do so 😉 ). The only other thing I think there is to say is that I’m going to try and find some antler buttons for it, because I’m trying to use less plastic and antlers seem really cool!

So, my total plan of attack for this jumper:

• Knit the first sleeve cuff and edit the number of stitches if necessary
• Knit the second sleeve cuff, and then the sleeves at the same time, in the round (I have a very bad history of sleeves not matching if they are knitted separately, and I quite like TAAT knitting)
• Check numbers for the body, and cast on for both fronts and the side together. I will consider putting in a fake seam down the sides, but probably won’t bother
• When I’ve finished the ribbing for the body, ascertain where on the pattern to start the main body
• Knit the rest pretty much as standard. Play around with numbers again for the button bands- I should make sure I have buttons before starting the button band, so that I can make sure I get the button band big enough, and the buttonholes the right size.

Time to get knitting I suppose!

Paris jumper: FO edition

I’m really pleased with how this came out

It fits almost perfectly, I’m very happy with the legnth (no better picture bc my lap is now owned by the cat…). Trying it on so many times definitely helped, and it ended up being a smidge longer than I thought I wanted. Lol!

After the kerfuffle with my last jumper, I wasn’t at all confidant about my shoulders fitting properly, and so I left the balls of yarn attached to more easily frog (I don’t think this yarn would like being frogged at all!), but in the end it all fitted perfectly up there. I think I really like this saddle shoulder idea, it’s quite novel to have the sleeves come up and over! And I think it was easier to sew than trying to fit a sleeve into a body more ‘normally’. Definitely one to try again at some point!

The only thing I’m not too happy with is the sleeves.

The inside of the sleeve is considerably baggier than the outside. I was thinking this while knitting them and now I’m kicking myself for not quickly washing them to check, rather than doing the ‘oh, it’ll come out in the blocking’ nonsense. *sigh* If I’d’ve checked I could’ve thrown in some short rows to deal with some of the excess, particularly around the elbow. Oh well, I guess time will tell on whether it will eventually just stretch out…

Now that it’s done, I kinda miss having it around to knit on. After not being at all sure of the cables in the beginning, they rather grew on me. Oh well, onto the next knitting project I guess!

What I’ve been up to (infodump edition)

So, in between working, having a few mental breakdowns, losing my sleep schedule, I’ve also been crafting up a storm. More detailed posts will follow, but this is just an infodump to get it out of my head!

 

I finished the Paris sweater(this is the most recent picture I have of it, it will get its own photo shoot when I work out logistics)

I started knitting with my handspun!!!

(Again, old most recent pic!)

I’m doing a massive amount of spinning!

Some crochet

and I’m still cross stitching the 50 shades of blue

Longer posts to come on most of these!

The previous spinning is now knitting!

Quite how I got the stripes I have no idea! But hey ho. Turns out I need more of the fluff. Luckily they had one more braid of it in the shop (it’s not at home with me!). Along with quite a lot of other fibre! Hopefully soon it will be spun and I can get on with this! In the meantime, I’m having fun with other fluff!

Stay sane, everyone!

And some other knitting to spice things up

So, many many moons ago (ok according to ravelry I started them 2 years ago yesterday!), I started some socks. I decided that now would be a good time to drag them back out and have another stab at finishing them.It’s rather strange knitting a sock from the cuff down after doing so many toe up, but I think I’m liking the challenge!

Jumper weather

One of the projects while on lockdown is this really nice green cabled jumper. I finished the sleeves before lockdown started, and I’ve been getting on quite well with It fits! I tried it on for the first time yesterday, and it fits pretty well. I’m very happy with this, and am carrying on with it at a rate of knots. It helps that the pattern is really easy when it’s been set up, and there aren’t any fiddly increasing/decreasing so it really does count as almost mindless knitting.

Have another picture of the main cables slightly more close-up

Back to the knitting now I guess!

TRANSfiguration Tuesday: OLAS cardigan episode 2

OLAS is now officially finished!!!!!!!! The mods my spinning group gave me worked beautifully, and now I’m all snazzily dressed up in a nice warm cabled cardigan. So, want to see a before and after?

Have a bonus one because I’m in love with the length on this thing!!!!

So, what mods did I make???

• Took out another 6 stitches in the shoulders. Apparently I have thinner shoulders than most cis guys (this is probably a combination of afab and short(ish) 😛
• Removed *12 rows* in the shoulder shaping in the sleeves. I’m ridiculously impressed with this. This involved decreasing a lot faster, so I had another 2 rows of cast off 3, then decreased every row instead of every other row, and had 2 rows of cast off 4 before the final cast off. Like, this seems insane. But now it fits and it was so much easier to sew in (yay for practice!)
• Goofed up a cable but we’re not talking about that because I don’t think it’s that noticeable when it’s on. I just wanted to point out that this thing isn’t perfect (even though I don’t care because I love it that much).

 

Until this cardigan, I was purely basing which size I make off the bust measurement (tbf, this is my first cardigan after top surgery, it makes more sense than it sounds now!). In future, I’m definitely going to look at more of the sizes on the schematic. And measure all of me at some point. I’m still looking for a decent record sheet for that, and I’ll be sure to link it here when I find a good one!

New sock time!

Well, kinda. It’s been around for a while, but I recently finished the first sock, so I figured it was as good a time as any to talk about it! I started these in December (I think I was on a train somewhere???) so they’ve been living in my backpack mostly.

Then this weekend in between teaching double knitting part 2 (so much fun! I really do need to start my double knitting project soon…where by soon I mean when I’ve culled my projects a bit…) I decided to focus on the sock. So now the first one is done!

It fits so nicely :D. And now that I’ve got a good size stash of hand knit socks, I’m starting to make some which are longer in the leg- very helpful to hold down long johns in Winter!

As usual, the pattern doesn’t really go well with the yarn, but I really like both and don’t particularly care 🙂

TRANSfiguration Tuesday- OLAS cardigan episode 1

Soooooooooooo.

Umm. Good news: I finished knitting the OLAS cardigan. Bad news…umm, well, it doesn’t fit great.

No, let’s try that again. Bits of it fit pretty damn awesomely, even if I do say so myself. I got the length on the sleeves and body right, the width of the sleeves and the body are pretty good. I even matress stitched up everything beautifully (that’s a lie. Once I got into the swing of things it was beautiful. There’s a little bit I need to go over). More practice is needed…

It’s..well, it’s two things. I messed up counting on the buttonholes, so I fudged it by putting a sixth buttonhole in and it’s too high up. And the shoulders. Ok just look at it.

I’m also unsure about the collar. It might need more rows to fold over properly, or me to know how to handle it more than I do. And probably not that last buttonhole…

So. I *think* they’re the only three problems. And while I *think* I know what to do:

Sleeves

• Frog back to the last decreases on the sleeve
• Knit back to a few rows(4?) before I want to end the sleeve
• Split the sleeve stitches into 5 chunks and cast off that many over the next 5 rows
• Make notes on this as I go so I can replicate it/other can do similar

Body

• Frog back both fronts and back to final decreases for the sleeve
• Do something clever with the buttonholes (this needs more thinking about…)
• Put in more decreases on the sleeves. I’m not sure how many at this point, I’m asking some experts on Saturday
• Finish after the same number of rows on the body
• Maybe do something clever with the shawl collar. Again, needs more thinking about…

Then sew it all up again, and pretend it never happened…Well, no. I’m proud I’ve got (…learning?) the skills to fix this and end up with a cardigan I like. It’s worth the extra time, definitely!