Monday, July 26, 2010

A Yellow Summer Sweater

This past spring, my local yarn store - Purrsonally Yours in Meaford - had a first-ever sale. I picked up some bright yellow cotton denim for a short sleeved summer sweater

It was just one of three summer garments I intended to make in the summer of 2010. Intended, but really thought I would be lucky to get even one knit. Past experience has taught me that I suffer from 'my eyes are bigger than my stomach' syndrome when it comes to actually getting the knitting done.

But this year, my needles are flying. Even with the extra sock knitting I've done.
I made the vest, then the 'Eyelet Cardigan' and now - look how far along I am with the yellow sweater.

Not knowing for sure if I have enough yarn, I started the sleeves with waste yarn.Once the body is complete, I'll divide the remaining yarn in half and knit each sleeve until I run out of yarn. I only want short sleeves anyway, so hopefully will have enough.

The style is an EZ raglan. Based on a swatch-free guess that I would knit to the exact ball band gauge of 22 sts/4", I cast on 200 stitches. Increasing 4 stitches - 2 at each side seam - every two inches, I ended up with 220 stitches. I knit for 11 1/2 inches to the armhole then put 8% of stitches on hold for the underarms. That's what Elizabeth said to do. I'm in the last half of the upper body right now and am incorporating a few white rows here and there to help the yellow last through the sleeves.

It will be a nice addition to my summer wardrobe and the last summer knit of 2010. Then back to the good stuff. Wool.

3 comments:

LaurieM said...

"A swatch free guess"?! You do like to live dangerously.

I'm very surprised you didn't knit this top down. I know how much you like top down. Plus it would have let you compensate for your guesstimate and helped with your sleeves.

What happened?

Laurie said...

That's a really nice shade of yellow (coming from someone who doesn't like yellow clothes), and I especially like the white accents. Can't wait to see this one finished!

freshisle said...

Swatch-free. I think that's so cute! And so like something I do!