Friday, February 18, 2011

Pumpkin Pie Tonight?

My KAL sweater , the Pumpkin Pie Pully, is nearing completion.  How much TV time will it take to finish this?  I had hoped for a pre-weekend finish, but that is probably not going to happen.
So far, this plain pully, with it's overly-large, off-centre  cable, being knit  'a la'  EZ's percentage system,  is turning out true to my vision.     The  26 stitch  cable, worked  in K1, P1 rib and  cabled to the front every twenty rows is large, loopy and fun.

One of the untried left-overs from my year with Elizabeth Zimmermann, was the seamless set-in sleeve.  Knit all in one piece like the raglan, saddle shoulder or hybrid,  the seamless set-in sleeve is created  with decreases that shape and define what would, in a pieced sweater,  be the sleeve seam.   My Pumpkin Pie Pully is giving me the opportunity to give that technique a whirl.  So far, so good.

The only thing I don't like is  EZ's recommendation to weave the shoulders.  That is not the best shoulder finish IMO as it gives no strength to the shoulder seam. Instead, I intend  to knit to the top, then as unobtrusively as possible, knit an extra row across both the front and back  shoulders without destroying the sleeve cap finish.  With that extra row I can - or at least I hope I can -   seam the shoulders with a three needle bind off.  That's the plan at this point.

If that doesn't work, I will have to rip back to where  the sleeves join the body and do another sleeve style.  Which would mean, of course that not only will there be no Pumpkin Pie tonight, but probably not for several days to come.  

4 comments:

Sandra said...

I agree about woven shoulders - I think the 3 needle bind off will give it strength and structure.

Needles said...

Me too. But, if I may interject, you should be able to do the bind off because, the sleeve will be done by the time you are ready to do the shoulders. I am of course assuming you will be doing short rows for shoulder shaping? If so, the the only hard part is going to be that one stitch right at the end near the shoulder. You might have to graft one or two stitches or do a little bit of a seam to finish it nicely but I think that could be done as you weave in the ends. Crossing fingers and toes...

Needles said...

And if not, think of it as a horrid new diet.

Laurie said...

Oooh...good luck! I love the cable on your Pumpkin Pie (and how weird that sentence reads). :-)