Easy Knitting

Following yesterday's detailed post of sweater, shoulder-seam and sleeve construction,  today's post gives us all a mental break.

 

Easy knitting, cute little sweater, my 'Wicked' baby sweater is nearing completion.

Bright and cheerful in colour, simple in design, it is the perfect 'waiting for dinner' knitting.

 

With 8 inches in body length at the moment, I have  2 more inches of stockinet  to knit  then one inch of border trim before the lower cast off.  Two sleeves later and the sweater will in my 'baby box'.

The pattern is from the Need A Baby Sweater book.  I love that book because every pattern has instructions for several different yarn gauges. That sure makes yarn shopping easy.  When I saw the glorious, child-centred, colours of wicked, I knew that regardless of gauge, I had a pattern that would work.  Knitters of old worked this way, I'm sure.  There certainly wasn't money or opportunity to purchase a new pattern for each project.  One pattern but different stitch counts and needle sizes  and the knitter had instructions for the entire family.   

What worked then, still works in 2013.  And it is so cute.

Shoulder Seams And Set-In Sleeves

Colour Block is growing rapidly.  Seen here from a Friday shot, it is now even longer.

Since there is so much to talk about with the construction of this sweater, I thought it better to dole out  information in small doses.

Today's topic  is Shoulder Seams.

As my Colour Block vision materialized, I knew I wanted set-in sleeves.  And I wanted to knit CB in a top-down fashion.  Suzie M has created a newer style of top-down knitting with simultaneous set-in sleeve which she calls The Contiguous Method.  It starts at the centre-back neck then works back and forth making increases until the knitting reaches  shoulder width.  At that point, on either side of a few stitches set aside at the shoulder 'seam',  increases are made in the sleeve portion of the knitting to create enough fullness to cover the upper arm.  Ingenious!  But--

The one thing that concerns me about Contiguous is the lack of a shoulder seam. After all, the entire weight of the sweater hangs from the shoulder.  Doesn't it stand to reason that it is a good idea to have a seam there?  To support that weight?

Some knitters, I know,  would argue that there is no 'shoulder' seam in a raglan.  Sure,  the pieced raglan has sleeve seams that probably give some support to the upper portion of the sweater, but the top-down raglan has no seams.  At all.  Does that bother me? No.  Why is that?  I have no idea.  But the idea of a set-in sleeve without a seam bothers me.

Ann Budd, in her Handy book Of Top Down Sweaters  has top-down, set-in sleeve designs.  Instead of  simultaneous, set-in sleeves, though, her designs get the armhole ready for a finishing application of a short-rowed, set-in sleeve to be added after the body is  complete.  It works.  But it wasn't what I wanted to knit.

But - Ann's system does create somewhat of a shoulder seam.  The entire back stitches are cast on and short-rowed across each side to  shoulder  width.  Next the fronts are begun by picking up their stitches from the cast-on stitches of the back.  Although not quite a seam, there is, I feel, some support given by that pick up.  The fronts are then short-rowed just like the back until they reach  shoulder width.

What I decided to do was a combination of both systems. Call it the Suz-Ann method.   I cast on and followed Ann's instructions until I reached shoulder width, then switched to Suzie's method of  simultaneous, sleeve-cap construction.  It worked.  Really well, I think. There is just  a slight puffiness on the purple side, that I should be able to block out.   But...

There is always room for improvement.  Next time, I would start both back and fronts with a provisional cast on, work  short rows to reach shoulder width,  join the fronts to the back with a Three Needle Bind Off then carry on a-la Suzie.    That should be the perfect start to the perfect simultaneous, set-in sleeve. 

 

 

Break Downs

Things are falling apart here at the Harris Household.  And that doesn't include the aging occupants.

Yesterday at knit group, I went to shoot the first photo of the afternoon  and my camera batteries died.  Strange, I thought, since they are new and were working two minutes before I left the house.  But I know better than to argue with technology.   I put the camera away enjoyed the knitting, the company  and  the  Valentines  treats.   At home I put the batteries into my re-charger.

New batteries, old charger. I have no idea which isn't working but the little red markers that normally line up sedately like a  British Bobby began dancing as if they were enjoying Mardi Gras madness.  Twelve hours later, still no charge.  Hence a photo-free post.

Dinner last night, was home-made Macaroni & Cheese, seasoned with onion, garlic, spices and topped with a bread-crumb, Parmesan Cheese mixture.  Fred's absolute favourite.  It was Valentine's Day after all.   The side was Savoy Cabbage sauteed with carrots.  That was the problem.

When I hurriedly (I am always in a hurry)  switched on the garburator with all  the carrot scrapings, outer cabbage leaves and core,  it plugged.  I tried to rectify the situation, but had to call the Valentine's Lover away from his favourite, political TV show to unplug the sink.  He got the plunger and  - he did it!!!   Fred plunging the sink,  me standing by, both of us sprayed head to toe with dirty cabbage/carrot water - how much Valentine's romance can one woman stand?

 I praised him profusely and told him it was the best Valentine's Day present ever.  (You can't say I don't know my way around a man.)  Dinner was lovely, dishes went into the dishwasher and off we went to enjoy the evening.  At bedtime I noticed a funny smell and checked all the stove burners to make sure I hadn't left one of them in the 'on' position.  Nope, all was well.

This morning, my Valentines' lover opened the dishwasher to find it full of water.  Hmmm.  Apparently, the clog in the drain didn't  disappear.  Apparently, it just moved  moved from one drain pipe to the next.  Apparently, that was last night's 'off' smell.  Apparently, some intense plumbing would be required. 

At the moment, lover boy is under the sink.  Not too happy.  The red markers on the charger are still dancing and I think it is time to get out of the house.  Anyone want a visitor?