31-10-2016

Finshed the ribbing of the back. 28 rows necessary for 4”.

01-11-2016

Back: 9.5” knit yet while watching 2001 a Space Odyssee
Looks great (both the movie and the cardie!)

End of the evening: decrease for the armholes are done, almost at 8”, which means that the back is almost done!

02-11-2016

The Width of the back of my CPH is 16”, before blocking. It seems that it has room to stretch though.
Further, l read from others that final lenght might be short. I wont change it because l am petite!

02-11-2016

Back finished, 1.2 skeins used.

Cast on the two fronts together using 2 skeins, that way they will have same length/pattern

08-11-2016

Just finished the two fronts, left part and right part. By knitting them together, I get the cables exactly at the same place. I will do the same for the sleeves.

About the sleeves, I’ve read from other projects that they are a bit tight. There is a big difference between size 36 and size 40, I could choose to work the size 40 for the sleeves but I dont want floppy sleeves.
The number of stitches to cast on for the sleeves are approx that of one of the front and when I wrap one front around my wrist, it seems tight indeed.

For the pieces knitted so far, the final dimensions (unblocked) are the dimension of a size 32 (that’s how I swatch) but there seems to be room for strecthing.

What I am going to do is to block the back and the two fronts and see how far it can stretch. If it is a lot, then I can cast on the suggested number of stitches. If not, I will cast on the number for size 40.

08-11-2016

Just did the blocking, it stretches quite a lot (19” wide instead of the expected 18 max, 27” long instead of 24”) so I wont put pins, just let it dry to see the final size.

09-11-2016

Mmmmh, It’s still wet, the width is back to around 18”, the lenght hasn’t changed.
I’m not sure I like the fabric either (a bit too loose; you can see through the purled stitches in the cables).
I will wait until the 3 pieces are dry.
If I still don’t like the fabric, I will frog it and reknit with needles 4.5mm all along.

09-11-2016

Okay, some notes on alterations.
The pattern called for 4.25st/inch. I got 4 st/inch
Which means after a little math that on size 36”, I would have to work on 153st. With my “gauge” I would reach a size 33.8” which is what I get (well done).
Now if I go down on the needles it should get better.

Now i could frog it immediatly but I want to see how long the finished and “blocked” pieces measure before that.
Normally if I knit it with smaller needles and less stretchy fabric it should do.
Otherwise for lenght alterations I found this link
link text

09-11-2016

I decided to frog completely!

09-11-2016

Other useful link:
link text

According to it
If I knit size 36, I shall work on 153 st at 4.25 st/inch
I get 5 st/inch with needles4.0
and perhaps 4.8st with 4.5mm

If I use needle4.0 gauge I shall have size 30” (too short)
If I cast on for size 40 I shall work on 170 stitches and get size 34” which mightbe ok.

If I use needles 4.5 gaugeI shall get 35” with size 40 or 31” with size 36.

I like the fabric obtained with needles4 better.
So I think I will decide to work size 40, lenght ofsize 32, with needles 4.0mm!

10-11-2016

Cast on again (94 stitches, needle 4.0mm)

13-11-2016

Almost done with the ribbing of the back. So far, so good (measurement wise). Fingers crossed that soem magics doens’t ruin the whole process!

13-11-2016

9.3/4” knit while watching 2 episodes of “the crown”

15-11-2016

Reached 14” yesterday. 4” of armholes now. Once l finish to knit this piece, l“ll block it to see if it is better.

16-11-2016

Finished back again, pre-blocking 16” wide x 23 long.
After blocking approx 17” x 24”.
A bit stiff but ok. At least we dont see through…

21-11-2016

I am at 11.5” for the two fronts that l knit together for perfect match. Hope to reach the glorious 14” of the armholes this morning. Try to avoid thinking that it is the second time l knit this and could have a second cph at the end.

22-11-2016

Finished the two fronts.
Cast on the sleeves

09-12-2016

Finished the sleeves on the 7th of december.
Seamed shoulders today and picked up stitches for hood. Will knit the hood with cable pattern.

16-12-2016

Okay, the hood is almost 7” now. Keeping on knitting…

18-12-2016

Hood is finished to knit.
Note: if you think it is huge and are tempted to reduce the lenght, dont. Even huge, it just fits.
I have blocked the sleeves so that they are ready to sew when I am done.
I should pick up stitches for the border but somehow I have difficulties to pick them up (where exactly? how to find the way to organize the picked up stitches?)

19-12-2016

OK, for picking up stitches, I looked and looked and looked….
Because I didnt really know WHERE exactly to pick up those stitches.

What I found out from my reading (besides math formula that I couldnt get) is that the best way is to divide the part were you have to pick up stitches in portions as small as possible (on different websites they suggest as small as 5 cm! Go to town!)

I did, I divided one side into two portions (green safety pin on the first picture), then divided one of the halves into 8 portions (orange safety pins).
MEans that for each portion I have to pick up 154/2=77, 77/8=9.6 stiches
Each portion is around 17 or 18 stitches, which means that between each orange safety pins, I have to pick up 9, or 10 stitches, which is more or less 1:2 and sometimes 1:1.

I will try that, and if it works, I shall pick up the entire border with one very long circular.

19-12-2016

The stitches are picked up on one big circular.
I decided to work the border in plain stockinette instead of 2x2 ribs as per pattern, because I want to set a zipper, and I think it would look better within stockinette, and it would tackle the potential problem of not having perfect facings for ribbing bands.
Also, I want to do an i-cord cast off to facilitiate the installation of the zipper and it would look too heavy with ribbing.

Knit 0.5” (as 1.5” didnt look good in stockinette), and I am working the I-cord bind off with a needle 5.0mm (bigger needle, otherwise it’s pulling the knitting).

21-12-2016

Finished the i-cord. Ready to sewall the seams. I will crochet through the neck as in link text

22-12-2016

Finished halfof the seams!

23-12-2016

Finished the seams. Technically it is finished as it can be worn open, but I want to sew in a zipper plus knit bands to hide zipper flaps. So…..

30-12-2016

Final step, installing zipper.
Bought a 55 cm zipper.
Closed it and installed it in the sweater, then separated the two parts, pinned them and sew them with matching yarn.
Tocover the tape (inside), I picked up 96 stitches just outside the border of the tape and knit 6 rows.
Cast off and sewed it.
Did the same on the other side.