sweater #14 2016

I’m doubling up some stash yarn to knit this (basically a fingering weight with a light fingering/heavy lace weight to get about light worsted weight). I have a couple of cakes of light fingering/heavy lace whose brand I’m not sure of (they look to have alpaca and silk in them), plus the Tall Yarns alpaca/bamboo, all of which are very similar in shade.

Mods: I’m knitting the main body of the wrap in stocking stitch, which I hope will give it a ‘smoother’ look, with a 10-st garter bottom border at the back and garter cuffs; however, I’m keeping the whole collar section in garter as per the pattern. I’ve knitted the cuffs slightly longer (24 rows, rather than 18).

I’ve used winding provisional cast ons and also the German short rows method.

13.5: I’m about to mattress-stitch the sleeves seams now: it seems wiser (to me) to do this before picking up the collar sts. I’m pressing the edges beforehand as I know how much this helps in the (sigh) seaming process…

16.5: the seaming was actually a breeze for once, now the collar to tackle… Later: I’ve ploughed on and got the collar finished, casting off with a yard of the Tall Yarns left. And then I’ve tried it on… well, I need to block, but I’ll just say now, wow, it’s looking an absolute beaut!

Yardage: I’ve used the 2 cakes (unknown brand, but both 50gm-ish) and the Tall Yarns skein (which I think was 50gm, rather than the listed 100gm), doubled with just under 6 balls of ECY Milburn. I’ve used probably about 1300 yds of each of the two strands of yarn.

FO: just great! I really do enjoy knitting Carol Sunday’s patterns: her attention to detail is so good, as is her eye for shape and fit. I like it so much, I’m already swatching for another one… which says it all. A couple of points: the fit is great, but I didn’t need to add those extra rows on the cuffs; I’ll also knit the cuffs tighter for my next one (I think someone else has mentioned that).

Next day update: I decided to rip back the cuffs and reknit them on a 3.5mm needle, decreasing 6 sts on the first garter row. I knitted 18 rows as per the pattern. This has all resulted in a much better and snugger fit at the wrists.