Ok, here is my story of the Amazing Spiral of Archimedes. Long before I was a knitter, I was a seamstress. The last photograph is of me in 1969 playing the piano, yes, but my true love was my dress. The minute I saw this pattern with the spiral sleeve, I was reminded of that dress that I made and adored. I read the directions and even though I am an experienced seamstress, it pretty much freaked me to imagine taking precious time to knit something, pull it through a machine, CUT the knitted fabric so that it could be sewn to the body for the achieved look of the sweater. But, by that time, I was already smitten. Well, here are pics to see the process. To my amazement, it worked beautifully! You can see those 3 lines of stitches from the sewing machine and how taut they are holding the stitches. Below the machine stitching is the crochet technique that I use to “sew” my projects together. The spiral sleeve is completely secure now to the body of the project. Now, this project has “spiraled” me in the direction of working steeks in color work designs.

Here is a link of directions that some may prefer to use in knitting this project, but frankly, I found the directions in the book clear and concise. However, I chose to put together the body and normal sleeve first and then sew the spiral in at the end.

Well, it is gorgeous! And, it did not disappoint. It completely reminds me of the beautiful wool dress that originally inspired me.

NOTE: Crocheting seams ~ I am a bit old-school and prefer the stability of straight needles that create pieces of knit to be sewn together. But, in so doing, the absolute must is to k the first and last stitch of EVERY ROW regardless of the pattern stitch. This makes for garter stitch along the edges which forms perfect spaces for a crochet hook to work its chain stitch and gives not only a concise look on the inside, but if done neatly, allows the rise of the knit stitch to align perfectly from one piece of knitted fabric to another.

NOTE: Knitting Nature by Norah Gaughan ~ simply stunning in its patterns and photography, and I so enjoy reading how and where others get their inspirations.

from Knitting Nature:

1. this
2. Garden Walk

Beaver Island State Park ~ 2011