In my last post, I called my hubby's Flax pullover a finished object because at one point in late December, it was ... well ... finished. The ends were woven in, it was soaked and blocked, wrapped in pretty paper, and placed under the tree. Mark loved his new sweater and wore it immediately. At first, I was so pleased that it fit him ~ the shoulders were spot on, the width was not too snug nor too loose, and the sleeves hit just below his wrists perfectly. Yeah, I was pretty pleased with myself. That is, until he sat down and the sweater rode up a few inches above his stomach. He spent most of Christmas day tugging to keep the bottom ribbing from riding up above his waist line.
Now, as I was facing having to pick up hundreds of stitches to knit the additonal inches to the bottom of the sweater, I decided to try a little trick. Rather than frog the ribbing and pick up those very risky live stitches, I put my needle into the stitches just above the start of the ribbing and threaded the entire circular needle along one entire round. Once that round was securely on the cable, I unraveled the two inches of ribbing until I reached the needles. No drop stitches and no eye strain!
Let's hope knitting the additional few inches goes quickly because I've got some other projects I'm itching to cast on.
Great tip! Hope you can finish it without any trouble!
ReplyDeleteThanks ~ fingers crossed!
DeleteOopsies, LOL! For some reason I can't view your photo on my phone right now. I'll look again later. Glad though this little bump is fixable.
ReplyDeleteYou and I are on the exact same page... I am about to do this to some socks !!! Splitting and filling in and grafting to the other edge... the only way to go, a skill which will be a feather in our cap ! We can now go and 'lengthen things once we get this down.... what a concept !
ReplyDeleteOn second read, I see you are not doing what I assumed (so sorry) lol.
DeleteI think what you're doing makes more sense than 'cutting in two, knitting extra length, then grafting ' . I don't mean to hijack the comments here , but what I'm thinking as the other option, I could accomplish the same thing with no ripping. Simply put a needle into another round, maybe 3 up, then 'cut' the round out of the middle, and unravel back to each needle. Pick up stitches from the one and knit the added length, then graft to the stitches all ready on the needle. Though grafting must be immaculate then. Naw... I think your way is the safest way to go !
Last word on the two methods... is your method only has one end to weave in, whereas the grafting-in method has two. Yours is best. :)
DeleteI loved seeing your thought process here. It was pretty painless to thread my needle through that row & unraveling the ribbing won't take much time at all. I'll report back on how this method worked & we can compare notes again.
DeleteI am sure you felt a tad deflated at the length, but look at all the amazing bits that were spot on. You are amazing and is that pullover.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much!
DeleteI envisioned you watching your husband tugging at his sweater, and felt your twitches. Really brilliant idea to thread the stitches before the ribbing before frogging. (personally, i'd still find a way to screw it up.) so impressed.
ReplyDeleteExcellent solution, and your patience and willingness to fix the length issue properly is admirable!
ReplyDeleteNifty trick with that needle.
ReplyDeleteI once eyeballed sleeve length on my daughter's sweater because I couldn't find my tape measure ... let's just say, never again!
A very intersting solution to the frogging problem. I'll tuck that knowledgevaway for future use
ReplyDelete