Toe-Up is my Go-To

Do you remember my recent snow-day post when I cast on this pretty sock?

I had seen so many lovely cuff-down socks on needles that I went against my normal toe-up routine. Well, I realized after I finished the first sock and was about to start on the afterthought heel that I just didn't love the fit. It felt baggy around the ankle and my kitchener toe looked a bit sad.

I wasn't satisfied so ripped the whole sock back.  I know, I'm like the unravelling queen these days.  I started over with these gorgeous new needles and cast on with my trusty toe-up method and could not be happier. I even got the afterthought heel all set up (yes, I'll be switching back to the new needles to knit the actual heel).

I'm still knitting the pinstripe sock pattern and really love how these are coming along.  Let's just hope I don't get SSS (you know, second-sock-syndrome)!

WIP: Flax Pullover (Part II)

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.

So, today I'm calling Mark's Flax pullover a work-in-progress because I promised to frog back to before the 2-inch two-by-two ribbing and add about four inches to the body's length. Yes, I took accurate measurements of Mark's body, and yes, I knew I needed to knit to 17 inches from underarm to hip before starting the ribbing, but when I was nearing 15 inches of body, it looked long enough and so I decided to end the sweater there. I know, I know ~ what was I thinking??

Accurate measurements are done for one very simple reason ~ to get a properly fitted garment ~ and as someone who is spending oodles of time, energy, and money on making such garments, you'd think I would treat those measurements like gospel!  I've learned my lesson.

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.

Unravelled: Sea Pines

After the second hour into unravelling my Sea Pines pullover, I realized that I never frogged an entire sweater before.  Sure, I've frogged cowls and socks and hats but never, ever have I taken a hand-knit sweater back down to mere balls of yarn.  There was a moment (somewhere in my third hour), when I had to question my sanity.  Unravelling a sweater is no simple task ~ sometimes you have to pick each stitch in and out of its previous stitch ~ but I didn't let my fatigue overcome my goal.   

I picked and picked and ripped and ripped and while this project ended up taking hours of patience, my persistence paid off.  

I've now got 656 yards of this beautiful Cascade Cloud yarn to re-knit into something new.  Okay, friends, only three more sweaters to unravel ... did someone mention coffee?