the blue blog archives: a sleeve

Well, I was so excited about doing the pattern that I (like many before me) totally forgot about the increases. Oops! I realized it as I was almost done with the people pattern. But the sleeve was still big enough for me to get my hand, wrist and lower arm into it, so I decided it was plenty big for one of my boys and started the increases there. I increased a bit faster to catch up with the pattern by the end of the sleeve. I don't think it's noticeable.

Next, there was some puckering/looseness in the pattern where the dp needles came together (see face of middle figure in photo). I had been trying to leave extra long floats there so that it wouldn't pucker, but now I'm thinking they may be too loose making the stitches uneven. I decided that I can live with the way it looks though, so I'll work on perfecting the floats on the next sleeve.

Finally, the sweater has a lot of stripes and stripes in the round create jogs at the start/end of each round. I've pretty much decided that I'm OK with that. The gauge is too small for me to try to knit the two colors together and then pull the undesired color to the back from behind. And I'm afraid I would mess up the pattern by trying to shift the jog around the sleeve as I knit. Plus, the increases there would mess up any perfect line anyway. So, I say, that's just what my handknit stripes are gonna look like, although I may care more when I get to the body. We'll see. (Any other tips?)

I love working in the round! I'd never done sleeves in the round before and it is so neat. It makes the knitting so much more exciting when a totally finished sleeve is developing right before your eyes.

Ditto for the pattern in the fair-isle part! It was really exciting watching the pattern take shape. It actually encourages you to continue knitting to see how much more form the pattern will have after 'just one more row'.

posted by alison at 8:42 am | in bugs!

Comments

Oh, I LOVE it. You are doing a good job!

Posted by: Laura at October 28, 2002 9:09 AM

That sleeve is just so darn cute! I am really enjoying your blog. I am a newbie knitter and like hearing about your excursions into new frontiers and what you encounter along the way. Adds a great perspective. Thanks!

Posted by: Michelle at October 28, 2002 11:21 AM

The sleeve looks wonderful! Are you doing 2-handed fairisle for it? I'm trying to master 2-handed as well on Wendy's Fearless FairIsle.

Posted by: Kathy at October 28, 2002 1:02 PM

Beautiful sweater and great blog! Thanks for sharing the photos! :-) I've tried intarsia once and only once so far.... I made a mess of the patterned stitches and haven't gotten back to it just yet! Hopefully soon!

Posted by: indigirl at October 28, 2002 6:26 PM

I never worry about jogs. Most of the "fixes" I've tried for them draw more attention than the jogs themselves. To me, they're just part of the nature of the beast.

It's hard to believe you haven't been doing fairisle for a long time. Your work in beautiful.

Posted by: Larry at October 28, 2002 7:53 PM

Thanks for the support and encouragement everyone! I really am enjoying the fair-isle technique and am pleased with how the pattern has come out so far. I hope that it will stay that way when I get to the real hard work on the body!

And Kathy, when do we get to see a picture of your Fearless Fair Isle??

Posted by: alison at October 28, 2002 8:30 PM

I'll post a photo of my FF next Monday - I'm not very far along but hope to get some more done this weekend. I'm finding it's a great pattern to learn the 2-handed method on - easy to follow thanks to Wendy.

Posted by: Kathy at October 29, 2002 10:41 AM