31 July, 2010

why knitting a collar is not progressing as fast as it might

ok, so i said before that knitting the collar and the sleeves of the little cardi thomasina was not going to be that difficult. difficult it is not, as Master Yoda would say. it is fiddly. in the pattern, both collar & sleeves are knitted separately and sewn to the body. i knew i did not want to sew them, i wanted a more seamless and not so bulky attachment method. i just picked stitches for the collar, and started knitting, shaping with short rows, to sort of reverse the instructions given in the pattern. looks fine, but... i started it with the wrong side facing the right side of the sweater. it's meant to be folded inside out - that was my idea, only that sometime halfway through, i realized i might not have enough yarn. so, putting the collar on hold, i picked up stitches for one sleeve. i use the directions for an afterthought sleeve from Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard (great description!) - and my mini sleeve is turning out well. however, a sleeve knited on the round with combination of dpns and a circular needle, and an unfinished collar on another ciruclar mean that... there is one too many yarn balls attached...



my Mr Bean Teddy is keeping me company while i reinvent (customize?) the pattern ;-).