A bit small, but still cool...
Well, I've finished the sweater - here's a photo of the finished product. Sorry for the mirror shot:
Despite my previous post on my collar dilemma, I ended up making the mock turtleneck - partly because I ran out of charcoal gray wool and didn't have enough to make the full-on ribbed collar. But I like it anyway. Here's a close-up of the collar area:
And here are some thoughts on the process:
1. Despite the fact that I got gauge on size 8 needles, the sweater is on the small side - it fits, but it is quite clingy, fitting more like a glove than perhaps a cardi should. I still like it - it's super comfy and warm, and the design is pretty sleek - but I may try to block it up a bit after Christmas.
2. I can't seem to get lengths of sleeve and body quite right on any sweaters that I knit - they're either too long or too short. For this sweater, I lengthened the sleeves to 19" and the body to 13" (I knit the 36/37" size). I definitely should have lengthened the body - to at least 14" if not more (you can see in the photo that my T-shirt is sticking out the bottom!) and the sleeves are pretty good, but could probably be at least an inch longer. (I'm 5'10" with long arms!) Oh well - maybe one day I'll get it just right.
3. This was my first experience with sewing a zipper into a knitted garment, and I was pretty scared of screwing it up... but it came out pretty well. Bonne Marie's instructions on her website were great and very helpful - I followed them exactly, and used my sewing machine to insert the zipper.
4. I knit the pieces on straight bamboo needles, but when I got to the collar and the front bands, I switched to circulars - I used my Denise needles (around 32" long) so that I could see all the stitches and make sure they were spaced evenly. This really helped a lot, especially for the front bands.
5. All in all, this was a great, fast sweater to knit - and I may even do it again someday, in different colors (and larger). I was thinking that it may even make a really cool guy's sweater - maybe by eliminating or reducing the ribbing along the side seams - what do y'all think?
And that's enough of my babbling! Happy holidays, everyone - and thanks for a great knitalong!
posted by Elizabeth at 9:19 AM
6 Comments:
I know how you feel regarding size (I'm 5'8.5", also with long arms)! That is one of the reasons I'm excited to be knitting... I'm so sick of having any clothes that fit my shape nicely being way too short.
So, thanks for the detailed analysis.
I do think the sweater looks nice... it's obviously very well knit. And I like the mock turtleneck better than I thought I would. I think having it in the contrasting color helps.
10:19 AM
I was already planning on lengthing my body to at least 14", now I'm tempted to go longer. I'm 5'9" and not quite so slim as you! You make me feel much better about my lengthening my arms to 20 inches!
Looks great!
10:58 AM
Thanks for the nice comments, y'all. And glad the ramblings were helpful. Per Monica's comment, do you think it would be possible to pick up stitches on the bottom of the sleeves/body and add a few inches?? Or would that just look very obvious and not so good? I'd love to hear any thoughts... I still have some of the Victorian rose color and could add on...
12:49 PM
I think it looks awesome! I understand wanting it to be a bit longer. I'm 5'2" and pretty petite (size 2-4), so I hope the small size will be about right.
1:59 PM
It looks great! I love the FO pics :-)
I'm a bit worried about the sizing (I'm a big girl, making the largest size) - I'm knitting the first front piece, and it looks ridiculously tiny! I hope it'll be fine after blocking ...
And I lengthened the body by about an inch too.
3:57 AM
I love your cardi! It turned out really great! I think the colors you chose look very good together. I agree with your comment about it fitting like a glove - my sleeves are pretty snug and I can only wear thin long sleeve shirts with it. But I still love it!
9:18 PM
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