Once I got the nerve to frog a certain unlucky sample, a certain wardrobe sweater suggested itself to me.
(Now, my sample sweater wasn’t misbehaving, it just was something that was more fantasy than fiction. I ask you, would you do a 200 stitch provisional cast on?)
I had a lot of fun trying out some new short-row thingie-majiggies too but at the end of the day, the half-knit design was lounging in a box with a bunch of retired swatches, mocking me.
And it was made with yummy yarn, that was just sitting there, not earning its keep.
Now, it’s going to be one of those real-time grab’n’go goodies: nice color, comfortable size, it’s just a friendly little sweater. I really understand why those early 20th Century Suffragettes “borrowed” this from the boys.
This is my personal Hey Girl, in oatmeal color Ultra Alpaca Lite.
I’ve joined the body section and have made my first buttonhole.
See those neckline markers? They are what has made this type of top-down knitting sooo easy. I just hang one in every neckline increase (or raglan increase) and suddenly, it becomes simple to keep track of all that simultaneous shaping.
At the beginning of the yoke, I wrote in my pattern margin how many increases to make for my size and then just depended on the markers to Do Their Job. And all I had to do was count.
Learning how to “read” knitted fabric is something that definitely makes life so much easier. Every increase (or decrease) made has a definitive “look”: a little y-shaped stitch for a M1 or a slight little hump for a k2tog. Kfb has a little bar over a tiny hole. You can see it and you can feel it.
Even without markers, with a little practice, you can scope out the fabric landscape easily and just cruise along.
I’ve gotten requests from knitters who want me to check spreadsheets they’ve made to keep track of shaping – or who ask me to re-write a top-down pattern into line-by-line instructions to accomplish this. So complicated!
IMHO, this is much easier and intuitive (nudgies: try it, you might like it. :)
Now, I’m off to measure the circumference, check my row gauge (most likely to stray) and see if I need to make any adjustments to my body length.
Maybe I’ll reward myself with a Trip to the Button Box!
I have to say, because of making the Mondo Cable Shell twice and Vonica once, I now look at all patterns and try to figure out how to make them work going top-down with minimal seaming. My knitting friends all think I’m nuts! :-)
I rely on reading my knitting on all but the darkest or fuzziest fabrics. I’m knitting one of your sweaters with the Teddy yarn I got from your stash sale, and that is a little harder to read. So fuzzy!
Oh I love the Teddy yarn – I made a Mondo Cable Pulli out of something by another company (but I swear was the same yarn).
You are so right about “reading” the fuzzy: almost impossible! ;p
That is just lovely! Hey Girl is such a great design. I look forward to seeing how your sweater turns out!