)
I had an eye-opening experience
today at the doctor’s office. Yes, the reason for my silence the past few days
is a car incident that injured my back. Luckily, things are starting to improve,
so I am at my keyboard again. My physiatrist knows that I am an
avid knitter, because his treatments are the reason I was able to take up
knitting again! I should really knit him a scarf or sweater one of these days
to thank him, as his diagnosis effectively cured by back and neck pain and
allowed me to become the obsessive knitter I am today!
>)
Anyway, there I was in the doctor’s
office, wearing “Pink” paired with some accessories that I was hoping would
make it look like a “real sweater”. Some trouser-cut brown woolen pants, brown
leather heels in the same warm pinkish color family as my sweater, and a snazzy
purse. The physiatrist took one look at me and said, “you
made that sweater, didn’t you? It looks handmade.” Sigh.
)
Here I am, trying so hard to create
knitted clothing I can wear out in public without everyone noticing that my sweaters are handmade. I even paired Pink with great accessories to try to
create a finished looking outfit. What went wrong?
)
In my opinion, it’s the finishing
on a sweater that makes all the difference. I just don’t think the ribbing at
the sleeves and the bottom of the sweater make the cut. First of all, the
sleeve is a bit short. I am feeling kind of tempted to unravel and redo the
sleeves to make them longer, and finish them with something other than the wavy
ribbing that broadcasts the “homemade” signal to other people.
)
And look at the ribbed hemming at the
bottom of the sweater. I think this is the “achilles
heel” of Pink. The ribbing just isn’t
even enough to do justice to this sweater. Ribbing is kind of the
standard finish for most sweaters like Pink.
I’m not really sure of where to go with this, to get a more finished look at
the hem.
)
Right now I am experimenting with
my new incarnation of Pink, Blue. This
sweater has been a bit of a challenge, because my wet-blocked swatch of the
Debby Bliss Baby Cashmerino grew by leaps and bounds
after washing, so I’m having to make the sweater way smaller than my normal
measurements, because it’s probably going to gain a lot of width after a few
washings. Talk about negative ease on this sweater! Anyway, I’m trying a
different finish on the cuffs, neckline and bottom of this sweater. My
mother-in-law, the knitting master, Pipapo (you can
find her amazing projects under that name on Ravelry)
suggested a turned-under hem for a more finished look.
)
The technique is that you knit to the desired length of the sweater (this is from top-down) and then you knit a row of purl stitches.You can see the purl stitches above the metal knife, which is holding the hem down. Next you reduce as many stitches as you need in the next row—in my case, I did a K1, K2tog, K1, K2tog pattern throughout the row, so that I had reduced 1/4 of the stitches. The, switching to a pair of circular needles two sizes larger than the ones I had used on the sweater, I knitted in stockinette for another inch and cast off loosely. (Let me tell you, I had to unravel this four times until I found this formula, which seems to work.) I am going to apply this finish to the sleeves as well, and see how it turns out.
)
This is more or less what it will look like when the hem is turned under, unblocked. I hope it will look much more even when it is blocked! We will see. The knitted fabric seems to grow so much after washing that I
am waiting to sew the hem under until I block the whole thing to make sure that
it will lie flat. When I finish, I will post pictures here.
In the meantime, do any of my
readers have any other ideas for finishes that would work for this sweater, and
keep it from looking “homemade?” I’d love to hear your comments!