theraineysisters knitting and so much more

I finished the right sleeve and yoke of my Silver Belle. I was very concerned that it would be wa-a-a-a-a-a-y too large, so I crudely basted it together and tried it on.

It fit! The sleeve was even the correct length. I still have a few concerns.

1. It’s a very heavy sweater because the yarn itself is so heavy, especially with all of the cabling. There’s no shoulder seam to give additional support, so I am hoping that when I pick up and knit the collar it will feel as if it has more shape and structure.

2. Am I just way too old to wear this?

3. Will it be flattering? The neck will end up being fairly low.

4. Am I just way too old to wear this?

5. Is there a reason there are no photographs of the back of this sweater in the magazine or the download?

6. Are there no photographs of the back because I’m too old to wear this?

Wear what you are asking. Here are the photos. This one shows the front (and a lot of Lucy, that little trollop).

Here is the back. The middle two 4-stitch cross cables are on holders; they will go up the back with the two yoke halves being seamed there.

Looking at this, you may be wondering why I was so concerned about the size. Well, in this photograph I’ve unpinned the left half of the peplum. Look how far it goes around Lucy without being stretched in any way. Imagine how big it was when both halves were able to do that.

Sewing the peplum draws it in magically without looking puckered or gathered. This means one could play around a lot with the sizing. The Medium, which I am making, is supposed to be 36″ buttoned. It would be easy to adapt the Medium peplum to a size in between the Medium and the Large by adding a little length to the yoke between the sleeve and the neck shaping and then sewing it to fit. For example, if you wanted to make it 38″ around, you would add 1/2 an inch to the yoke before beginning the neck shaping. (It’s only 1/2 an inch because if you do that on the right and left, you add an inch to the fronts and an inch to the backs, giving a total of 2 extra inches.)

For something completely different, look at the luscious Zephyr Wool-Silk lace weight that arrived in the mail yesterday. (Who could have done this to me? I have no enemies.) It’s Cinnabar. I’m debating between two shawls for this yarn.

From Susan:

Many of you are rightly interested in the new design from Ruth Sorensen (to find the pattern, click on ‘Strikning’, ‘Patterns for Sale’, and then on the British flag):

Michelle has started a knitalong for this beautiful cardigan and I told her I would help advertise.  Here is the link.  I would join up in a minute, but I can’t take on any more projects right now.  I’m ::blub::blub:: drowning!

Does the fact that I am now shunning myself help? I thought not.

I finished the sleeve on my Silver Belle and have just started the yoke. The pattern tells you to cast on stitches for the front at the beginning of one row, work across, and then cast on the stitches for the back of the yoke at the beginning of the next row. Instead, I did a provisional cast on of the front stitches, worked across the sleeve, and then did a provisional cast on for the back at the end of the same row. (I also made sure that I started the yoke in sync with the cables on the sleeve; I wanted to make sure I was crossing all of the four-stitch cables on the same row.)

I did that because I wanted both the front and the back yoke to start on the same row. I also wanted to be able to do a three-needle bind off for the side seam there (using the live stitches after getting rid of the provisional cast on once I’m all finished with the knitting). It makes a cleaner, less bulky seam which I thought would be useful because this is relatively heavy yarn. (I’m using, in answer to some questions asked earlier, Debbie Bliss’s Cashmerino Aran to knit this. It was the yarn called for by the pattern and I even had it in my stash.)

I use a crocheted provisional cast on in which you crochet the stitches directly onto your needle with waste yarn. Here’s a poor photograph — it’s hard to take a picture with one hand while doing something.

Eunny Jang has some good directions for how to do it here; she even has photographs that are in focus. Imagine that! Scroll down to Invisible Crochet Cast On I. When using this technique for a provisional cast on, you use a nice smooth waste yarn and then start knitting with the project yarn.

Here is the sleeve with the crocheted provisional cast on stitches waiting to be knit. (In order to use the provisional cast on here, I have to break the yarn and start with new yarn at the beginning of the yoke.)

Here is the sleeve with the beginning of the yoke. Not much to see yet.

Finally, a close up of the front stitches and the provisional cast on.