Start spreading the news . . .
Yes, the Rainey Sisters will be together again! Tomorrow, Susan is flying to Washington, and then on Friday we will take the train up to New York. We’re going to see Clay Aiken in his Broadway debut in Monty Python’s Spamalot on Friday night. (I say “we,” but y’all know it’s mostly me.) On Saturday, we’ll catch Wicked. (Susan’s seen it; I haven’t.) In between, we’ll knit and visit yarn stores. So far, we are thinking about Purl Soho, String, and Habu Textiles. Any other suggestions greatly appreciated, although we don’t have a lot of time.
In the meantime, for those who like to watch paint dry, I’ve finished the second front of Pearl Buck.
Just the two sleeves to go. (Doesn’t sleeve avoidance mean it’s time to start a new project?) The original pattern calls for very short (just below the elbow) belled sleeves. I’m making more of a full length stove pipe sleeve — kind of a cross between the sleeve on this:
and this:
The sleeves will therefore end up being slightly belled at the wrist, but get tighter at the elbow (even though I am not changing the number of stitches until close to the armhole).
The jacket doesn’t have any additional finishing along the front edges. I think it needs something. I’m debating among several quick little finishes; I’ll let you know what I chose to do once I decide.
Now to answer a few questions/points:
1. Should I get a little assistant of my own?
Yes. I mean, no. Not if I want to keep my husband. (Don’t tell him it’s a tough call.) I think someone asked his name. It’s Batman (the little assistant, not my husband).
2. The length of the Pearl Buck Swing Jacket
Yes, it’s pretty dang short. Too short to actually be called a jacket in my opinion, but I am not the one who named it. The usual way of lengthening by just adding rows before the armhole won’t work because the pleat chart, which completes the lower back panel, is a set number of rows. There are two ways one could lengthen it, however.
If you wanted to add fairly significant length, you could chart out one more diamond for the pleat — a larger, first one. You would need to alter the number of stitches you cast on and move the fold line stitches out slightly, but it would be relatively easy to do. I considered doing that, decided not to, and have slight regrets. Le sigh.
If you only wanted to add an inch or so, you could add that to the yoke, which is knit sideways. You would just add stitches to the number the pattern tells you to cast on, but then follow the directions as written for the neck shaping. HOWEVER, you would also need to adjust where you start the armhole shaping on the lower back piece and on the fronts. You would need to move the shaping up to compensate for the increased width of the yoke.
3. Why did I invert the pleat?
I just didn’t like the way the pleat hangs in the original design and thought it would be fun to hide the diamond pattern inside an inverted pleat.
PS from Susan — here is my Viking:
