I truly am not obsessed with this issue, but I do like to “fix” things that bug me! I wrote a while back about the wonderful Rikke Hat and how I eliminated the line created when knitting garter stitch in the round. The line appears when you switch from knitting to purling.
I decided to knit my husband a sweater for Christmas…I do not knit for him very often unless it’s a hat! I saw an old pattern of Jared Flood’s…his first pattern apparently! He designed Cobblestone for Interweave Knits in Fall 2007. It is a classic sweater, very simple, very wearable. Surly made one for her son, and he loved it. The good news is that my husband, unlike me, is a very standard size! The only dimension I changed was the cuffs on the sleeve. Many people noted that they are much too big, so I started with fewer sts. Most of the changes I made were strictly technical!
The problem for me with Cobblestone is THE LINE!! Right in the center back for all to see. BUT, I thought, now I can use my two-ball method and get rid of the line. NOTE: The line is not an issue for everyone…some people like it! So I am not dissing the design at all, believe me!! There are THOUSANDS of projects on Ravelry – this is a very popular sweater!
I went to The Yarnery and bought Shelter in color Pumice. A very rustic, but lightweight yarn, in classic grey. I knit the body to the underarm, and knit both sleeves. When I finished the second sleeve, I went to bed…and started thinking. The yoke has two sections of short rows: right after joining the sleeves to the body and close to the neck. Uh oh. Short rows are knit back and forth…NOT in the round! My idea would not work as planned. So, the gremlin in my brain started spinning.
Step One: I moved the beginning of the round to where the left sleeve starts. This is actually where the round started on the body already. I wanted the short row section and the garter line to be less conspicuous. I worked the short rows as written except for where the rows started. I kept a center back marker in place so the placement of my short rows and decreases matched up to the pattern. At the end of the short rows, I left the yarn to the front after a purl row and then joined ball number 2 (keeping it to the inside) and used it for knitted rounds. Purl with Yarn A, knit with Yarn B.
Step Two: When I got to the second set of short rows (at the neck), I had already established my no-line garter. I figured there would be a few rounds with a line where I did the short rows. However, by doing a bit of a hybrid, I was able to camouflage the transition pretty well. It’s a bit complicated to describe here!
Here’s the back, showing where the original BOR was located (at center back) and where I moved it. The center back arrow shows where the garter line would have been.
No line and I even think the short row sections are pretty good. The pictures make the yarn look like steel wool or worse, but it isn’t at all! It softened up quite nicely. My hope is that this simple, lightweight sweater will be one that John grabs often. If not, there might not be another! 😉 I’ll post some pictures after it dries!
Coming Soon!
My next pattern release will be very shortly. A fun holiday knit called Snowball:
