Sunday, December 28, 2008

Just 9 more sleeve inches to go!


I'm almost done with this Lettuce Coat from Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard. I'm calling mine a "brown lettuce sweater" because it's about 5 inches shorter than the pattern's length, and it's brown. I have about 9 more inches to go on one sleeve. Everything else has been done, finishing wise. I'm one of those odd knitters who believes that finishing work is an integral part of the garment-knitting process and I do it as much as possible as I go along. That also allows me to get a much better idea of the final product as I go, and it spurs me onward.
My biggest customization is the front button bands. The patttern has an I-cord that covers the entire front length, with slits for the button holes, but that would cause way too much "gaposis" on the button front for me. With a cardigan, I always seem to get button gaposis unless I knit it with a lot of positive ease or use a sturdy button band. I don't like positive ease because the garment ends up looking too loose overall. In this case, the button band is double-knitted with a much finer gauge than the garment and it's sewn on. The double-knitting and the tight gauge makes it nice and sturdy and there is no gaposis whatsover. I used a tubular cast-one and an invisible bind-off for the button band.
I also did my I-cord a little simpler than the pattern's -- I just did a SSK before picking up the next attachment stitch instead of the YO p2sso. It is also 4 stitches wide instead of 3.

4 comments:

Ellen Bloom said...

Wow! So far this sweater looks great! Can't wait to see it on you. Love the color of the yarn.

Knittymuggins said...

Looks great! Glad to hear you were able to beat the dreaded "gaposis", hee hee ;)

knittymuggins

Robin said...

Looks great so far! Thanks for the tip on avoiding gaposis - I hate it, and I also dislike positive ease, so I've actually avoided a lot of cardigans for this reason. I will try a sturdier button band next time - thanks!

Anonymous said...

Going over your older posts, Betty, for your knitting tips since often the same type of patterns seem to look good on me:). Love your SSK tip for the icord. Anything to make life easier as long as it is just as effective - I trust your judgment on these matters as I tend to keep things very simple and don’t attempt all the dressmaker details you are so good at. Thanks for the tip! Chloe