In a profoundly Harlot moment, I decided not to spin the roving over the weekend. I promise that the moment the sun comes out and lets me take decent pictures of what I’m doing…you will be party to the whole shebang. Instead, all knitting time was devoted to the persuit of the perfect pattern for the green peace fleece dk.
What I want: I want a cardigan with a zipper, not buttons. I am short and not very big, so I know I want a smaller sweater so that I don’t look like I have borrowed my dad’s clothes. Further to that, I know that I want set in sleeves, since drop shoulders are unflattering to me. (The drop part inevitably lands below my elbows, meaning that either I get arms that are way too long, or if I have the presence of mind to shorten them in the knitting…that I am knitting freakish 6 inch sleeves.) I also know that I want something sort of easy…since I want this finished before the weather turns too much for it to be useful this season.
The hunt begins. I got every magazine, book, leaflet and pattern note I have ever written myself and put them all in a huge and untidy pile in the living room. I always start this way, but don’t actually recommend it. It’s overwhelming. I made a pot of coffee and flipped through everything, making two piles. One with potential sweaters in it and one of abject rejects. At this point, I don’t worry too much. If I like a sweater but it’s a pullover instead of a cardigan, I keep it anyway. If it’s a drop shoulder, I keep it anyway, If it’s the wrong gauge…I keep it anyway. I am only selecting things that I like in the broadest possible sense. I figure (in my misguided little mind) that these are all things I can fix.
When I have a loose pile, I start weeding through. In this case, I had seven left. Since I don’t swatch (Look…I said it. No lightning hit me…no plague of locusts…Nothing) I just start knitting sweaters. In this case, the first thing I tried was Alice Starmore’s “Fern”. Why I chose this (and I refer you back to the “What I want” section above) is beyond me, considering that it is A) Huge. B) has drop shoulders. C) is a pullover and finally D) is complex. To my credit, I was going to modify it fix all those things (except for the complexity, which, naturally…I was increasing exponentially.)
I cast on the back (Dumbass. Note to self: if you are going to resist swatching, and insist on starting things that are likely not going to work, why don’t you start with one of the fronts, or a sleeve..or something smaller than the back? Why?)
See the pretty texture? No? Me either. (I swear there are cables) Fern met a timely demise.
Next, having been thwarted by the texture, I decided maybe the yarn wanted to be lace. I cast on (The back…double dumbass) of a simple cardigan with fishtail lace.
This was abandoned when the cast on edge proved to be to “swoopy”. (This would have been predictable if only I were not a dumbass.)
Clearly, lace was not the thing. (Dumbass again. A more reasonable knitter would have thought that swoopy lace was out, not all lace.) I cast on a plain jane garter rib cardi with no bells or whistles.
This one was abandoned because…well. I don’t know. I can’t tell you. Didn’t have it going on. Little to rustic? Little to masculine? Besides, the gauge was off. Too floppy. I missed an opportunity here to waste way more time by reknitting it on smaller needles to discover that it was now rustic, masculine and not floppy. It did occur to me to give this piece a wash though…which was clever, since the gauge changed a great deal.
Screwed by texture, lace and ribbing…I decided that maybe I was overthinking (I do that) and cast on another sweater. Points for finally getting my head together and casting on a front instead of a back. (You will kindly ignore that I cast on three backs before getting my head out of my arse.)
This lasted a while. I liked it, was happy with the gauge, but in the end it was frogged for two reasons. One…I didn’t like the way the seed stitch border stuck out where it was horizontal and receded where it was vertical. (Completely unexpected …I mean, who would think that just because seed stitch has always done that in every single incarnation it has had on the planet that it would do it this time? Who would think that? A Dumbass. That’s who.) Two, I decided that I liked the yarn too much to knit it plain. I wanted something special.
Back to the magazines I went, and found a beautiful sweater by Sally Melville in Interweave Knits Winter 00/01 called “Ballet Cashmere”. While the sweater itself is lovely, it was all wrong. Wrong gauge, wrong style, pullover…..but the stitch pattern itself was lovely. I re-figured my basic plain cardigan above to fit the stitch pattern (I’ll worry about the set in sleeves when I get there. How hard can it be?) and started a front. (Ladies and gentlemen….She can be taught!)
I was basically happy with this one, but thought that that the garter didn’t show up very well, so yanked it back (an aside here? This hank of Peace Fleece two ply dk has now been ripped and re-knit FIVE times and still looks great. This is nice yarn.) I cast back on with a 3.75mm (US size 5) needle and started again.
Is it a keeper?
I like it! Pretty color.
Yes! I love its vertical-ness (verticality?) and the garter bits do look much better in the new size needles.
Hey, nicely done! And it only took … well, let’s not quibble over the time it took, shall we? {insert evil grin here}
Have you thought about the horrors of sleeve decreases in that pattern? No, of course not. We can’t wait to see how this turns out!
Keep Keep Keep!
It’s beautiful
I am currently making a vest from peace fleece, but didn’t swatch and so didn’t wash my swatch and so don’t know about the guage change issue. Just how much did the guage change? The vest is for my enorm-o hubby and knowing this could be of enorm-o help. Thanks!
Yup. Keep it. It’s a great balance of not-too-manly, lacy-ish and simple-enough-for-the-yarn-to-shine-but-not-so-simple-as-to-be-boring. Nice work!
Yes, it’s a keeper! I did like the rib and find it interesting that you think it’s too masculine. Hmm.
It seems you’re practicing for the world championship speed knitting contest in NYC next year? (Wall Street Journal, front page, Feb 28)
Yes, it is a keeper. As for designing set in sleeves, I highly recommend Jenna’s article on this subject in the most recent issue of Knitty. I have recently used her instructions with success.
I think it looks great! Best choice of all you tried, in my opinion. Now I want to try peace fleece…if it can put up with all that, it could put up with me!
Oh, no. You’re not going to catch me in this one — it’s like giving an opinion on the boyfriend. You two may be together forever or you may have moved on by the time I finish typing this. I’m only going to enquire — and simply because you didn’t mention it either way, he seems perfectly nice and I’m sure he can’t help…well, never mind — just an observation that the raglan sleeve is a dandy object, especially edged with a narrow band of seed stitch? No, I did NOT say he smelled funny, and his use of double negatives may have been ironic. (Good to get the receding/projecting purl issue out of the way before tackling the G4 project, though. Wise move.) And at least he isn’t blue.
Yes!!!
mittens
It’s purty. I made a pair of sock out of this color Peace Fleece in worsted weight, and I love them. It’s great yarn. I like the stitch pattern a lot–detailed, but in a vertical pattern. Not enough of that around, as far as I can tell.
Well, I liked the swoopy lace, myself. But for non-swoopy, this is good. Keep.
What I really want to know is over how many hours this transpired….
Usually, if I’m having this much trouble with something, I need to put it down for a day or two to think it over…
So: you are fast AND finicky. Amazing. I just read Ram’s post and am likewise going to avoid weighing in with a preference… They all seemed lovely, actually…. so keep raising and lowering that bar and HAVE FUN! Thanks for letting us join in on the journey.
Ha! That decision is up to you and you alone. No pawning decisions off on others. You know you will do what you want in the end anyway – no matter what we say. In fact, I’ll bet you’re doing it now. (I filched this argument from the dh – it always gets him out of it) And as for the Norma/ Stephanie Hat post last week, I don’t find it strange at all that you were on the same wavelength. I have often been formulating a post in my head and voila – I see it written out on someone else’s blog. This has happens more often than you know. As those ads say,’ We are all connected.’
Yes, I agree w/Rams… seems like a nice start, and I hope it will work out, keep us posted. Of course, the pattern is always greener on the other side (or so they say). The yarn in lovely and certainly speaks of spring… ahhhhh!
After years of not swatching this way, it’s good to know that I’m not alone in my delusional fantasies. I’m always spurred on by dim memories of those times when a bold start made it all the way to a finished sweater.
Can’t wait to see the FO.
I am completely unqualified to give any advise on this topic – so I won’t. I really like the yarn and think that whatever you do will be awesome. So there!
I like it. Not to disuade you from the obvious joy you take in complications(me thinks the lady doth protest overmuch), but what if you ran one pattern repeat up the center of the sleeve.
Note to Ken: how many zippers is a drum carder worth?
You can modify most drop shoulder designs for what is pretty close to a fitted sleeve cap by using Barbara Walker’s formula from Sweaters from the Top. I have a brief short row sleeve cap shaping when knitting the sleeve up from the cuff in my Jan. 15 2004 entry of my old blog. You can see it and the finished sweater at: http://mypeoplepc.com/members/tvsmussel/fiberewetopia/id42.html
PS..I like the pattern stitch, but not all over the sweater. Maybe as a lower portion, then do something different in the yoke or bodice area…something like a spot pattern? That way you can do something different with the sleeves too.
Don’t kid yourself – you are in fact swatching. You just make far bigger swatches than many of us think necessary.
I am also in pursuit of the perfect cardigan pattern – but I want buttons, and something easy…but not boring, and maybe not cables, and I haven’t decided whether I want it to button up to my neck, or have a v-neck – and I’m cheap and want a free pattern.
…someday I’ll find it.
It would take me weeks to just knit the swatches you did over the weekend!
All versions of the sweater were/are beautiful.
I WAS SUPPOSED TO WIN SOME MITTENS TODAY. Or a felted journal or yarn or another fabulous gift that’s been waiting patiently for me to give it a loving home.
I do like what you’re doing, but did you consider Mariah? Zipper, close-fitting, set-in sleeves, and Peace Fleece loves cables…
No. You’ve only ripped it out — what did you say? 5x? 6x? Not enough. You should rip it out a few more times, trying some novel pattern and/or approach with each knitting, rip them all out, and then — after, say 10 or 12 frogging sessions — go back to this one. Or settle on something else entirely.
For instance, have you ever tried a stitch called ‘supple rib’? It would look great in that yarn (*such* a pretty color!) on size 5 needles.
Ooooo… not going to touch that one either. But, I will say that I like the pattern and it looks good in the PF.
Now… About the guage change?? I have a cardi (the Everyday Cardi) that I made in PF worsted and is too small. Before I go ripping it out, just exactly how much did the guage change…? *crossing fingers*
It looks very nice, Stephanie. Continue to do what pleases you, whether it ends with this incarnation or not. :-).
Well it’s nice to know that someone else is going through the same sort of thing. I have spent all weekend knitting, ripping, knitting, ripping and so on. Usually I knit to avoid housework. I’ve realized that today I am doing housework to avoid knitting!
At the time it seemed like a great idea to use my lovely new yarn to DESIGN a tank top. Oh yes, I was enthusiastic and gung ho. I’ve even come up with an original stitch pattern to use. I’ve reknit the beginning of that sucker about 4 or 5 times now……and that doesn’t include the day and a half I spent SWATCHING different pattern combinations, measuring resulting gauges, and generating a pattern….or two, or three.
So you see Harlot, it is not necessarily your lack of swatching that leads you to the endless reknitting.
I like it. And the sturdiness of the Peace Fleece as evidenced by the experimentation you put it thru (b/c that’s what you weere doing right? Pretending to have to frog so you could show us how lovely the PF remains thru trial and tribulation…) bodes well for my purple PF socks. (If I ever finish them!!)
You’ve knitted the equivalent of an entire sweater in 3 days. Amazing. I think the current incarnation is definitely a keeper. 🙂
It’s lovely in that last pattern. Reminds me of ivy climbing a trellis.
I will now watch as you rip it out again. 😀
“How hard can it be?” … famous last words.
Oh, and I like the present incarnation of the Peace Fleece. Like it a lot. And by the time I post this, I’m sure you will be done with both front panels, the back and one sleeve.
The last one definately shows off the yarn the best. And the patterns somehow goes with the color. I’d say keep on knitting!
I like it the best of all the ones you tried. I think it’s a keeper! The yarn seems to work well with that pattern… excellent 🙂
Like I can tell without any idea of what sort of sweater look (casual, dressy, plain, fussy) you really want?
Wait. Maybe *you* don’t have any real idea either.
Never mind.
😉
Being from the Stephanie School of swatching, its kind of interesting to watch the process from the other side. Scary, but interesting.
Can’t wait to see Joe’s gansey progress later this week. ahem.
I like to think of unraveling partial unpleasing sweaters as a hobby- maybe an artform- in itself. By my reckoning, you’ve mastered it (or is it mistressed)?
I was thinking Mariah too.
“Cardigan in soy-wool yarn seeks tiny knitter for long walks on beach, set-in sleeves, and lace.” Perfect, I thought. It’ll fit, and the shoulders won’t hang down to my elbows. I even remembered to wash one of the swatches, in case the gauge changed.
Let’s just say it’s an evolving situation … as in, I realized there is not enough yarn and no more to be had, and then 24 hours later it was 75 degrees out. Reason #14 to move to Canada: sweater weather last long enough for me to finish sweater.
Thank you for sharing a fine example of what it takes for me to start nearly every project. It is worth the effort …. as you have shown. nice!
HEY! Nice yarn! Is it holding up well, with all the…you know, swatching?? hahahahahaha!
I loved all of them, so what do I know?
~nod
I LOVE it! I am knitting the retro-prep cardi for one of my kids in the same yarn/color. It makes me want to start over, almost. I’ve invested a little too much into it at this point, and well, it is what she wants. That doesn’t happen often. I can’t wait to see the rest of it.
I agree with the swatching comment (that your experiments are indeed swatches in disguise).
My mom made a zippered cardigan years ago out of fire engine red chenille. The arms were so long (she never used a pattern and would always knit to “it looks about right” which it usually was except for this one sweater) that it would have looked at home on an orangutan, even thought the color would have clashed. So she knit another one. Same thing happened. I still have one of them. Never wear it but love to touch it. Set in sleeves, too. Go for the green. It will look lovely on you.
I can’t decide, but yes, HEY! nice yarn! 😉
I’m going to yoga now. At the pace you SWATCH, you’ll probably be done the sweater when I return and before I hit the shower. Geezh. I’m getting hot just thinking about the speed at which you knit those …. swatches.
Looks good. However, like rams, I will not let myself become attached to this version. It might be frogged tomorrow!
I admire your ability to frog things. I tend to just keep soldiering gamely on, hoping that it will at some point begin to look good again.
Perhaps this is because I frequently knit patternless. Crappy patterns created by someone else are easier to ditch.
(Yes, it is ironic that _I_ am not fond of frogging. (Check my blog title, those of you not in on the joke.))
Dear Stephanie,
I know that there are fleeting moments when we agree. FLEETING moments. And I know that truly, in the deepest depth of your heart, you almost love me because of the chocolate that I bring you. I understand my role in our friendship: I bring you chocolate and you let me say mean things to you. Chocolate, after all, is the great equalizer (or is that pacifier?).
But … in your current cast on, I *really* want to embroider little flowers up the chain of ivy that you’ve got. I want to do this almost as much as I want to flip all of your mugs up-side-down.
If you’re going to be William Morris–*BE* William Morris. Do not just toy with the concept of beautiful wall papers, be one with them. Make your ivies talk to each other instead of just having them run up along side each other, parallel and non-communicative.
Your loving friend (who bought you another bar of chocolate today),
emma
You make me realize I am a dumbass for spending my entire Sunday swatching with nothing to show for it!
You obviously have WAAAAAYYYYYY too much time on your hands now that the latest manuscript is complete. I’m with B. (that’s not to say that I personally ever swatch, regardless of swatch size!) But that’s just me. And I feel a bit of deja vu kind of thing here. Remember the Rhinebeck?
I read but I don’t think I’ve ever commented before….anyhow, had to leave a note to say I think it looks fabulous! I *heart* Sally Melville.
I think it’s a keeper because I don’t think the yarn can take another ripping. In fact you and I can take another ripping out. Luckily, what you’ve got is very lovely. I like to use the formula in Maggie Righetti’s Sweater Design in Plain English to figure the set in sleeves. It’s not hard at all.
Yes! Yes! Yes! and what is wrong with blue?
The final sweater is LOVELY! And I love that you showed each of your attempts because the end result is even better that way.
That’s totally gorgeous. I’m definitely tempted to try and buy a back issue just for that stitch pattern.
I have to admit that I hate swatching, but I’m finding it increasingly necessary if I want to be anal retentive (and sometimes, when I’m not lazy, I DO want to be anal), so I have ask you; After 3 sweater backs and 2 sweater fronts, are you going to start swatching?
Ahh, Harlot. Easy way? What’s that? I admire your courage (even if it borders on lack of sense). I LOVE it. Good luck 🙂
SHHHHH I never swatch either hehe…
Umm.
For you, sure. I think it befits you. And the color will bring out your hair.
That is one aesthetically pleasing design. The progression of ideas you showed us only highlights what a good pattern it is, and the yarn works well.
I like Sally Mellville’s work quite a bit; now I also want to check on that issue of Interweave.
P.S. Is it a washed example?
Cool! This is gonna make it!
Yes, keep it!!!! The end result is worth all the fuss.
I had a similar insane pile of magazines and books recently also…
Yep. That’s the keeper. well it is if YOU like it!!
Dang! That is one nice piece of work out there. That texture shows off the yarn wondefully.
Maybe you can design the eventual sweater that I keep telling myself I will make for the office?
I have a question, if if might: which one of these pictures most accurately represents the color of the yarn? I’ve been eyeing this particular peace fleece color for some time, but I’m rather picky about my “pale greens” (if that is what we’re to call this) and would love to know if it looks more like the final picture (ie darker and greener) or the other pics (more teal-y).
Definitely keep the last one. If I were you I would use something more simple for the sleeves…but then again it`s just an idea. It`s also good to know that I`m not the only one who casts on back without finding more out about the yarn. Maybe next time:) Which you luck!