Sunday 24 February 2013

Sleeve caps and shoulder joins (a novel by Jane Austen?)

Faroese sweater progress by Asplund
Faroese sweater progress, a photo by Asplund on Flickr.
Some of you have commented on my speed when it comes to this sweater - well, I've had a few days off work, and as I mostly sit still knitting there's hardly anything to tidy up except stray bits of yarn on the floor around my chair, which rather makes the place look like a hairdresser's for sheep. (Fleecedresser?) And I don't spend waste much time cooking, an activity that leads to more things to clean. Also, this pattern was easy to learn but with enough variation to make it fun to knit and the yarn is fairly thick. At times it feels as if it's knitting itself!

Something I don't enjoy when knitting sweaters is the neck band. Therefore, I've started doing it before I knit the sleeves to have it over and done with as soon as possible. Another good thing about it is that it gives me a chance to see if it is big enough and comfortable enough before I pick up stitches to knit the sleeves.

shoulder join

I like the way the front and back patterns meet at the shoulder join. This is not very difficult: you centre the pattern on both back and front and end in the middle of a repeat. What I find tricky is getting the width right - I want both comfort and whole pattern repeats. In this case it worked, so I'm happy about the shoulder joins.

To avoid excess fabric under the arms I've shaped the sleeve caps. First, I pick up stitches for the sleeve but instead of knitting in the round straight away I start knitting back and forth with short rows adding a few stitches every row. There's a photo of a sleeve cap in progress in a post I wrote some three years ago here. It requires more work (and patience) with stranded colourwork but I think it's worth it.

In the first photo you can see a side pattern I added to the design and which continues on the sleeves.

Edited to add a photo: the sun came for an unexpected visit in the afternoon and brought out the beautiful natural browns.

11 comments:

torirot said...

Det blir en utrolig flott og sikkert god og varm genser!

Ann said...

Perfect and beautiful as always!
I love all the perfection, you have taught me.
Please keep it up!

Monstermønster said...

Vakkert, vakkert og godt håndtverk! Veldig kjekt å se prosessen underveis, å strikke ferdig halskanten underveis var et godt tips, for det er noe av det jeg drøyer med ofte...

Kitchener Quilter said...

I greatly admire your work, and love seeing your projects come to life. I don't wish I could knit like that, since I have other talents! But I enjoy your efforts. My aunt, who came from Sweden, used to knit like that, and you remind me of her. Thank you for blogging.

ron in mexico said...

Beautiful shoulder seam. It is perfect. And the colours are lovely as well. Funny how we all have things that we don't like to knit. I am fascinated by your sleeves again. When you design the armhole, do you bind off some stitches at the bottom and then more as you go up? They have such a nice shape to them.
Ron in Mexico

Anonymous said...

Very beautiful. Having a whole day to knit sounds like heaven to me! But at least I don't have to worry about Repetitive Strain Injury.

Carolina said...

Fantastic! Do you calculate if the pattern is going to come out right with your preferred armhole depth before you start?

Crafty Andy said...

That is a perfect shoulder joint. I need to get back to basics and visit my old friends blogs again.

Monica said...

Beautiful :-)

Liisa said...

Men mänska! Hur fort och snyggt stickar du egentligen?! Supersnygg tröja! Mönster, färgval och detaljer.

Jules said...

Your title does sound like Jane's lost novel :o). I do agree with your philosophy of cooking--one only needs enough fuel to keep those needles clicking. I was struck by your plan to knit short row armscyes. Do you think that would be a good idea for a jumper weight Shetland Alice Starmore sweater? It's a basic boxy pullover, but I wondered if it would make that great a difference in 4-ply.