I repeated my efficient practice of keeping track of how many rows it took to knit each section of a sweater so that I could match front and back, left sleeve and right sleeve, with no uncertainty. Four rows of ribbing, 56 rows of stockinette, then I at last earned my reward--shaping the armholes on the back. As I knew they would, the Yarn Girls made it easy. All it took was starting each of 4 rows with a few bind-offs, and the 5th row had a decrease at each end. Sixty stitches were reduced to 48, and I was back to "working even" before I could even work up a good fret that I might not be doing it right.
Although the pattern directed me to K2tog at each end on the 5th row, by this time my extensive reading had unveiled the meaning and importance of matching decreases so that one side leaned left and the other leaned right, and I substituted SSK for the first K2tog. I also decided to work the decreases two stitches from the edge instead of one. Did this make a difference in the look of the finished garment? Maybe not to the casual observer, but I was determined to knit my sweaters as professionally as possible, and I mined all available sources for proper techniques and tips.
So how long was this second sweater taking me to knit? Was this project going to span three seasons like the first? Absolutely not. I had been around the sweater-knitting block once before and I knew what to expect, which always shortens a journey. Even though this would be a larger size, there would also be less to knit due to the set-in sleeves. Taking the larger needles into account as well, and the fact that I had banished all insecurities, I was optimistic that I could finish it quickly.
I had also found while making the orange sweater that I loved sewing-up, and I was actually looking forward to the "difficult parts." (It reminds me of my second pregnancy, which I eagerly anticipated concluding with an early delivery like the first one. Perversely, my daughter arrived one day late.) This time, I had a deadline over which I had some control. I had a vision of myself wearing my new purple sweater on my birthday in the middle of September, and I was intent on making it come true.
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W.I.P.
My new project is actually a partial do-over of a sweater I started last July, and it represents one of the two excusable exceptions to my rule of always completing my w.i.p. before casting on for the next project.
I started it in a lovely raspberry-colored yarn called "dark rose heather." It was planned as a drop-shoulder crewneck knit in stockinette stitch, and its one attraction and challenge is the edging: "2x2 rib with traveling cables," found in Nicky Epstein's incomparable Knitting on the Edge. I completed the whole body, including a neckband in the same cable pattern, and finished half a sleeve before accepting that my original design would never exist beyond my imagination. I could live in a state of dye lot denial no longer: despite having the same color name, the new skein just didn't match. Something must be done. I put the whole thing aside for another, wiser day.
Purls of Wisdom
From Nicky Epstein's Knitting on the Edge: "As a knitter, I was always fascinated with edgings and borders and the beautiful enhancement that they give to every knitted piece. I think of them as a lovely extension and crowning touch to a knitted design--the icing on the cake, the extra dimension that lends distinction, the piece de resistance that can turn your work into a 'show-stopper.' "
Tomorrow:
- Knitting memories.
- I begin the front of my second ugly sweater.
- Current w.i.p.: The Cheerful Knitter attempts to make lemonade out of a lemon of a sweater.
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