Stitch Panels in unexpected places

I've done this in several patterns now and really enjoy breaking up the stockinette stitch of the body with a stitch pattern worked down the sides. We very conveniently cast on a number of stitches at the underarm and these stitches lend themselves to being decorated with a pattern.

I, like lots of knitters, don't especially enjoy knitting sleeves. They are a little more fiddly than the body. They have to be done, although it does make vests a really good looking option. On my new sweater I decided to continue the stitch pattern down the underside of the sleeve.

I think it works. Sort of. What do you think?

I guess wearing it will tell the tale.

Deb

Missing

I knew I had a couple of days of sniffling and snuffling beside the kleenex box so I thought this is the perfect couple of days to knit sleeves. That smacks of the same attitude as "I'm in a bad mood so I might as well do some housework". But that's really not the case, although sleeves need to be done and are not the most interesting parts of the sweater. So I thought I would grab my 40cm (16") circular needle and get started. I would grab my circ and ...
Where is it? It should be right here. It's not as if I don't have a lot of needles.

There should have been at least three 4.0mm (US6) circular needles in the exact length I needed. But NOOOO. I searched in my shawl project bag, where the short circ shouldn't have been anyway but .. no needle. I checked the sweater project bag where I last used the needle for sleeves, no luck. I went through a couple of the discarded project bags and found a 4.0mm needle but too long. Now I'm stumped. There is no way that I have that many circular needles and don't have a 40cm (16") circ.

I finally found the correct combo in my interchangeable set and proceeded with a day in my pj's and a movie binge between naps.

But where the h*## are those needles?! Do you have them?
Deb

Smaller Sleeve, Top Down

Yesterday, looking ahead, I realised that I have a couple of easy weeks in May without too much activity. That was a mistake. This morning I woke up with a sore ear and that feeling that a cold is imminent. Yuck. It's just like going on holiday and getting sick. So before I take a couple of days off to enjoy ill health (ha, ha) I wanted to show you something.

Many curvy women find that the sleeves of sweaters don't fit. One of the major finds for me when I was writing the Need A Plus Cardigan book was that bust measurement does not necessarily relate to arm measurements. Irregardless, the designer has to still come up with a set of sizes based on bust measurement. Lots of times the sleeves are too big.

If you measure your sweaters, including store-bought double knit jackets you wear, you will probably find that you do wear a large range of sleeve sizes. But you are probably trying to knit your new sweater with an inch to two inches of ease around the sleeve. The schematic is indicating that for your size you are going to get a certain size of sleeve. If you need the sleeve to be smaller, stop increasing on the sleeve about an inch from the bottom of the yoke (one inch less stitches on the sleeve than the pattern says you need at the bottom of the yoke). But what will happen? Won't it distort the raglan line. Yes it will.

I just happen to be knitting a sweater with this feature. I've stopped increasing on the sleeve. Here is a photo of one of the back raglan lines. Can you see where it changes?

Here it is with the black line indicating where the raglan line would have continued and the red line showing the deviation.

Here is a close up.

Doesn't this look remarkably like what your set-in sleeve armhole would look like at this juncture?

I think it's actually an advantage to have the raglan line swing in toward the armpit. I'm working it into the pattern I'm working on now.
Deb

Not the real world

I've been retreating for two weekends. Isn't calling a weekend away a retreat sort of odd? It makes me think of running backwards and burrowing into a hole which is not what a knitting retreat is at all.

It's a weekend away with people who get you. It's joyful anticipation for weeks before, arriving to find your people all around you. You can talk knitting at breakfast, in class, at lunch, in class and at dinner. Eye's do not glaze over. No one says their grandmother used to knit (when she had nothing important to do). Everyone is free to compliment total strangers on their sweater, pet it and ask for more details, making new friends. You can stare at people because of course you're thinking your way through their sweater. This can be a little off-putting in the real world.

I guess what makes knitting retreats special is that they are not the real world where we usually operate. We are not fluffed off with "isn't that cute", "wish I could knit but of course I am way to busy to learn". We are with people who think that making something is important. Wearing what you have made with pride is important. Modifications, adjustments and adding something to the pattern is an exploration of your creativity. In fact creativity rules!!

I've had two wonderful weekends and am inspired to start a new sweater vest for the spring just because I can make it and wear it. And that's something special!
deb