Hub's City Limits Light Sweater adventure started with me learning how to wind yarn onto my new EEW Cone Winder. While I had a bit of trepidation at first, once I had everything set up, it was quite easy to use and quick to wind. I just had to make sure that I put my yarn "right" on the swift and that nothing was twisted on the hank. If there was a snag, I simply stopped the cone winder, straightened out my yarn and started again. I found that I didn't really need the foot pedal and all I really needed to do was to hold down the yarn lead (as I was winding the yarn on the floor instead of on a table). At some point, I will want to get something more permanent for the cone winder base/guide (like having it printed on a canvas backing) but I think I can live with the original paper guide I have for a while.
Now, onto the pattern itself. I picked this pattern because it was something I had envisioned when I had picked up a variety of gradient yarn that was similar in colour where I could make it into a sweater (either for myself or Hubs). However, what I hadn't counted on was trying to figure out how much yarn I needed to save for the body and how much was needed for the arms so that it would "match". So I emailed the creator to ask for advice and after a few days, she responded telling me to save about a third of what I'd be using for the body for the arms.
Now, that was my next problem: how to figure out how much a third of the yarn I'd be using for the body would be, particularly since I actually had no idea how much I'd be using. I could try measuring out the yarn but that would most likely be very tedious or I could weigh the yarn (although that might not be accurate enough); so, what I ended up doing was simply what I normally do: cast on and figuring that I would just figure it out along the way (& play yarn chicken hoping that I'd have enough yarn at the end of it all 😶🤞🍀).
So, I started with deciding which yarn I would use:
I started with the Swift Yarns Bliss Sock in Log Cabin, moving onto the Urth Uneek Fingering in Brown and finishing it with the Swift Yarns Bliss Sock in Melodrama (Yes, I know my yarn picture shows was way more yarn than what I'm going to use - I couldn't decide if Hubs wanted a darker or lighter sweater - he went with darker). Then, I went over the pattern (much more thoroughly) again, highlighting key parts and circling the size I was going to make. While going over the pattern, I realized that I would be making the collar last and I had read somewhere that doing that (making the collar last) could make where I separate for the arms tighter than it should be. So, I altered that portion of the pattern by starting the collar first with a tubular cast on then following in the instructions for a 1x1 ribbing collar before actually starting it.On Day 1, I finished the collar and neckline short row.
On Day 2, I finished half of the raglan increases.
On Day 3, I finished most of the raglan increases.
On Day 4, I finished the remaining 2 repeats of the raglan increases, the chest (an additional 10 rows) and split for the sleeves, making 5 more rows before switching transitioning to the colour yarn.
On Day 5, I did 2 transition rows between the Swift Yarns Log Cabin and the Urth Uneek then did another 33 rows of the body before calling it for the day.
On Day 6, I did another 2 rows before increasing 2 sts on each side (after the purl sts between the body for a total of 220 sts) then wrapped up the day with another 24 rows.
On Day 7, I increased 4 sts on each side (before and after the purl sts for a total of 228 sts) then wrapped up the day with another 19 rows.
On Day 8, I did another 5 rows before doing another 2 transition rows to the last colour: Swift Yarns Melodrama, including increasing an additional 4 sts on each side (before and after the purl sts for a total of 236 sts); then I wrapped up the day with another 6 rows.
On Day 9, I did 1 row then another 4 sts on each side increase (before and after the purl sts for a total of 244 sts); then wrapped up the day with another 20 rows.
On Day 10, I did another 10 rows for the body.
On Day 11, I finished off the final 5 rows for the body and the hem with another 12 rows of 1x1 ribbing, including a purl row. For the hem, I did 2 rows using my 3.75mm (US 5) needles, then 3 rows using my 3.25mm (US 3) needles before finally using 2.75mm (US 2) needles.
On Day 12, I finished off the hem with another 4 rows and bound off using the Icelandic bind off method; then with my 3.75mm (US5) needles, I started on the sleeves by doing 22 rows in Log Cabin before doing 2 transition rows to Urth Uneek; then another 5 rows before finishing for the day.
On Day 13, I continued with the Urth Uneek for another 35 rows before finishing for the day.
On Day 14, I did *1 decease (for 70 sts per sleeve) and knitted another 4 rows* 3 more times (for a total of 66 sts per sleeve) before finishing for the day.
On Day 15, I did another decrease (for 64 sts per sleeve) using the Urth Uneek before another 2 transition rows to Melodrama; then decreased another 2 times (for a total of 60 sts per sleeve) before finishing for the day.
On Day 16, I did another decrease (for 58 sts per sleeve) then another 9 rows and another decrease (for 56 sts per sleeve) and 4 more rows before finishing for the day.
On Day 17, I did one more decrease (for 54 sts per sleeve) before finishing off with 14 rows of 1x1 ribbing and binding off.
Here's the finished product:
And how it looks like on him:
Front
Back
Now, all we need to do is go somewhere cool enough so that he can actually wear it or wait till fall/winter comes around again. 😁🍁❄️
