It's a little embarrassing to admit this, but I often find knitting boring. I rarely knit for more than 30 minutes in a day (with exceptions when I'm near the end of a project and can feel momentum building OR when I have a particularly riveting audiobook). I have real difficulty re-knitting the same project over. Let's not revisit those times when I produced multiple Bibliogloves for this photo,
or Penelope hats for this one.
It's clear that what I enjoy is the invention, the technical problem solving, and (I can't believe I'm writing this) the number crunching. Just plain re-knitting is sooo boring!
So, naturally, I can't just knit Wheatsheaves without any new little wrinkles, even small ones. Here's how I've changed things up.
1. When knitting up for the sleeves, I ignored the pattern advice to pick up in a ratio of 2 stitches for 3 rows. Instead, I knitted 5 stitches for 7 rows. This allowed me to arrive at a stitch count equal to the upper sleeve circumference in inches x 4 (the number of sts per inch).
2. Instead of launching directly into the sleeve decreasing, I worked the first three rows as purl, knit, purl to echo the garter ridges in the lace borders. See? Hope this works out. If not, it can be re-done like the original.
3. In the above photo you can also see that I've chosen to knit the sleeves using the magic loop method. In fact, I've been knitting all my sleeves this way for the last five years. Good bye dpns. I'm using the same 32" circular for the sleeves that I used for the rest of the sweater. One needle to knit it all!
To end this post, here are a couple of other points to keep in mind if you are following along with your own Wheatsheaves.
- When knitting up stitches around the armhole, don't be upset if, at the top of the shoulder, your line of stitches deviates by half a stitch before getting back into a new groove for the trip down the other side of the sleeve. Here's what I mean.
The blue yarn marks the top of the shoulder. Notice how the line of knitted up stitches "jog" into a new vertical line at that point. That is unavoidable due to the fact that the front and back upper body sections were worked (seamlessly) in opposite directions. Whenever stocking stitch sections worked in two different directions are joined seamlessly, they will be off by half a stitch.
- To make the knitting up of the sleeve less cumbersome, use some locking stitch markers to pin the fronts of the cardigan together so they won't flop around every time you flip the work. Once the first sleeve is done, you can stuff it into the interior of the sweater while you work the second sleeve for the same purpose.
Can't end this post without a view of the maple tree out front putting on its annual display. Not a sunny day, but even in the rain in a year when none of the foliage is at its best, it has a glorious inner glow.
