My Journey through Breast Cancer

On October 11, 2013, I was diagnosed with Stage II Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) ... or as we like to call it, extreme measures for a nap (EMFN). For a while, this blog will be my cancer journal. Enter at your own risk.

17 October 2008

finally finished!

I actually finished this sweater more than a week ago, but just yesterday got around to taking pictures of the finished product. This might be my favorite finished knitted sweater to date, mostly because of the yarn I used. Its 50% silk / 50% wool, warm and soft. Its WONDERFUL.

In the magazine, this sweater pattern is called The Minimalist. I get what they're trying to say, the finished sweater is quite basic, not even including any buttons or clasps to keep it closed. However, if ever I've knit something NOT minimalist in its technique, it would be this sweater. The entire thing is knit in k1/p1 moss stitch, meaning I had to change the direction of the yarn for EVERY SINGLE STITCH. It was definitely a bit laborious, and I'm not sure I'll do anything quite like it again any time soon. BUT, the finished sweater IS quite fabulous, so I suppose it was worth it.

Cherry Tree Hill Silk and Merino DK yarn. Color: Java. Yummy.

I had one major setback with this sweater. When I got to this point, which is the entire main body of the sweater up to the armpits, I took a good look at all I had done, and realized that the colors in the yarn skeins were different, and you could see a definite line where one skein ended, and the next began. (If you look closely, you can definitely see the difference in the lighter pinks on the bottom part, and the darker, more burgundy, pinks at the top.) I knew I would be unhappy with it FOREVER if I didn't start over and fix it ... so even after all this knitting, I ripped the ENTIRE thing out, rolled up the yarn, and started from scratch. As I began anew, I used TWO skeins of yarn and alternated them every two rows, working the lighter colors in with the darker ones. It worked, and I'm happy with the end product ... even if the process was mildly infuriating.

And here she is! Don't be put off by the look on my face ... I didn't know Caleb had my face in the picture. I really am very happy with it! And don't you love the way the colors change??

Close up. One thing I think I might do is go back and make the sleeves a little shorter. I have them pushed up a bit here to show what its supposed to look like, but when I washed the sweater the sleeves grew a bit too long. They're supposed to be 3/4 length, and they actually land just above my wrists. Its awkward.

The back. One other knitting note: I did not knit the sleeves separate and then sew them in as the pattern called for ... I picked up stitches directly off the armholes and knitted straight down. I found the technique from a girl on Ravelry (my knitting community website) who found a formula for doing sleeves this way ... and I love it! It took a couple tries to get it right, but in the end it was so much less work. I hate seaming sleeves into armholes!

Close up of the details ... you can see the pretty moss stitch pattern (that's the waffly looking part) and the regular stockinette stitch for the front bands. I think it turned out really pretty.

2 comments:

Gypmar said...

YOU have some mad knitting skills, my friend. I love the pattern and I love the way it turned out. I see you share my mom's weakness for very fine, very beautiful, very expensive yarn :) Gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

That look actually goes well with the last sentence of the paragraph just before that first photo of you in your new sweater. It does look like it is a pretty combination of colors--lots of possibilities to accessorize!

Love,
Mom Dub