Something Different

I finished the suitable fair isle jacket over the weekend. All the knitting and some of the finishing was done by Friday. There was a bit of a glitch in easing in the sleeves as I misread a pattern that I have used at least ten times. There was always 9" between the beginning of the armhole and the beginning of the shoulder bind offs. For some reason I read 7.5" which is where the neck should begin if one is making a crew neck. I ended up with 8" and figured I could ease in the extra 1/2 inch, but discovered that I really was an inch short.

By this time I had already cut open the work and attached the button bands, so no going back. I tried the sleeveless piece on and was grateful for the generous armhole that the pattern provided, so missing an inch did not cause a fit problem. It did create a sleeve cap problem as I was not going to smash that much fabric into the resulting space. So, I pulled out the sleeve cap a few inches and reworked that part. Success. A complete project that fits.

As far as new projects, my brain rejected jumping into yet another worsted sweater. Yes, that is my stated goal for now until the worsted stash is reduced to oddballs. But I've been cleaning and re-organizing and longing to work with something else.

So I did.

I acquired this KidLin years ago on a half price shelf. Two skeins of pink and five of a very light grey. I wanted something not too complicated that would be airy and light and smooshy. A free pattern on Ravelry named tumbling blocks suited those requirements and is the sort of pattern that can be worked until the yarn runs out then cast off.

 Perfect.

It was good timing to start that on Tuesday because my husband had a medical scare that took us to the emergency room for five hours on Wednesday. Working on finishing would have been too messy, so it was nice to have already established the pattern for this project. Now, a week later, I have worked through one skein and started the second. It looks like it will finish up between 48 and 50 inches.

Perfect.

Much Suitable Progress

We took a car trip this weekend so there was considerable car knitting. Yesterday, my husband had a mohs procedure, hopefully his last for a wile, so there was some doctors waiting room knitting. Now that I think about it, most of the first sleeve was made while he was getting a minor knee surgery. So, this is a car and doctor's office knit. 

Funny how projects can be associated with major events. The Drops squares sleeves were knit while visiting my FiL in the hospital. The Dale Inverness sleeves were knit on the trip to his memorial. 

Needless to say, it's been a weird year so far with all the minor medical stuff for my husband and the huge emotional slap when his dad passed.

In any event, here is a weekly progress picture. The front is done. The photo sort of shows the steek for the cardigan opening and the slant of the neck on the left. 

I may have enough yarn to make this a full length jacket after all. I started the body with 180 grams of the brown. 80 grams lasted past the half way point of the central motif. Seem is I end with over 45 grams I should be able to make it work. It would not be that hard to again, snip off the ribbing, knit up the band I left off, then graft it back together. 

I'll weigh what I have left when I finish the back before making any decision. In the current configuration the ribbing lands just at my natural waist, which is fine.

Short Again, so Make it Short

So, two sleeves now, but not without a small kerfuffle. I got near the end and realized I had made a mistake in the graphic near the sleeve.

Grumble.

Ignore or fix? Ignoring would be very easy. My husband would see it, because he has eyes that work that way. I'll probably give away the sweater, so why would that matter. On the other hand, I've grafted whole sweaters before and a little sleeve is not that big a deal. The pattern has a few single color rows, so easy peasy. My original intention with this brown and tan yarn was to create a graphic that flipped dominant/background color every stripe. I have about the same amount, and that would have worked out.

Here is the mistake. Can you see it on the left?

And fixed. No worries.

Yet, this project still in trouble.  I again find myself short of yarn. Instead, I decided this already made pattern would work better. The patterns didn't flip well because part of the rhythm of the piece is the dark bands on either side. So now, with the sleeves done, I'm running long on the tan and short on the brown.

After considering some options, I've decided to make this a jacket instead of a pullover. V neck like the pattern model. That should save some yards, but not enough. So, cropped is stylish.... let's crop it.  Regular black welt, but the body will begin with the second red/black graphic. Time to cast on. 

Another Sleeve

The suitable project is on her way. Here is a picture of the sleeve on my messy desk. I wasn't sure about the color combination at first, but I'm liking it better in the picture. I should get to 17" about the end of the current pattern stripe, so it is coming along.

I mailed my TKGA L2 package yesterday. Nothing to do but wait and see.

Thunderstorms rolling through this week. Husband had minor knee surgery and is recovering well. Weird MIL is continuing to be weird.