Entries tagged with “KWoT” from LJL Spins and Knits

Pattern: Shirt Yoke Sweater (under Hybrid Sweater entry)

Source: "Knitting Without Tears: Basic Techniques and Easy-to-Follow Directions for Garments to Fit All Sizes" by Elizabeth Zimmermann

Size: I measured myself around my bust, taking into account of my waist measurement and the fact that I wanted about 2 or 3 inches of positive ease, since I plan to wear it with my turtleneck shirts

Materials: Briggs & Little (I think), light blue/green with tiny specks of white throughout

Needles: US7/4.5mm Addi Turbo Circulars

Started: September 2008

Finished: March 2008

This was a fun sweater to knit - once I finally had an epiphany as to how the yoke area was supposed to be worked. My progress got delayed for a couple months or so as I had a mental hiccup trying to decipher the instructions. Finally, I figured out that first you decrease the sleeve stitches with the body stitches, then you attach the shoulder stitches to the body. Confusing, I know. But it really does make sense once you just grit your teeth and shoulder on with this.

Another issue I had with the sleeves were that I knit it too narrow. So, I had to rip out and make these wider. Then, after uniting with the body, I discovered that the sleeves were way too short. So - I had to knit on 2 more inches. What I also wish I'd done? I should have done a provisional cast-on - this would have made the hemming part go so much easier. My wrist hurt a bit from gripping the dpn holding the hem stitches for me to unite with the body.

Still, I'm very happy with the sweater, especially since it looks to be cold for at least a while longer. Here's a secret message for you, from the bottom of the sweater. Can you figure this out? I'll give you one clue - it's Russian.

As you can see, I've made a lot of progress, especially after I finally "got" it as to what was going on. Here's how I accomplished this: I worked the left saddle shoulder, and when I was satisfied with the length, I bound off the front half of the stitches. Then, I knit over to the right side, working the sleeve and body stitch together at each end. THEN, I bound off the front half, and continued the process, only working the back stitches together. And after that was done, I then grafted the stitches together, as you can see:

Yes, there's that pucker thing going on, but I suspect that should go away after I've watched and blocked the sweater. Right now I'm knitting in the hem lining. For the bottom, I have a secret message all charted out.

Ruth asked:

Where did the Hybrid pattern come from? Is it in KWoT ? What 2 patterns does it combine to cause it to be hybrid? Just curious.

Yes, it's in KWoT, as well as KA. What makes it a hybrid is that it starts out as a raglan sweater, and end as a saddle shoulder sweater. See - if I had continued the decreases started at the armpits up to where my neck meets the shoulders, I would have ended up with a raglan sweater, with that diagonal line running up to the neck. And, the saddles are very wide. Now, I must admit that I got myself a bit confused - I am actually making a shirt-yoke sweater. The difference between a hybrid and shirt-yoke sweater is that the saddles in a shirt-yoke sweater are very deep, continuing across the shoulder, whereas in a hybrid sweater, the saddles aren't deep, and you have a short of a flap-like piece running up in line with your neck. Confusing, eh? Yes, especially when people refer to both types as a hybrid sweater. I guess that's because in KWoT she refers to "Seamless Hybrid Sweater" on page 78, and then goes "oh, by the way, here's a cool way to do this by making a shirt yoke".

For a good example of a shirt-yoke sweater, see Jared's take on Flickr. As for an hybrid sweater example, look here. Of course, if you're on Ravelry, as I write this, there are 195 projects, many with photos. Clearly this is a very popular pattern, a true testament to EZ's genius (even if her directions drives us crazy sometime).

Here's two really nice interpretations - Henrietta cardigan and Oregon cardigan. I really like the shaping. I would like to have a cardigan that zips up like the Henrietta, and a deep-v shape like the Oregon. Hmm . . . how about combining both - a zippered, deep-v neck cardigan? and while I'm at it - set-in sleeves. Got to do some thinking about this.

Oh, the Job Search? The good news - I'm still getting interviews. The bad news? No job offer yet. At least I've got people interested in me.

You know how it is when you've got a band-aid and you're faced with a dilemma? If you rip off the band-aid slowly, it huuuurts for a good long while. If you rip it off fast, the pain is sharp indeed. The ultimate choice comes down to your pain threshold. In this case . . . I'll rip it off fast. Nope - the First Company is a no-go for now. Bummer - I was really looking forward to getting the job search over and done with.

I know from the test results so far that I really do need to update my programming knowledge. That's kinda hard to do when you need to concentrate on getting work that pays real money and you don't have the financial resources or the backing of a company willing to give you the needed training. By the way . . . make darned sure that your company backs you up on giving you real, meaningful training to keep your skills up to date and employable. If they give you the song and dance, it's probably time to look for a more supportive company. Believe me, I know from experience.

So . . . with the Purple Polo Sweater - this is where I'm at right now. As I said, brown yarn with dark purple yarn - hard to see what you're doing. A couple times I had to rip out the crocheted yarn - this was kind of painful because the sweater yarn is 90/10 wool and mohair. I finally took some of the green shetland yarn I had on hand to outline the middle stitch of the 3 stitches I crocheted up - that helped a lot. Next up - the sleeves. I'm not going to cut the steeks until I get the sleeves done - I want to make sure these come off the right length and will fit into the armholes.

I'm taking a bit of hiatus from this sweater and working on the Briggs & Little Hybrid Sweater. After reading the instructions in KWoT, I've finally understood her pithy directions. So, a big roadblock down for me, especially after I had to knit on 2 more inches to the sleeves (what is it with me and sleeves???) and then joining the body in. I'm still not quite in the clear as to how the saddle portion works, but I'm sure I'll get it, eventually. One thing I can say for sure - more hybrid sweaters are going to be be in my future. I may even get to knit two matching hybrid sweaters for my nephews!