Knitter in the Kitchen

I don’t have a great track record when it comes to sweater knitting. I finished a total of three sweaters prior to the Central Park Hoodie — Klaralund (worn only once), Kepler (never even worn), and Frieda (worn exactly twice). I wasn’t happy with their fit so they remained hidden in my closet. A couple of months ago I finally donated them to the Goodwill. I know many knitters would unravel the sweaters and re-purpose the yarn for some other project, but I just wasn’t interested in taking apart completely finished garments. I hope those sweaters are now in good homes elsewhere.

The road to completing my Central Park Hoodie felt like a long one because I started it six months ago. The actual knitting of the sweater was quite easy; the pattern is well-written and uncomplicated. For awhile I struggled to get off sleeve island, but in hindsight that wasn’t even the hard part. The challenge for me was the finishing.

I was a bit alarmed when the pieces came off the blocking board because they looked very big. I had read in multiple places that this sweater runs snug, so instead of knitting size 32 I went with the 36. I prefer my sweaters a little looser anyway as I tend to wear a shirt or turtleneck underneath. But when Hubby remarked that the pieces looked like they could fit him tightly (he’s 5′10″!), you can imagine why I got concerned.

Next, I severely underestimated how long it would take me to knit the hood, knit the ribbed border (which involved picking up a total of 300 stitches!), and do all the seaming. I am absolutely terrible at seaming, and while struggling through it I actually considered frogging the. entire. sweater. Because I was convinced that it would turn out horribly and wouldn’t fit me anyway, so why bother? But that seemed like giving up without a fight right before the finish line, so I pushed on.

I spent at least half an hour at Joanns trying to find the right buttons but I still couldn’t make a decision. I came home with five sets (with the intent of returning four ) so I could get a second opinion from Hubby. I ended up using these 3/4″ buttons and I like them a lot.

There are many imperfections in my CPH. The buttonholes look appalling (they were my first ones and clearly I should have read up on techniques beforehand), some of the seams could be straighter, the hood is wonky, and the sleeves are too long (don’t know why I didn’t think about that when knitting them). I’m not necessarily showcasing all of these problems, but trust me, they’re there. And I probably should have knit the smallest size. But. When the sweater came off the board after its final blocking, my doubts started to fade away. My Central Park Hoodie is actually wearable despite its flaws and I am so excited about that!

Yarn: Cascade 220 in Color 8013 (Walnut Heather), a little over 5 skeins
Pattern: from Fall 2006 KnitScene
Needles: US #7 and #9 to obtain gauge
Modifications: Lengthened the body by half an inch

I feel like I’m on sleeve island with the Central Park Hoodie. I finished the first sleeve over two weeks ago and immediately cast on for the second one (seen above), but I’m still only about 40% through. Part of the problem is that I got distracted by a couple of other projects. I knit another pair of Irish Hiking Wrist Warmers for a friend, and then another Noro Hat (Ravelry link) for my supervisor because she really liked mine. And I keep wanting to start new projects — like the Linen Stitch Scarflet, Foliage, and Mabel’s Scarf, just to name a few. Originally I was trying to get Central Park Hoodie and the Chevron Scarf off the needles before casting on for anything new, but I’m just tired of my current projects and am pretty much ready to be done with them.  Instead of being fun, I feel like I’m slogging through them.  But I have to fight this startitis in order to make any progress!  Ugh…definitely not one of my best knitting moments right now…

It’s been quite awhile since I attempted to knit a sweater. The last two I finished were in late 2005 and early 2006, and in my book they were not very successful projects. One didn’t fit well because I was simply careless about gauge, and I’ve never even worn it out. The other seemed okay at the time, but I didn’t wear it at all last year because the yarn felt too itchy around my neck and the sweater seemed to have “shrunk” from its post-blocking size, making the length too short for my taste.  For both projects, I struggled greatly with sewing in the sleeves.  After those experiences, I felt like I needed a time-out from sweaters (and sweater seaming in particular). 

I guess the break was long enough, because when my knitting mojo returned recently, I was totally interested in sweaters.  Go figure, huh? The first one I cast on for last month was Wicked by Zephyr Style.  I was inspired after seeing Jillian’s gorgeous version earlier in the year. And there is no seaming because it’s knit in the round from the top down! I managed to score the Artyarns Supermerino at a super duper price through someone’s destashing, which is always a plus!

I took the above photo a couple weeks ago, and admittedly Wicked still looks exactly the same because I’ve been consumed with the other sweater on the needles.

Yup, it’s the Central Park Hoodie from the Fall 2006 KnitScene. I have got to be at least a year behind the crowd on this one. I am using Cascade 220, and I chose the color after seeing two gorgeous ones here and here. I am knitting the pieces separately as written in the pattern, and my goal is to take a seaming class to learn how to do it properly. We’ll see how that goes.  I have actually finished the back and am working on the left front, but I still have a looooong way to go.  So it will probably be awhile before I have another FO to show!

Pattern: Frieda from Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk
Yarn: Jaeger Shetland Aran in color Fuchsia (033). This yarn knits up nicely and shows cable definition well. However, it is a bit itchy and it bleeds like crazy. I got it for a good deal on eBay, though, so I’m not complaining.
Modifications: I followed Cyndi’s sleeve modifications and knit two fewer sleeve increases. I knit the turtleneck to 7″ instead of 9.5″.

I started this sweater on November 1, and wasn’t sure that I would ever finish it. It took me a week to knit the 7 inches of turtleneck because I couldn’t motivate myself to knit the ribbing. Seaming was spread out over the course of several nights. Cyndi gave me some really helpful tips on easing in the sleeves, but I still encountered problems. One night I spent a full 3 hours sewing and re-sewing the sleeves into the armholes because I kept getting this weird bunching. Finally I gave up and decided to block the armhole seams before seaming the sides and the sleeves. Blocking helped quite a bit, but I can see remnants of bunching.

The sleeves are also too loose on me, particularly on the upper arm. I knew this going in, but I didn’t know how to make further modifications to decrease the width. I didn’t want to cut the number of sleeve increases too drastically because then the sleeve might not have fit into the armhole at all.

Despite the imperfections, I am very pleased with this sweater. I wore it out today, and I like it a lot more than the other two sweaters I’ve knit. I’m so glad I finished!

To my great relief, I woke up last Saturday totally motivated to work on the Frieda Sweater. After feeling blah about this project for so long, I ran with the positive feeling.

I knit the first sleeve over the weekend, and I just finished the increases on the second sleeve. I hope to have it done by this weekend and then put the front and back of the sweater on the blocking board. Many thanks to Cyndi for her notes on the sleeve modifications – they really helped point me in the right direction. My bad sleeve experience with the Kepler Sweater must be haunting me, because I’m already worried that the sleeve won’t fit into the armhole. In all fairness, though, when I eyeball the sweater pieces, the situation looks a lot better with Frieda. So I’m trying to be optimistic.

The Frieda Sweater has got me thinking about whether I am a process- or product-oriented knitter. While the process of knitting brings me great pleasure and satisfaction, ultimately I am probably more product-oriented. I like to see that I accomplished something, so I don’t deal well with leaving projects unfinished and untouched for long periods. My tendency is either to finish a project or give it up. It’s hard for me to leave something hanging the way that I’ve left Frieda hanging (I started it on November 1). I’ve read blogs where knitters put aside sweaters for a year or two before finishing them – wow! That’s not quite what I’m striving for, but it’s pretty amazing. I think I need to work on: (1) maintaining knitting bigamy (as opposed to polygamy), and (2) patiently letting projects sit (without getting frustrated with myself) until I’m in the mood for them. The latter would definitely be helpful if I can’t achieve the former.

Thanks for the encouraging comments about my yarn diet. My last yarn purchase was on December 16th and so far I’ve been good. Of course, I’ve been tempted. Especially when Jillian started a knit-along for Lady Eleanor from Scarf Style. *sigh* Talk about wanting to buy a bag of Noro Silk Garden on the spot! But luckily, Steph and I have been chatting over email about what we haven’t bought and it’s been fun. And Purly has been keeping me in check too. I commented on how her lovely fair isle socks were tempting me, and she immediately emailed me saying, “You don’t like socks and you can’t buy the yarn. No Caitlyn, No!! Think of the wheel.” Do I have good knitting friends or what? =) I will be buying yarn for a Secret Pal, though, so if you see me shopping at the LYS, please don’t shoot me on the spot. I promise not to buy yarn for myself. Once I gave up chocolate (which is an essential food group, by the way) for three months just to prove to myself that I could do it. If I could refrain from chocolate, then the yarn diet should be possible!!