Thursday, May 15, 2008

Spring sweater

As promised, here's my latest FO, the mohair sweater! After several amusing modifications, I can finally put it out there on the 'net! Although for some reason, I felt like making this a faceless post; not sure why. This way you can see that the neck edge is rolled (using where I picked up stitches to stop the roll), the sleeves roll, too (except there's ribbing to stop the roll), and the waist edge is crochet. A bit schizophrenic, and there are some funky pooling issues in places I'd rather them not to be, but other than that, it's not bad for a cozy, lightweight spring sweater!

Mohair raglan sweater FO

First, you see, I had to redo the bind off on the collar. You should have seen me trying to pull it over my head at the knitting group meeting. You could see a little bit of blond poking out the top, but that was about it! Several women kindly suggested that I bind off more loosely (more loosely?), which worked well. Then, of course, there was the rolled hem. Now, I have several sweaters with rolled edges, all machine-made, store-bought, and their rolled edges don't seem to add bulk where it doesn't belong, so I was foolishly unworried about the plan to knit myself a rolled edge. What a mistake that was, even after blocking!! This meant that on a Tuesday evening listening to election coverage on the TV, I found myself crocheting the bottom edge of the sweater. Yes, listening to the TV because I couldn't not look at the little hook at the end of a stick.

The Stats:
Pattern: The raglan pattern in The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns
Yarn: Brooks Farm Primero, about 1.5 hanks
Time; Ravelry tells me it took about a month and a half or so
Needles: size 5 for the body

I've been doing a lot of dissertation work - most of it inside, in the study, all previous posts and photos to the contrary - and have actually been making progress. Well, at least, the progress of a quote strung together here and there with another quote plus a possibly off-topic analysis of a few photographs, all added up to make a few really long sections scattered over several MS Word documents... and it's starting to feel like a chapter draft is taking shape in my mind, even though I can easily see many more pages of typing before it gets printed out in something resembling a coherent document on a date with a red pen. (Or pencil or blue pen - it depends what's lying around). Given that May is about half over and I haven't had any drafts to show since January, like the funky pooling on the sweater, I'll take what I can get! I'd like to have an actual draft-to-show-the-advisor by early June, which is when I'll be driving all my books to my home school so they can be renewed. In person. All several shelves of them. Given that Coffeeboy and I'll be gone for a week or so in late May, this just might be a dubious goal. But one can always hope for the best, right?

3 comments:

The A.D.D. Knitter said...

Yes, I also rely on Ravelry to tell mw when I finish stuff!:) LOVE that Primero, great color choice btw. Good luck with your writing...

Jessica said...

I think the sweater looks lovely! I don't really see any offensive pooling and your edges came out nicely. :)

Your previous post has me absolutely itching to get down your way now! I can't wait!

Glad the dis is coming along and good luck with your goals!

Sheepish Annie said...

Fabulous sweater! I like the neckline. Very flattering!

I think that you will make it to the draft stage by early June. I really do. It's funny how much gets done without you even realizing it.