Ch-ch-changes

Remember the Japanese pattern book sweater I modeled way back in this post? Well, I put it on yesterday to wear to work and as I was driving, I noticed for the umpteenth time how short the sleeves were.



This, of course, was even after I had made adaptations to the pattern (written in one size) to fit my considerably larger Western frame. Apparently, I must be part gibbon.

Anyway, I just happened to have some leftovers of the same yarn with me, so I decided to go about lengthening the sleeves a bit. Because the sleeves were knat cuff-up, I couldn't just ravel them, and the seaming made snipping and unzipping the end a poor option. So I decided that I should just pick up stitches from the long-tail cast-on, which is exactly what I did.



The first round after I picked up stitches might have done better as a purl round, since I ended up with a band separating two sections of garter stitch. Still, though, I think that it would have had a bit too heavy a look as a solid band of garter, and the band serves to break that up nicely and looks like a design element, too. More importantly, the sleeves are now long enough.



I also made the neck band wider to match the waist band. As I recall, I deliberately left it a bit narrower, but I ended up feeling like the neck was a bit too open. My picking up of stitches turned out to be much less noticeable there, as it was a cast-off edge that I hadn't done as a sewn cast-off (my usual) and I did a purl round immediately after knitting up stitches. In all, a fairly quick and easy fix, and I'm pleased with the results.

Sprung

I can't believe how early spring has arrived this year. This was the scene in front of the house this morning.

Sock Yarn Mittens

I made these with Plymouth Happy Feet sock yarn for my sister's girls, aged 7 and 5. The pattern, as per my usual, was made up on the fly using information gleaned from other kid's mitten patterns online and what I already know of mitten construction. The cords are 2-stitch I-cord. They were a quick and easy project, and I'm pretty sure the girls will squeal when they get them.

Also, I realized that I forgot to post photos here of the finished Japanese sweater. This sweater has gotten a fair bit of wear already, and I'm very happy with it.





And now it's time for bed. I've been battling a killer headache all evening without much luck. Hopefully a good night's sleep will do the trick.

It's All About Me

Since I finished off the handwarmers and Tuck's sweater, my hands were finally free to start a sweater from my newly acquired Japanese pattern books.



This is sleeve #1 of a raglan sleeve sweater, and it's the first time I've ever done a sweater that requires assembly. By which I mean real assembly, not fold it and sew up the sleeves like the Baby Surprise Jacket. While I was adapting the pattern from something to fit a scrawny Japanese dude, I suppose I could have adapted it to seamless construction. It's actually a pattern that would be fairly amenable to it, I think. I decided not to, though, because I thought it would be a good exercise for me to do the seaming at least once.

So here I am venturing into unfamiliar waters, but so far I'm getting gauge and there are only 35 more rows to go before I start the raglan shaping. I just need to get it finished soon. It's getting cold out!