Road to a Sweater: Week 6

Here we are at Week 6 and we have heard reports of success and progress.

Kathy:

She has finished the body! (whoo hoo!)

And she has started on the sleeves:

Here is a detail of the pick up stitches in the arm pit.

This seems to be the week for picking up stitches. Kathy said ” I picked an extra stitch on either side of the 6 I was supposed to pick up. Then on the first round I knit those extra stitches together with the stitches next to them on the sleeve. This kept me from getting those holes you often get between picked up stitches & the body of the work.”

Even though my sweater was a “top down” model, I picked up stitches at the shoulders.

I knit the back, and then picked up stitches at the shoulder, and knit down the front on the right and the left.
You can still see where the stitches were picked up because I have not blocked the piece yet. But once I do, the transition will be flat and invisible.

One more “thinking ahead” note:
If you are working on a cardigan, take care when you are changing balls of yarn. I don’t like changing at the front because you are going to pick up a button band, and you do not want to work with all of the extra ends. Picking up stitches that run 90 degrees from where your other stitches are is a little bit harder work than picking up stitches to knit in the other direction (like shoulders and armpits). We will talk more about that in the “finishing” week. But the more work you can do as you go to make consistent, lovely, even edge stitches, the happier you will be when you go to tackle the button band.

Here is my progress from the back

And in the front

I am 5 inches down, and done with the waste decreases. Once I get two more inches straight, I will start the increases for the hips. I am happy with the progress. I like the way it fits so far.
My sweater is done from a new book, so there were not a ton of people who had tried it before me, but there were a few.
A great thing to do before you start any project is read everything that you can find about it. Ravelry is such an amazing resource. People post pictures of their work, and it is amazing to see the sweater on different body types and different color ways before you get going.
The notes in ravelry warned that the armpits on my sweater were going to come out WAY too big. (3 ladies had already finished the sweater when my book arrived at my house. That is some crazy fast knitting. OR, they are “in” with the right people!!) I was cautious about the armpit issue, because that would be hard to change with the colorwork section right in the armpit area. But so far, the openings look fine. If anything, they will be a bit small, so I will block them open.

For week 6, you should be down to the bottom of the body. (more where Kat’s pictures are, than where my pictures are.) But, where ever you are, carry on! We have two sleeves and finishing to do and three weeks to work.

How are you coming? Do you have pictures to share with us?
We would love to see them!