Hourglass Sweater kAL - Page 2

knitbebe · 01-24-2006, 11:30 PM

allegra, I just cast on yesterday & now have 3 rows!! woohoo! so, I think we're at the same place (the starting gate!! :D )

mer & kellyjo are leading the way! mer, too late for me to do the provisional cast on since I'm on row 3. but, I have decided (after a little reality check--ummm..I read the directions.) that I will mark the stitches every 10, as you suggested and knit the hem.

I don't know how much support I'll be able to offer you guys, since you're way ahead of me--but, I reread the directions (insert crazy obsessed knitter here!

) in spare moments, so at least I'll know what you guys are talking about.

I'm starting a blog to chronicle my progress on hourglass--I'll let you guys know when it is up in running. In case you want to drop there as well.

knitbebe

feministmama · 01-25-2006, 04:55 AM

Did the pattern call for Manos? What are you using? I remember seeing this sweater and wanted to make it.

Mer · 01-25-2006, 05:18 AM

The pattern calls for Noro Cash Iroha.

I have to say that I made it through the body fine, but now that I'm on to the sleeves I am getting TIRED of stockinette! :rollseyes: And I'm doing magic loop method (I don't like 12" circs) and it seems to be taking a while. Gotta press on...

allegra918 · 01-25-2006, 06:30 AM

:(

ribbit, ribbit

i frogged it all. i was convinced it was going to be too wide. i did yet another swatch and it all works out fine.

so now that i'm going to START ALL OVER (for a 2nd time, first time i had twisted the first row and couldn't tell until i had done about the same amount i had done this past time)...... are there any hints, tricks that i should keep in mind? like this provisonal cast on or the sewing up the hem stuff you guys are talking about?

i won't be casting on until tomorrow night probably, so i will anxiously await any words of wisdom..... and then i will knit like a banshee to try to catch up to at least where i was before frogging......

kellyjo32 · 01-25-2006, 12:19 PM

I'm so sorry I missed out on the provisional cast on, and sewing up the hem as I went. Argh! It saying to slipstitch the lower edge and sleeves...hmm, slipstitch?!

Oh well, I'll save that for last I guess.

Mer, that's what I did sizing wise, went down just a tad, there was a huge gap between the small and then the next size, so I went with the smaller. I decided last night that since this was the first sweater I've done, I'm going to just go for it and love it no matter what!

Mer · 01-25-2006, 02:32 PM

:( Sorry Allegra!

I did slip mine on to a large circ when I got to the armpit area and tried it on--it fits! So that's a relief. Looks like a fancy tube top at this point.

allegra918 · 01-26-2006, 06:56 AM

So I've CO'd for the THIRD time now. I did the provisional CO. Now what's this all about hemming the botton while knitting the lower body?

knitbebe · 01-26-2006, 08:05 AM

allegra, I'm sorry you've had a rough start. But, glad to see you plugging a way. The provisional cast on is really going to help you when you flip up your hem to knit on--you'll be able to see which stitch goes where.

I don't have any really great hints about the hem-since I'm a little lost with this hemming. I've done several swatches to try out the hem technique and what I discovered was that it isn't as clear as which stitches match. It's easy to skip a stitch are pick up an extra stitch .

so, I'm going to get a piece of scrap yarn and pull it through the bottom stitches (to make them more defined and hopefully easier to pick up in the right order (since you have done provisional --you've eliminated this problem) --it will be easy for you to match stitches up. It should be free sailing for you. YOu may want to mark every 20 or even 10 stitches. That way if you skip a stitch then you can just pick up 2 and be right on track. As long as you control the numbers evening them about every 10/20 you want have any problem with the hem twisting.

Boy, we'll be sailing along after this hem.

I'm loving my pima cotton by cascade---it is so soft, and really looks like denim. I have to figure out a way to get more--with my budget I have to be very creative--which sometimes means we eat pancakes, frech toast for dinner (what a horrible sacrifice!!

I take the extra grocery money and get some yarn. My husband is a teacher/ as I am--but, right now I'm at home my son . With one teaching salary I have to be very creative with how to keep my "habit" going.

knitbebe

allegra918 · 01-26-2006, 03:35 PM

So maybe it's just me, but is a provisonal CO tighter than usual?? It took me FOREVER to knit my first round because it was so tight! I'm sure it's just the way I did it, but man, I thought I was going to get tendonitis from knitting last night!!! Not a good thing when i'm trying to prevent that in my "everyday" life......

Anyway, i do like the way the prov CO makes it look. Is it really crucial to do the hemming as soon as i can or can it wait? i feel like i need to make up some ground on this project, so maybe i'll just wait until later when i'm bored of stockinette....

Mer · 01-26-2006, 04:00 PM

Allegra--the advantage to using the provisional cast-on is that you can do the hem before you finish the whole piece. I followed this tutorial exactly and it worked great: http://marniemaclean.com/words/2005/01/no-sew-hem.html. It's basically like 3-needle bind off but without the bind-off part, if that makes any sense.

I suppose you could wait and sew up the provisional cast on loops at the end, but then you might as well just follow the pattern as written if you're going to have to sew, in my opinion!