Judy here. New month, new sweater. Sort of. This month I will be showing the knitting of Going Green from the book knit, Swirl! Some people know this is not the first time I have knit this sweater. I had the same gauge problem Lori had on my first go around with this sweater; my actual knitting was 1/2 a stitch bigger than my gauge swatch. I was into the sleeves and I had one skein of yarn left. Uh oh. Yes, it happens to everyone. Here is what the yarn looks like after ripping. Anneliese had a great laugh at this one. Ruler added for effect.

Anna W. pointed me in the direction of the author’s website http://knitswirl.sumnermckenzie.com/ . She discusses in detail some of the finer points of this sweater, including gauge. Should have read it before I started!

I am using Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light which will give the sweater a nice drape. So, armed with a 47 inch size 3 needle, I cast on 705 stitches. That is correct, 705. This sweater is a circle with sleeves. The body is started on the outer circumference and decreased inward. McIver gives tricks to making the cast on and subsequent joining of the work manageable.

This is what 705 stitches look like. 

Lots of knitting to be done. Next week, the main body.

So, I have a sweater. Want to come wear it with me?  It’s big enough for at least two of us at a time.  I went back and refigured my measurements, the number of cast on stitches, my sanity.  All seemed to be correct (and intact).  Talking it over with Judy, I mentioned that YES, I HAD DONE A SWATCH!  OF COURSE I DID!  She asked me what gauge my swatch gave me.  I told her 5 stitches per inch.  She measured the gauge on my actual sweater.  Guess what?  3 1/2 stitches per inch.    It seems that my stitches got very relaxed as I knit the sweater.  This is a new phenomenon for me.  Too much wine drinking while knitting?  (I wish!)  Being abnormally relaxed? (Uh, just ask my kids about that one.)  I don’t know what happened, but I did learn something important:  Take the piece off the needles after a few inches and re-measure.

I began my damage control with the sleeves.  Normally, sleeves can be unraveled or picked back.  However, because the bog jacket is knit hand to hand, these are not options.  Instead, I opted for steeks.  I ran yarn through the stitches to mark my desired length.  Then, with my sewing machine, I sewed around the entire cuff and CUT.  (Yes, that word needs to be in all caps when we are discussing steeks.  It just does.)  I finished by making a hem at the cuff in order to smooth the edges.  Later on, I used an applied I-cord  as a finishing cuff.

Once the sleeves were fixed, I decided to go all the way and shorten the sweater’s length.  Sadly, I had to unravel a lot of applied I-cord before doing this, but I was in it too far by now to stop my repairs.  This cut was actually simpler.  I ran yarn above the row at which I wanted to make the cut in order to keep the stitches in place.  Then I just cut off the bottom of the sweater to the desired length.  After picking out the little schnibbles of yarn that had been cut, I had live stitches upon which I could knit my applied I-cord border.

All the cut garter stitch fabric could have swaddled newborn twins.  Instead, we opted to cut it into squares for the kids’ gerbil to shred for a cozy nest.  At least someone appreciated all the extra knitting, I guess.

Well, the important thing is that it is finished and that it is not humongous anymore.  I actually liked this project.  I learned a lot, and I was happy that I could correct things gone awry.  Come on in and see the bog.  We have been through a lot together, that bog and I.

Just popping in to show you this fantastic new yarn in the shop by Rowan!

Kidsilk Creation is our newest ruffling yarn made from mohair and silk. It took Anneliese 35 minutes to whip it up and it is BEAUTIFUL!

No jewelry needed…just an amazing scarf!

Here we are!  The garter stitch is done, and it is time to use kitchener stitch to sew this up into a sweater!  In order to do this, I need to use kitchener stitch across each side of the sweater from chest to end of sleeve.  Anneliese (genius that she is) suggested running a smooth waste yarn such as cotton through all the live stitches.  This was helpful for two reasons.  One, the cotton pulled out easily after the grafting was done.  Two, the length to be grafted was way too long to fit on a circular needle.

I pulled out the red waste yarn and kitchenered away!  After five or six inches, though, I pulled it out to begin again.  The reason was that I pulled the grafting too tightly, making it look like two garter ridges were running tightly along together.  When I did it over again more loosely, I found the kitchener stitch to look like a row of knit stitches between the garter ridges.  This looked much better.

After the grafting, I pulled out the red waste yarn from the neckline and garter stitched back and forth enough rows to raise the collar a couple of inches.  Decreasing gave the collar a nicely rounded edge.  I then started the icord border.  The key here was to really do it loosely enough to let the fabric flow correctly.  On my way to finishing, and it’s time to try on the sweater……

What?!  Either I have shrunk or……..  Tune in next week for my final installment of the Bog Blog and to see how I fixed this case of sweater explosion.  (And no, I did not throw it into the fire, but I was tempted for a few minutes!)

Hello Everyone!  The idea of this sweater is to make a square (number of cast-on stitches = number of garter ridges) with a little sleeve lengthening if desired.  I found that I needed to make the sweater shorter than this method calls for.  I will chalk up the reason for being short waisted.  (Note to Reader:  For some giggles later on, try to remember that above I wrote “a little sleeve lengthening.”)

Because sweaters always seem to ride up and be a little shorter in that back than I prefer, I put in some short rows across the back only.  I did two sets of them, which gave me about an extra inch of length in the back.  The method involved wrap and turn, and it is easy.  The only drawback is that it does create an additional ridge in the garter stitch.  However, it is easily hidden amongst the many other ridges across the back.

It was fun to do the phoney seams.  At the arm pits, I dropped down to the cast-on edge the stitch on either side that would be in the place of a side seam.  Afterward using a crochet hook, I picked up the ladders from the stitch dropped down two at a time.  The result is a nice, natural fold to the fabric.  I had the choice to do a seam to make the garment reversible by making the seam look the same on either side of the fabric.  After taking a shot at it, I decided against it.  It looked loose.  As is, I am really happy with how this phoney seam turned out, and I will do it in other sweaters that I knit in the future.

Just past the armpits, it was time for the thumb trick.  This is how the garment is divided in order to make the shoulders and sleeves.  I knit in a piece of waste yarn and then re-knit the same stitches in the sweater yarn in order to create a divide with live stitches to graft together later.  This is done twice:  once on each side of the sweater.  It was hard to wrap my head around the concept, so I just plunged.

Continuing at the same number of stitches here would give me elbow-lengthed sleeves, according to the pattern.  I wanted full-lengthed sleeves, so I added stitches at either end.  I measured my arms from the elbow to the wrist and figured out the number of stitches to add according to my gauge.

Next week:  Pulling out the waste yarn and weaving together the live stitches across the chest / starting on the neck hole for the collar / and a surprise

Happy Martin Luther King Day….Have a good week!

Armed with Lopi, circular needles, and my beloved copy of Knitting Around, I began by dutifully knitting up my swatch.  What I found was that using US 7′s, the garter stitch looked looser than I cared for.  So, I started over on US 6′s.  Much better!  Doing a gauge swatch is really essential for all the obvious reasons, but also because the entire sweater is built around using percentages of the number of stitches cast on.   Gauge dictates the correct number of cast on stitches and the number of rows for each section of the sweater.  This is really a brilliant design and another reason why I can’t get enough of Elizabeth Zimmermann’s pieces or reading her books with her priceless “digressions” (I guess I owe Mindy a long over due apology for calling her an EZ stalker……I get it now.  I really do.  My bad.)

Now that I have begun, I get into the groove of garter stitch.  Back and forth.  Although there is much excitement just up ahead, I find that for now I can relax and multi-task while knitting up to the waist shaping.  Here’s how I pleasantly spent my time:

Slipping the first stitch of each row makes for a straight edge, and it will also be helpful when I get to the I-cord border.   I decided to put in phoney seams as one of EZ’s suggested “embellishments.”  This involves placing a stitch marker on either side of the stitch that sits where a side seam would be.  The purpose of phoney seams is to make the garment fold on its own by dropping down this stitch and then bringing it back up.  Stayed tuned for how that all works out for me.

The sweater begins at the bottom, and 4 inches below the waist line, I put in some shaping by doing some decreasing on either side of where the phoney seam will lie.  I repeated the process a bit above the waist line by doing the reverse – increasing back the decreased stitches.  Not a lot of work, and the shaping will take away some boxiness from the sweater.

Next week, we will do the thumb trick, put in some short rows, create the phoney seams, and lengthen the sleeves.  All of these fun things happen at about the same point, which makes all the plain garter stitching inches pay off!  Until then, I leave you with one more “fun while garter stitching” thing I did during the wee hours on Winter Solstice night:

Happy New Year!  It’s me, Lori.  I will be bringing you the Bog Jacket, designed by Elizabeth Zimmermann.  Since we have 5 Mondays in January, I decided to do a little introduction this week and start in on detailing my progress next week. (This also gives those of you who care to knit along a week’s head start!)  First, why knit a bog jacket?  Honestly,  I am always intrigued and in awe of EZ’s work.  The math and common sense of her pieces stun me, and I always learn so much while knitting them.  This project was no exception.  The bog jacket in its simplest form is essentially a sweater made from a square.  There are modifications and extras that can be done to spice it up with different lengthed sleeves and various shaping.  I picked and chose the modifications to make the sweater suit my taste.

I was looking for a warm layer cardigan with wider sleeves so that it could fit over another warm layer (because I am usually cold from October until May).  Another reason for this particular project?  Reading a sweater recipe by Elizabeth Zimmermann is conversational and therapeutic, and who can’t use a little therapy this time of year?

The bog jacket is usually knit in garter stitch and can be reversible.  I looked forward to trying the following techniques on this project:  phoney seams, afterthought pockets, i-cord border, the thumb trick, and using short rows to raise the collar and lengthen the back a bit.  I decided to use Istex Lett-Lopi, because I have been looking forward to trying it out.  I think it is going to become one of my favorite standbys for sweaters due to its texture, the feel of it when knitting, and the range of colors (and it spit splices so well that weaving in ends is minimal).  Be sure to take a look at it next time you stop in the shop.  Judy used the bulkier version for her beautiful November sweater.

My Bog Jacket will be in the shop next week.  Let’s get started on this Bog Blog.  Remember, if you choose to knit along, 10% off your materials!  So, let’s start 2012 with something fun to keep away the winter chill…..because we all know that the snow is going to get here sooner or later!