I've finally finished the Pair of Sleeves. They went into hibernation for several months, first because I had miscalculated the length and couldn't think how to get out of it without unravelling the whole thing, and then because when I did work out how to get out of it, I didn't have a long enough circular needle. Here it is, modelled by the Intended Wearer.
It's knitted from one end to the other, circularly, flat in the middle.
The basic idea was this:
- Knit a cuff in 1x1 rib
- Knit a sleeve in st st enlivened by a pattern of diamonds front and back
- Divide for opening at the point of the front diamond, and continue the back diamond into an expanded pattern
- Rejoin and knit the other sleeve
- Knit the other cuff.
However, I got to that point and found that I hadn't made the middle opening quite long enough. So after staring at it for quite a while, I cut into it from centre top and bottom, at right angles to the direction of knitting, towards the centre of the pattern, making the total open edge a lot longer. Essentially I just carefully removed most of each end of one row of knitting, putting the stitches from above and below it on waste yarn as I went. Then I picked up all those stitches along with the ones originally intended to be around the opening, on a very long circular needle, and knitted outwards in 1x1 rib to make the band, increasing at the corners so it would lie flattish on the body.It gives a really interesting shape, which I like much more than my original design.
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7 comments:
That looks lovely. Especially from the back.
Hi Jo - your beautiful angora went to a good home! It looks great on the IW. And so, so cosy.
That is ADORABLE!!!
Maybe you could make some in shiny, fancy yarn and we could wear them to milongas. They would be pretty over a sleeveless top or dress.
Tango Knits, by Mme. Hedgehog or some such label.
;-)
Mme L'Hérisson? It's a 'designer' piece!
You knew exactly what I meant and was smart enough to look up what Hedgehog is en francais.
Sounds like a lovely label, destined for the tango fashion runway.
That is lovely. I'd like to knit one, though I might modify the
sleeves to be fitted three-quarter length without a gathered cuff.
Are the peaks in the rib at the back where you cut into the fabric? That was brave. How did you stop the stitch at the apex of the peak from unravelling? Also, did you cut a straight line into the knitting or did you excise a triangular wedge, which is how it looks in the finished garment?
Yes they are. I cut a straight line - it opens by itself, and that's what gave the extra length I needed. What I actually did was remove the two outer thirds of a single row of knitting. First I used double-pointed needles to get hold of the stitches on the rows above and below, as far in from the edge as I wanted to go. Then I cut the row between - just through one stitch -and took the yarn out of those stitches, working from the edge towards the centre. This gave me nice long ends to work in at the centre, to reinforce the bottom of each V, and free stitches on the double-pointed needles, which I put on a crochet chain to keep till I was ready to pick them up with the long circular and knit the ribbing. I made increases in the ribbing at the corners of each opening, but no decrease in the V. That helps the shape.
The basic shape, before doing that, is the same as this pattern on Knitty.
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