Vacation Progress

I was on vacation last week and made some progress on my Hopeful sweater. I'm ready to start working on the left front. I like how soft the Sirdar Snuggly DK is - as I have a one-year-old who likes to use me as a napkin, I decided that this sweater needed to be washable!
Looks like several people are making great progress - keep up the good work ladies.

short rows!

I just finished the first sleeve! This was my first time doing short rows--I found a very helpful website with pictures, in case any of you are also trying them for the first time. They were really fun to make! It makes a really great shape.

I was a little confused about the last knitted row of the sleeve, because the numbers weren't adding up correctly in my head. But that could just be because it's kind of late. I knew that it didn't matter much, so I ended up just decreasing as much as I wanted and then purling and binding off. When I tried it on, the sleeves fit fine, so I'm not worried. I am curious, though, how those of you who are finished did the last row of the sleeve? I probably am just having a hard time reading it correctly!

Here she is, soon to be divided into a front and a back... Ooohhh, Aaaahhh.... 

Just trucking along...

Well, I don't have tons to report. I'm about 4 rows away from the exciting, only working on the front part. The Wool-ease is treating my tolerably well. Keep the discussion coming on the how to do the collar. I'm looking ahead to possible sticking points!

Grrr.....

Well, I thought it was going so well :-)

I got gauge of 5 stitches per inch on size 4 needles, so I cast on and cruised through the first few inches. I got as far as the second decreases when I realized that this thing was looking a little large. I wasn't sure if I was being deceived since the last two sweaters I made were ribbed and looked so tiny at first. I measured and it was borderline - maybe a half inch larger than it should have been. I slipped it onto two circulars and tried it on......yep, too big. At least for this particular sweater, which really does need to cling to the body to flatter it.

So I'm re-swatching on size 3 needles - that note from Jenna about how you need to give your swatch a tug to figure your gauge? Yeah, that's pretty important. This biggest bummer for me right now is that I don't have a 24" circular in a size 3 and the closest yarn shop isn't open on Monday!

Well, I'm off to frog and rewind two balls of Wool Cotton.

Hangin with my frawgs

I cast on for Hopeful this weekend, and while I had read through the pattern and made some fitting alterations, I mostly kept to the general proportions.


I actually started with a provisional cast on because I'm not sure I'll want the horizontal garter ribbing right at my lower stomach. I haven't decided what I want to do, so having the provisional cast on keeps my options open. This picture shows the piece right before the end of the waist increases. I wasn't too sure it was working for my shape, and when I moved it to two circulars to try on, I was right. My torso is just far too long for the general shaping called for in the pattern, so off to the ball winder and calculator I went.



I ripped back almost to the provisional cast on and I've decided to go about the lower portions in a different way. Instead of working several inches straight then doing a short nip in at the waist, I'm going to spread the decreases out over a longer stretch for a gradual curve to the waist, then a short distance straight before increasing again.

I think this will be a better match for my long waist.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marnie MacLean
http://marniemaclean.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Message from Jenna Adorno re: Neck Edge correction

Hello All-

I have been watching your posts on the neckline and talking to Mandy Moore about making a more clearly written solution. Some of you have already stumbled upon the solution yourselves-- to make the neck tie lie flat to just pick up a stitch every other row instead of following the recomended stitch count (this is actually just a good general rule since everyone row gauge could be slightly different with different yarn). Anyway, here it is below a little clearer. If you would would like a copy with this new wording just email me and I am happy to send the revised pattern. Thanks!- Jenna

Using longer circular needle and beginning at center front of neckline, pick up and knit 1 stitch in every 2 rows along edge of neckline to shoulder seam, 1 stitch in every 2 rows along side back neckline, one stitch for every 2 bound off stitches across back neck, and 1 stitch in every 2 rows along remaining side back and side front edges of neckline, to match first side. Set work aside.

Hopeful Update

Onto the shoulders!

Since my gauge is larger than Jenna's I picked up everyother stitch along the neckline so it wouldn't pucker. I also added another band at the bottom (another k 2 rows, purl 2 rows) to add some length. I'm sure with the blocking I'll get to the right length for me (about 22-23 inches).

Diana is done!

Hopeful is complete - even if it's not exactly like the model :) I like it and it's comfortable too.

help

My post of yesterday was too pollyanna about the whole "too big" thing. I decided last night I'm going to have to rip and redo. The only problem is I'm not sure what will help. My gauge is pretty good, but the garment is turning out so large. The waist measures 16 inches across! I wish there were schematics in the pattern so I can compare, but instead, maybe you all can help. What kind of measurements are you getting? I am not sure that going down a size will make as much difference as I need. I'm so confused--by the look of the model in the pattern, it is close fitting and she is petite. I hate to frog but at least it's just a week of work.

Diana's almost done

Progress photos...

First, I want to show the other ways (looks) for the collar connection...
Choices:
k2tog (as pattern is written) [the photo didn't turn out]
ssk
ssk, next row slip first st

I finished the sleeve this morning (it took me 1 hour 45 minutes):

And now the collar issues... My collar is too floppy. I reduced the stitches I picked up on the back nect to almost half and that looks much better. The front collar is still too loose, I have decided to let it flop open - this won't be a work-wear sweater though unless I wear a tank top underneath. I think maybe if there had been significantly less stitches, it would lay flat and wouldn't pull so low.
Collar closed:
collar open:

Here is the final neck

Pucker Up

Hopeful is out to get me. I know it. Last night at ESKG, I asked Sharlyn to help me with the neck band. I would have never figured out how to do it without some assistance. (I get it now, you knit the band on by knitting the 14th stitch and the picked up stitch together, then you TURN the work and knit the 14 stitches (in pattern). The picked up stitches are not knit, they are on the needles a stitch holder ONLY. )Afer working on this throughout the evening, I notice that the band is starting to pucker. Too many stitches. Instead of picking up the recommended stitches, I'm going to pick up every other. That means more ripping.

Good Karma asked: "...were you able to get gauge? It seems like a slightly thicker yarn than I was imagining, but at the same time I feel a little confused about the gauge the pattern calls for vs. the yarn Jenna used. Are you happy with this yarn choice so far?" My answer is two fold: No, I wasn't able to get gauge but I'm also a bustier girl, so I need the sweater to scale beyond a 40" bust which is what the patterns goes up to. From my unblocked measurements- this is going to fit perfect. I'm working on a size 8 needle and my gauge is about 4.25-4.50 per inch and I'm knitting the largest size. Second, I LOVE THIS YARN. It is so soft and I love the blend. Wool, microfiber and cashmere AND it is machine washable. The color is a little more yellow than I like so I may end up overdying this when I'm done

It will always be The Bon to me.

Well, I am cruising along on my Hopeful (thanks mostly to a car ride to Bainbridge Island over the weekend). I finished up to the left front last night. I went with Cotton Fleece in a color called "silver plum" but I call it The Silver Fox. It's looking good, but I am getting nervous as it seems awfully big so far. I'm getting gauge, but I wish I had done the XS instead. This happened to me with Orangina, though--I thought I was going to swim in it, but it ended up fitting fine. We'll see. I'd hoped to have a photo to post by now, but it should be in the next day or so. BF won't bring the camera home.

Collar problems

As of last night I am 60% done with the collar. I think it might have to be ripped. I'll get an opinion tonight at my knitting group. I also found that when connecting the ribbed collar strip to the neck, ssk is better looking than k2tog. I'll take a photo of the different looks and you can compare...

I think the main problem is... my yarn has taller stitches than the pattern. When I picked up the front neck stitches (every other row) I didn't get enough to match the count suggested. I went back and picked them up 2 for every 3 rows instead. I wonder if I should have ignored the stitch count? The back neck collar is the floppiest part though. This is the kind of thing that makes me set down my knitting for a while for a new project. I have to get through this though!!

My Hopeful

Diana's Hopeful looks bright and cheery. Mine looks a little lumpy. I'm hoping it is just the angle and with a little blocking I'll be good to go.

This is the front and the back, with the shoulder seams and side seams sewn.

Working my way past the bottom band...

I'm into the stockinette just above the band and am finding this pattern to be a very relaxing knit so far. I'll be interested in reading how people deal with the neck and sleeve shaping! I'm using a yarn from the stash, Wool-ease in a charcoal gray. I tried to use a DK weight yarn first but couldn't get the right gauge. This yarn finally did the trick.

Neckline Shaping

Hi everyone! I have a question about the neckline/armhole shaping bit. When I made the left side, I took the "at the same time" part of the directions to mean that the 6 rows of armhole shaping happened within the 13 rows of neckline shaping. That is, once I worked a few rows of neckline shaping and got to the right length, I began the armhole, but I also shaped the neck. So there were 6 rows where I would decrease at the begining and the end of the row. So, I decreased to the 21 stitches all in 13 rows. Now, I'm on the right side, and I'm a little thrown off by the armhole shaping part where the pattern says to K to the last three stitches. Intuition tells me to do this symmetrically, and just work the stitches so that I was decreasing for the neckline and the armhole at the same time again. I'm a little worried--am I doing the "at the same time" part the right way? Or maybe I should have just stopped doing neckline shaping, done the armhole shaping, and then return to neckline shaping? Or would that have led to a funny shapped neck? I suppose that even if what I am doing isn't right, it will just be a more dramatic neckline. What have you guys been doing?

Yarn Choices and Joining Up

I've added everyone's yarn choice (that I know of) next to your name in the sidebar.
Also if you'd like to join the knitalong please email me at jessica at rose-kim dot com. I will add the names of people who asked to join in the old comments but I don't know your email or blog addresses. So get in touch with me and I'll get everything up to date.

Comment Spam--Eek!

Okay, I had to switch the commenting over to Haloscan because the blogger comments got overrun with spam. If there was something in the old comments that you need I can still access them. Just send me an email. Back to knitting.

Hi, I'm Becky

Hi,

I just joined the knitalong. I was so excited when Jenna posted the pattern. I had seen the sweater on Knitty Gritty back in May and immediately went to Jenna's website to find more info. I was disappointed not to see it anywhere on her site, so I sent her an email. After several months passed, I had basically forgotten about the email, so I was so pleasantly excited when I received an email from her a few weeks ago saying this pattern was now available. And when I read the story of why there had been such a delay - wow! I hope everything works out ok for both of them.

This will be my first sweater, but Jenna's instructions seem clear and I have all of you here to help, right?

First step is picking out yarn, and I hope more of you will heed Christie's request to please post the yarn you are planning to use. I am thinking about using Rowan Cashcotton DK. The gauge is the same as the wool cotton, and I've been wanting to try it. I'd be curious to hear if anyone has any experience with this yarn. Good idea? Bad idea?

I look forward to hearing from all of you. Diana - looking great so far! Keep it up!

Diana's done with front and back

I am starting on the neck rather than the sleeves tonight.

Hi all!

Wow, so nice to see all the people working on this gorgeous sweater!

I've been cranking through the two projects I was working on so that I can get started on Hopeful. I got my yarn last week - Rowan Wool Cotton in Lavish, which I purchased from a great eBay seller, Jannette's Rare Yarns. I swatched and got gauge on size 4 Addi Turbos, so I'm all set to cast on once I finish the little surprise I'm making for my Secret Pal!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's work! And may I just say how surprised I was to see another Laurel here - that never happens!

Also new...

Hi! I'm about to cast on for the sweater. I'm using Debbie Bliss Wool Cotton in a bright purple color. I swatched last night, and was able to get the right gauge with size 6 needles. (Although it looked like I was getting 5.5ish stiches per inch before I blocked it, like she mentioned in the pattern.) So far, I like the yarn a lot, and you can get some pretty good deals on this discontinued yarn right now, at places like Jimmy Beans. The only complaint I have is that after my second cast on (long story....I accidentally cast on with 8s the first time...woopsies) the yarn is doing a little bit of unraveling, but not too much.

I'm excited about this project!

~Maire

New here

Hi all,
thanks for inviting me.
I started our Hopeful last night - "our" because it is a joint project of my daughter's and mine. She is almost nine years old, she knits (and felts) and wants to make Hopeful for herself, but she does not like to purl, so I purl and she knits.
We are messing with the pattern a little (I don't think she needs the short rows). We are using SWTC Beyond in turquoise.

Diana's Hopeful

Here is what I had done a day ago - I am just finishing the waist decrease rows now.



I haven't checked my gauge since I knit the initial swatch. I'm reckless like that...

Yarn Substitutions...

For those KAL'er who have already started their Hopeful sweaters, can you share with us what yarn and needle size you're using? Some of us are still in the market for yarn and would love to know.

Thanks!

Welcome to the Knitalong

Diana asked me to create a group blog for the knitalong so we can share our progress. I think she wants to show off that she's already a good five inches into the body of her hot pink Hopeful!