Saturday, September 30, 2006

Tivoli #2: Long sleeved!


IMG_2204
Originally uploaded by brennx0r.

This is still a work in progress, but I'm very happy with the progress - now I'm in the home stretch! One more arm to do, and the crocheted edging, (and blocking) and voila! Stick a fork in it.

I decided, in the end, not to go with the K2P2 rib at the bottom. Turns out that the alpaca yarn is a little but too unstretchy for me to be able to pull it off without looking like a large blue sausage. So, I decided instead that for the last 20 rows that I would have it be knit, with every fifth row having M1 at the beginning and middle of the row such that there's a little flaring out. I then did a crocheted edging (3 rows) along the bottom. To make the sleeves, I just did this:

Take the live stitches off the stitch holders, using a US4 circular needle. Though I'm using a circular needle, the first couple rows are going to be knit flat. I then did:

Row 1: Pick up one stitch of raglan edging (main body), K till end of row.
Row 2: Pick up one stitch of raglan edging, P till end of row.

Repeat these two rows until the raglan edging is all done, and the only other stitches to pick up are the stitches for the underarms. The picking up stitches part should end on a knit row; instead of making a P row, pick up the underarm stitches (pick up one for every underarm stitch there is - this way there isn't bunching or pulling in this area). Once all the stitches are picked up, PM and continue knitting in the round (using the magic loop method, but you could also do DPNs).

For my case, there wasn't a need to add increase rows, but I ended up starting decrease rows after knitting about 6-8 inches of length:

Row 1: Once at beginning of row (slip marker to other needle), K1, K2Tog, K till last three sts, SSK, K1.
Rows 2 - 11: K one round.

You might want to adjust this depending on how slim or burly your arms are. Throughout this whole process I was trying on the sleeve in order to make sure the fit was right.

I ended this at 1/2 sleeves, and CO. At this point, I crocheted 3 rows of edging to stabilize the sockinette, but you could adjust this to your fancy - LACE! Ribbing! The possibilities are endless :)

Ahh well. Off to finish the other sleeve! Happy knitting!

Monday, September 18, 2006

Count me in!

Hi Ladies!

I'm making my Tivoli in a white worsted cotton that my sister gave me for Christmas last year. I'm using size 6's and getting 19 sts/4 in so I'm making the 32" size to fit my 36" chest...I think it should work out. I'll post pics as soon as I have some progress to show.

Here's my blog:
Sticks, Strings, & Things with Wings

Knit on.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

New here ...

Hi all! I'm new here & I'm hoping that all of you will be able to get me to finish my top - lol ... it's been on the needles for a while now ......

I made a button for my blog too!