A little here, a little there but getting on with it.

The green jacket was a total loss.  I was knitting the sleeves simultaneously, so once the sleeve got to the armpit, the entire garment had to be ripped out.  Oh well.  I had nine nice fresh balls of yarn.

I started something different.

A while ago, Deb Gemell published an interesting sweater design that needed no swatch.  The idea of not needing to do a swatch is alwyas interesting, and I pretty quickly determined that I was going to knit one of them.  The sweater is called Build a Bigger V.  It's an interesting modular knit, but not difficult to adapt to fit to whatever your body is.  Deb came out with not only the basic pattern but also with a second download of hacks to change it up a little.  Most of what I am going to do comes straight from the design mind of Deb Gemmelll but...

That is always the thing isn't it.  A pattern really is just a place to start.  In this case, I want a vest rather than a cardigan.  That will be easy enough to do, given the way this garment is knit.  I want a shawl collar.  I am going to have to dig into the Vogue Ultimate Knitting book.  There are some instructions about collars in general in it I think.  If not, I shall have to scour all the other books to figure out the best way to do one.  It seems to me there is an interesting way to knit one in Knitting in the Old Way from the Cowichan tradition.  

But the sweater is begun and I feel pretty good about it.  

Achhhhh

I just realized I forgot to tell you about my finished sweater!  Yes, it is done!

Bottoms done.

And sleeves:  complete.

Sweater done and worn.  The fit is great.  The little trees sit just where I wanted them too.  they sit just above my full bustline as they ought and the deeper armscyce fit is okay.  The front could be an inch shorter for when I sit, but the back is perfect.  Though the yarn isn't a drapey sort of yarn, it hangs very nicely.  I wore it for a day and now I have to put it under the knife.

 I wore it a full day and that is why, I can tell you about this.  I messed up the neckline.  You can see it in the first photo.  It is a bit too straight and square at the neck.  I did not leave enough depth before I closed the neck off at the front of the sweater.  

You can see how oddly it stands up and you can see the marker, showing where the neckline ought to be sitting with only the collar above it.  I knew this was going to be a problem as I was knitting the sweater.  I could see it in the photos even if I did not see it back when it was easy to fix.  

What was a little surprising was this.   

You can kind of see a fold at the back of the neck too, where the collar pushed the sweater down a bit.  I am not sure if that is just from the front pushing eveything or if it is a problem of it being to high in the back as well.  I wanted it high in the back.

I wanted it high all around.  I was trying to knit a modified turtleneck that would cling to my neck and sit good and high and close so there were no bits where cold and chill could creep in.  I succeeded in keeping the chill away, but failed in every other way.  Thankfully, I knit me an out.  

I knit a row of garter stitch between the stockinette body and the ribbed high neck.  I will use that row to snip off the collar and will then have to do a bit of surgery to lower the front neckline before I pick up and reknit a high close fitting collar.  I am hoping that I can find one of these in my Vogue knitting book as well as finding a shawl collar for the green sweater.

Between times I am knitting on some socks.  They won't be finished to add to the years worth of finished things, but it is nice that the mindless knitting project is so light in comparison to those blankets!