Filed under: Knitting
Over the weekend, I finished designing Matt’s pullover and cast on! Woo ha! Will he get a sweater for Christmas this year? Stay tuned!
Here’s my vision – saddle shoulders, modified drop sleeves, minimal ribbing on the cast-on edges to stop the curl, knit flat, and seamed. Matt OK-ed a fleece pullover as a model garment (Eddie Bauer has an “XLT” size that fits him pretty well). It’s sufficiently wide and long in the body and sleeve, but the style is more of a set-in sleeve than drop shoulder. Eh, it’s close enough. I muddled with a tape measure, design software, and Ann Budd’s book to come up with the exact silhouette.
I always agonize a little when designing because no one’s ideal sweater really matches a standard schematic. Matt is long in the torso, he’s got a tummy, and his arms go from here to WAY WAY OUT THERE. (We compared appendages long ago and found that his arm is longer than my leg! ) Just for fun, I put 1 of my sweaters over his model garment.
Ha. Ha ha. Single ladies, think about what you’re signing up for when you marry big-n-tall. Especially if he likes handknit clothing.
I took measurements from the mondo swatch – I noted the width of each stitch pattern and the width of the spacers (2 purl stitches between motifs), arranged the motifs to my liking, and calculated how wide it would be with just the motifs. It turned out to be ~8 inches narrower than the target dimension, so I determined the number of filler stitches required to bring it up to the correct width.
It was just the maths. No sweat. I was more worried about measuring inaccurately.
Nothing left to do but cast on – held my breath, dove in. I knit 4 rows of mostly 2×2 rib and began the pattern knitting. Some random notes in list form because WE LOVE LISTS:
1) Binding hems bother me, and I always try different cast on techniques to get around that problem. This time, I opted for a crochet cast on (exactly the same as the unzipping provisional cast on that you do directly onto the needle) and used a hook that was 1.5 mm larger than the needle size. In hindsight, I think I should have used the same size hook, but we’re talking galloping horse precision here, I think it’s not worth it to rip and redo.
2) I’m not sure if I like the look of mini-rib at the bottom of the sweater. Maybe an applied I-cord would have been better. Again, not going to go back.
3) Although I knit the entire mondo swatch without a cable needle, I think I was pushing the limits with the 7-st crossings. I’m sacrificing principle for pragmatism and am using the needle for the less stable crosses.
4) It takes me about 15 to 20 minutes to do 2 rows, depending on the complexity of the row.
5) I cannot memorize a 28-row cable.
Preliminary results – looks like I measured correctly.
Print This Post
Wow. You’re in for a lot of knitting. That’s going to take some dedication!
Comment by Emily 02.27.06 @ 7:34 pmTen months sounds like a reasonable time frame for such a sweater… Especially considering the number of sweaters knit during the Olympics. Congrats on having measured correctly!
Comment by naomi 02.27.06 @ 8:25 pmI don’t like binding hems either. I’ve tried to find the perfect, non-binding but not-too-loose cast on but of course, every garment and stitch pattern is a little different. It’s a constant battle.
And your rmeasuring looks right on!
I usually find my problem isn’t the binding hems but the natural pull in of the ribbing. For example, on Mariah I did the ribbing on over 20 extra stitches, then decreased for the plain stockinette part.
Comment by claudia 02.28.06 @ 8:13 amLots to do on that one – but it will be a masterpiece when it’s finished. I’m in the home stretch on my size 46″ Aran for DH (25 more rows of the body!), but I feel sure you’ll zip through Matt’s sweater quicker than the 2-1/2 years it’s taken me to get this far. :)
Comment by Anne 02.28.06 @ 9:06 amI feel your pain. I am in the middle of an in-the-round sweater in cotton for my hubby, it is endless stockinette. So much bigger than baby sweaters.
On another note, just recently finished the DNA scarf for my dad (who teaches at MIT!) in cashmere. He loves it! He said that DNA now stands for “Damn Nice Attire!” THanks again for the great pattern — once I figured out the logic of the cable, it was intuitive and easy to do. Check it out on my blog if you want!
Comment by Jen 02.28.06 @ 10:20 ammunching popcorn, sitting back in my seat, enjoying the show. Oh, and I think 10 months is reasonable for the sweater. If you finish it sooner – you can be quite pleased.
Comment by Cathy 02.28.06 @ 11:00 amUmm…yeah, I like tall men…I’m going to have to rethink that position now! ;-)
Comment by Sandee 02.28.06 @ 11:27 amThe Flame isn’t quite as tall as Matt, but perhaps I’ll cast on and knit-along with you. It generally takes me twice as much yarn (and knitting) as compared to anything for myself.
Comment by Angela 02.28.06 @ 11:48 amI can sympathize. I’ve knit for lots of big and/or tall guys.
Not everyone considers the weight of the finished garment when they’re thinking of knitting something for a large guy. I’ve found that when knit things get as big as they can be to fit targets of that size, they are very weighty. Weighty enough to distort fit,lead to stretched out shoulders, or the habit of the piece just “growing” under normal wear.
Since this problem is especially prevalent with worsted weight yarns and heavier, I no longer knit things for supersize guys from anything thicker than sport weight (o.k., DK in a pinch). I also look for yarns that are lofty, meaning they have lots of yards per unit weight compared to other yarns of the same gauge. Although I tend to favor natural fibers, I do tend to pick less massy blends leavened with acrylic content for oversize knits as they are often less weighty than comparable 100% wools of the same gauge. And I avoid cottons for big knits (the weight issue squared).
In terms of design choices, I avoid heavily embossed knitting (deep texture, heavily patterned all-over Arans for example, although judiciously used cables are o.k.) for ultra-big pieces. And I don’t do stranding with anything heavier than sport unless the sweater is supposed to be an outdoor-instead-of-a-coat piece like a Dale.
So I can sympathize on the acres of knitting you’ve got ahead of you to meet Matt’s size, but you’ve picked a good weight yarn, a good gauge, and not too much patterning. That should translate to excellent wearability. There’s no point in spending a lesser amount of time on something that’s just going to sit on a shelf.
(Cheering from the sidelines -K.)
Comment by kbsalazar 03.01.06 @ 5:46 pmThat picture of your jumper over your DH’s is priceless. Really!
I cannot thank you enough for the link to Sweater Wizard. I have got to get home and download the demo. Could you do a review of it? I notice you use Anne Budd’s book in conjunction with it… is it not comprehensive enough as a piece of designing software?