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September 20, 2005
I learned a lesson today!
BEFORE
AFTER
I did not get as far along with the Pale Blue Jacket (Rebecca 29) as I had expected. During the past two days, I've been couch-ridden with a mysterious fever thereby allowing a little extra knitting time. But this afternoon I started noticing some "funny" things where I had started doing the increases for the sleeve. Not only had I started a cable row a few rows too late, I noticed that the cast-on edge was much more rigid than stretchy.
As I mentioned in my last post, this sweater is knit in two pieces, therefore once you've complete the left front (up the armhole) you increase for the sleeves, knit the sleeves, then cast-off and complete the back. Before casting on the sleeve stitches I hadn't given much thought to how I was going to cast-on these stitches. That my friends is something that I should have given more thought to! Initially, I cast on into the existing stitches. By that I mean, I knit the edge stitch and then over the next few stitches I would pick up stitches or knit into existing stitches until I had the correct number that I had to increase for that row. That worked fine until I had to increase 14 stitches in one row. It was at that point that I decided I needed a better technique.
So then I tried simpling casting on the stitches, just like I used to cast on when I started knitting. I looked for an image of video to share with you how I was doing it, however I could not find one (after looking for 8 minutes), which leads me to wonder if I had been casting-on incorrectly. Maybe. Lately I've been a fan of the German Twisted Cast-on. The problem with the way that I had been casting-on (by knitting into the existing stitches) I was creating a fabric that was wider than the edge of said fabric. Keeping mind that this area was the underarm, a place I've been known to put strain on my clothing, I decided that having some stretch in this part of the sleeve was important. The way that I had originally knit it, stretch was not part of the equation.
In this situation though I need to find another method. So this time I'm going to try using the Knitted Cast-On. I think that will do the trick.
Posted by loriz at September 20, 2005 08:40 PM
Comments
As you know, I've had this pattern on my list for a while, and whenever I think about doing it, I wonder about this very issue. I've recently had to do the same thing (albeit many, many fewer new stitches cast on) and I chose to use the cable cast on from Nancy Wiseman's The Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques. So, if the knitted cast on doesn't work for you, check it out! :)
Posted by: Karma at September 20, 2005 10:46 PM
I did the same thing only I did M1's until I realized I couldn't do them anymore. I can't remember what type of cast on I ended up doing....I think I did a cable cast on for the sleeves.
Posted by: sharlyn at September 21, 2005 07:02 AM
Holy cow! I'm so sorry you had to go through that. Good luck with the new cast on.
Posted by: MJ at September 21, 2005 10:31 AM