Finish A Long Link Up - The Knit and Cutting The Mustard

Two blog posts here in succession, each finish has to be linked up separately. The first is, I think, worth singing about, the second is nice enough but nothing to get too excited about. I got pretty excited about it, but that's just me, not the general public at large. In fact the general public at large would probably ask if this was even blog worthy. But I digress, wait for the second post.

My sweater was first linked up here in the list of proposed finishes. My Seachange Sweater, designed by Jennifer Steingrass.

I have knit myself a jumper/sweater/pullover. Call it what you will, but I have knit myself one, and I am rather pleased. The knitting is ok, the foray into colour work has been successful, and I don't look the size of a house in it. That last is sort of a bonus!

Back in the late summer, I had been toying with the idea of knitting myself another jumper. I really fancied knitting a colour work, a Scandinavian type sweater used by Scandinavian in the outdoors. They have become terribly of the moment, though I remember knitting a few of these back in the 1970s.

I chose a Schachenmayr yarn, made in Germany, 100% virgin wool. It is rustic yarn, sort of hairy and good for colour work, as all those little fibre hairs twist and cling on to each other. I didn't buy it locally, I bought online from LoveKnitting.com . It didn't cost too much and came already wound, both of which were a bonus!

Just by chance the theme for my scrapbooking weekend was to be "big jumpers", Scandinavian sweaters. Happy days I thought, and started knitting. The next week I discovered the theme had been changed, apparently not enough people had big jumpers. The theme was "animal prints". I was rather disgruntled and complained. I didn't have any animal print in my wardrobe. Oh no I hadn't . Oh yes you do! How could I forget I had a leopard skin coat? (no leopards were harmed in the making of my coat. And how could I forget that I had one, worn only once?

As you can see from this photo, we all managed to scavenge up some animal print.

The sweater was thrown in the corner, unloved and forgotten until mid December when I thought, I need a new sweater.

Oh, yes I am knitting one. I had reached the armholes already so it was a quick romp home. I loved knitting the colour work. I found it very relaxed and relaxing, quite therapeutic in fact. All went well until I reached the neckline.

The trend is for knitted necklines, to be, well, to be frank, baggy. Not low, just baggy and droopy. It is not a look I like or find suits me.

I set about knitting the neckline a bit higher, and then doing some "short row shaping" back and front. Yes, new to me to fairly recently too. I first encountered short row shaping in my Comfort Fade Cardi. Thankfully the neckline worked out ok. Bear in mind with this photo that the jumper is still attached to the knitting needles so it is impossible to put it on properly!

Back to that short row shaping. The pattern added short row shaping just before the colour work, just after the sleeves were added. Now, I was rather confused. ~This appeared to be in the back and I couldn't see the sense of it. Why would I want extra rows in the back around the shoulders? I may be a little round shouldered, echoes, of "stand up straight Helen", but I don't have a dowager's hump just yet. Eventually I realised this was around the front, and ensured the sweater fits neatly around the bust area, instead of keeping a tent like shape. Once I realised this, I was really pleased. I love how the sweater conforms to the bust line and also a little bit of waist shaping. All good to stop you looking like a sack of potatoes, a problem for both the skinny malinks and also the fuller figured.

I was out and about yesterday for the Quilting Guild, it meets at our Folk Park. I took the opportunity to take some photos in the wild. Unfortunately none of me wearing it. Bit too much to ask random strangers to take a photo of me modelling my new sweater. And, today at home, it was dark, grey and bleary, but I am sure I will pop up sometime wearing it. If you have a moment, have a look at the website for the Folk and Transport Park, it is very good