Hubby's Sweater: Weaving & Necking

Totally fell off the face of the blog there, didn't I?

First we were out of town for Thanksgiving.

Then I got sick.

Then I got cranky. Why is all the news these days so very gloomy and depressing? Or am I just looking at the world through mud colored glasses?

Anyway.

One thing that is not mud colored is Hubby's Striped Sweater. You can't see this for yourself as I've lost track of the camera. We took it to Thanksgiving (but didn't use it). I think I saw it on the bed in the office this morning....

Because of the lack of photographic evidence you will have to trust me that Hubby's Sweater is rapidly approaching completion. yippee! All the knitting is done. I just have to sew it up. But a head cold is not conducive to putting me in the mood to mattress stitch. Therefore I've shoved it into the dinning room credenza and returned to working on Stella.

The Ends Go In, The Ends Go Out
I took only the sweater to Thanksgiving to force myself to weave in ends during any yarn time I might have had. Weaving the ends was the major obstacle between me and finishing.

On Wednesday night, before I settled down to work, I held the body of the sweater up to my mother-in-law and exclaimed, "Do you see how much I love your son!!" Because she would appreciate how much time a man-sized sweater would take to knit.

She admired my handy work and declared again that I had far surpassed her. Of course, she takes special pride in my abilities since she's the one who taught me to knit. I'm sure she could keep up with me if she applied herself, but she prefers crocheting and is an afghan making machine.

Then on Thursday, after dinner, when everyone else settled down to watch the Giants football game, I parked myself in the recliner in the corner under a floor lap and wove ends for almost the entire game. That's, what, four hours of end weaving? But it was done!

Collared
I made two changes to the collar.

I was supposed to work it on the smaller sized needle, but I was concerned it would be too stiff, so I worked it on the larger needle I used for the body.

It was supposed to be a full turtle neck, but Hubby wants a mock turtle neck, so I cut it short. I worked it for about two inches. I draped the sweater over him and it seems like a good length. I figure I can open the bind off and work a few more rows if it turns out too short once the sweater is all done.

Picking up necklines gives me almost as many conniptions as buttonbands do. But necklines I can conquer.

It took me two tries to get it right. Not counting the half starts when I realized the stitches weren't evenly distributed and I had to start over.

I had worked the neckline decreases one stitch in from the edge. I do that on side shaping as well, since it make it easier to seam if you aren't fighting with lumpy stitches.

On the neck it didn't work out so well. My first attempt at picking up I did under that lone edge stitch. I worked about two rows of the collar and took a look. It was rather stretched and gaping because the single stitch wasn't very stable. Aahhhh!

I tore it out and picked up again, this time going under the second stitch, which is the decreased stitch. I hope it doesn't make the neck to bulky.

After I knit the whole collar I looked at it again and decided it was puckering where I had picked up along the shaped edge of the neckline. I thought my only recourse would be to rip out the collar, rip out the neckline shaping, and rework the neck/shoulder area with the decreases on the first stitch.

Fortunately, before I did anything that rash I took it into Knitting Central for a second opinion. I told the other staff members to be brutally honest.

The Other Ann pointed out that when he's wearing it the slack will be pulled out and the pucker will disappear. C agreed. So I was on my way again.

Now all I have to do is buckle down and seam the sucker.