More Hoodie Pictures

I am very, very happy with this (did I say that already? Yes I did.) It feels good, it's comfortable, it's warm, I think it's beautiful. I really enjoyed knitting it, and I'd make the pattern again, if I were the kind of person who knitted the same pattern twice, which I'm not sure I am.

I don't entirely love the way I look in it, especially buttoned, especially in pictures. Because a) I think I need to lose weight and b) it is slightly too chunky/boxy to be the MOST flattering thing I've ever worn. You may not be able to tell that from the pictures, which are carefully edited. And I don't think I will ever, ever allow anyone to see me with the hood up, unless the alternative is severe frostbite and/or death.

But that said, I do love it! I have been wearing it almost non-stop since I finished it. And I am no longer intimidated by the concept of making myself a sweater. So yay!

And now, back to getting ready for the houseguests ...

CPH is done, done done!

Happiness is finishing your Central Park Hoodie before your houseguests arrive. I actually finished a few days ago, but I wanted to block it before I sewed on the buttons. I didn't do a very good job blotting out the water, and it took forever to dry.

I'm very happy with it. I don't think you can tell that the fronts are different lengths! The only thing I don't love is the slight pulling between the buttons when it's buttoned ... but I think that has to do with my personal circumference. I'm not sure. But I wouldn't want it any bigger. It's a bit wide for me at the shoulder, otherwise I love the way it fits. If I made it again, I would shorten the sleeves so I could wear them without rolling up the cuffs -- I just think it would be a nicer line. This way I have built-in fingerless mitts, though.



Pattern: Central Park Hoodie, Knitscene, fall 2006
Yarn: Cascade 220, Silver Spruce Heather (9322), less than 7 skeins. (I followed the directions for the largest size, but at a tighter gauge, so my sweater came out closer to the 44" size as planned.)
Needles: US 7 and 9 circulars. (Though when I measured the Inox 7s I used for the ribbing, I discovered that one side was closer to a 6, and the other to a 6.5. The Addi circulars I used for the button band were a true 7.)
Modifications: I short-rowed the shoulders and bound off the front and back together, with mixed success. I kitchenered the hood, but still did the button band in two pieces and seamed it at the top. (If I did this again, I might do the button band all in one piece, but given that it was my first button band, I'm glad I did it this way so I could see what I was doing.) I suppose making the fronts two different lengths counts as a modification too. :)
I also got a tighter gauge than the pattern calls for, so I knit one size up. That worked out, though it's a little broad across my shoulders.

I have more pictures to post when I get time -- I made poor Will do a photo shoot in the lovely snow squall we had this morning! -- and more (scintillating) thoughts on making this -- but I've got to take Eli back to the orthodontist to glue back on the bracket that he got yesterday. Of course the orthodontist is only out in the boonies today.

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

The good: my buttons. Aren't they beautiful? Now I just need to figure out how to do buttonholes. Sorry the picture's not sharper; it's a gray day and I'm a camera nincompoop.

I went to the Village Yarn Store with Auden (who is now at the age where she is happy to sit looking at books at the front of the store while I shop) and was immediately overwhelmed all their wonderful choices. But as there was a group of knitters there ready and willing to help, I laid out my sweater so we could choose.

Hmmm. Strange. Note the front and back armholes on the left side of the picture do. not. line up.

Must have been the way I blocked it, right? Hadn't I just seconds earlier blithely (and yet with a hint of the pride that we all know what THAT goeth before) explained how I had meticulously and compulsively counted all my rows, instead of just measuring?

Yes. Well. Apparently I would have been better off with a little more measuring. Here's where I need one of those Joe Madden Monday Night Football markers that the cool bloggers have, but note the number of cables on the far left, versus the number on the far right:

Nope, not the same. It's a full cable short. And no amount of counting or recounting (or blocking) could make them the same.

This is how big the difference in length is:


(The other side is just fine, thank you very much.)

This is a whopper of a mistake. And it is so far back, so deep down, that fixing it would require ripping out almost half of the sweater. Thank God I was at the yarn store when this was discovered, or I might have impaled myself on my knitting needles.

But I was at the yarn store, and Yarn Store Lady #1 said she would not rip it all out, but she thought I could knit a few rows at the armhole to bring it up to match the other. Yarn Store Lady #2, to whom Yarn Store Lady #1 deferred, was even more reassuring: she says I can just make the front and back match when I seam them up, then make it look right in blocking.

Unbelievable, really. I was so obsessed with counting rows that I must have forgotten to measure the damn thing. (And didn't notice the difference when I picked up my button band stitches, either.) Well, I guess it's a learning experience. I may go over to the "knit both fronts/sleeves/socks/etc. at once" camp in future.

I am putting my faith in Yarn Store Lady #2. And praying that it won't look terrible.

Heed my careless ways, fellow knitters!

Back to buttonholes ...

One Button Band and a Sunny Day

A beautiful sunny day ... I couldn't resist a picture. Just one button band (with buttonholes) and seaming left to go. I'm cruising! I washed, I blocked, I kitchenered the hood (how I love the kitchenered hood) – I've even sewn all my ends in. Now I just need buttons. Maybe tomorrow I can lure the children to the Village Yarn Shop to find me some buttons.

This is my first button band, so of course I learned some things as I went along. Like, of course you want to start and end picking up stitches at the very very tippy ends, 'cause you don't want your button band shorter than your sweater. And that picking up 3 stitches every 4 rows thing -- that would have been a good thing to have looked up before starting the button band. And, maybe I don't need to be a slave to the stitch number in the pattern, especially if I lengthened the body of the sweater.

But actually I think it looks pretty good. I'm so excited about finishing this sweater!

Just in time for spring. :)

Kathy I'm thinking of you ...

Lots More Progress

I'm getting somewhere -- everything's done except the top of the second sleeve, which I'll finish tonight. Now I need to make a hood decision: I think I want to kitchener instead of seaming it, but the question is whether that means I need to do the ribbing/button band all in one piece or whether I could do the two separate pieces, THEN kitchener the hood and seam the ribbing at the top of the hood. Would that look weird? I don't know why I am so intimidated by doing the ribbing/button band all in one piece. It just looks loooooooong.

Thanks to everyone who was so nice about my sock; I got into a rut and didn't keep up with answering. I wish Blogger had an option for leaving your email address; that would facilitate conversation! I have been hanging out with some friends on LiveJournal, and it is so much more conversational over there. Oh well!

It's cold and snowy outside, good for knitting. When it warmed up into the 60s last week I was afraid it would be next year before I wore my hoodie. I'd better get going!

Progress

Reflected snow light may not be ideal for pictures. But it's all we're getting today, our fourth snow day in three weeks. It's not a blizzard, but it's been coming down steadily all night and morning, and we're supposed to get more than a foot. Already I couldn't figure out where to put the snow I was shoveling from the driveway; I have no idea how those poor people in northern New York are managing with 11 feet and more coming.

Anyway, the hoodie! I am up to the armholes. It is going faster than I expected – the pattern is easier (and, I have to admit, more boring) than I thought. There is the one row of cable twist every 10 rows, and all the rest are the same. But as a result it makes for excellent tv knitting.

Also it is appears it may be going to be a bit large! Well, I knew that might happen. It's currently at least 20" wide, and the swatch grew widthwise (and shrunk lengthwise) when I washed it ... I might wash the back before I start the front to make sure it is not going to reach disastrous proportions!

Off to an impromptu snow day/Valentine's Day party at the neighbor's ...

edited to add:

I meant to mention: this is only slightly more than one skein of Cascade 220. It is amazing how much you can knit with one skein, especially after you've been using itty bitty balls of Debbie Bliss. I'm very psyched about the shortage of ends to weave in!

Pretty.

That's the sock yarn I bought yesterday on sale. I've been coveting Cherry Tree Hill for a while now. And it's just too pretty to put away in a box without a picture first.

There. Now that I've lured you here with pretty candy yarn, let me bore you with some obsessiveness. And possibly the most boring blog pictures ever:

I re-did my Central Park Hoodie ribbing in 6, because on 7s it just didn't seem ribby enough to me. It seemed a little bit floppy, like it was already stretched out. And I like the way it looks on 6s, just now I'm all paranoid that it's going to pull in too much and ruin the look of the sweater. My body will stop it from pulling in very far, though, right? You probably can't even tell the difference in this picture. Ribbing on 7s is on top, 6s on the bottom. The new ribbing is being stretched out by the curve of the pillow it's on, otherwise it would boing quite far in. But that's not very much force, is it.

I detest insignificant decisions like this! I just need some reassurance that it IS insignificant, and that I can go ahead. Below is a slightly closer up look at how far I've gotten. (I would be farther but, you know, I did the ribbing twice ...) Cables amaze me – how just one row affects what all the other ones do. It looks so much trickier than it is.


edited to add: Actually I changed my mind AGAIN and am going to go with the 7s. Just so I could knit the whole thing twice. Anyway, I'm decided, I'm feeling good about it, and I'm going ahead with it!

Swatched and Ready to Go

So I think I am in the process of switching to Google Blogger, or whatever it's called. I say I think because I thought I had, and yet I just signed in on my old account. Among the complications I had making this switch was the fact that I could not remember my gmail address, let alone my password. Wouldn't you think I would have a record of it somewhere? I cannot find it. Hopefully my husband does.

Anyway, I switched because I am joining the Central Park Hoodie Knit-a-Long, which may or may not require a Google account. And because all the cool kids are doing it. However, since I know it will draw all my many many readers here with promises of new posts, I thought I'd better give you one.

The Central Park Hoodie, ready to go! And it only took three years of yarn acquisition from multiple yarn stores in multiple states (and multiple dye lots, but we won't mention that) and – most importantly – multiples of multiples of emails from MK Kathy figuring out the numbers. We are not blaming her if it doesn't fit. We would NEVER. :)

We are excited, because we have never made a sweater for ourself, precious! Oh wait. We thought we were channeling the Queen, because we just saw that movie, and now we seem to be channeling Gollum instead. Perhaps we need to end this post, and do us some laundry.

We hope we will have progress to report soon!


p.s. There are two different dye lots in this picture, but I am hoping you can't spot them.