Jeff's Denimcolor Sweater
December 2003 - ???Warning: Contains obscenities.
I began knitting it during the latter part of Christmas break. I wanted to make a sweater for Jeff for a belated Christmas gift. I had never made a sweater for an adult, and thought a free pattern on the inside of a skein of Bernat Denimstyle yarn would be a nice, simple way to begin. I figured I could finish it by February or so.
Here it is, July, and Jeff has not yet received his sweater. Not like he would want it now anyway, since it's 95 degrees outside, but the whole thing makes me feel guilty.
Anyway, what happened is that when the pieces were finished, they didn't match each other in size. Left matched right, fortunately, but the sleeves were unusually baggy. The pattern does suggest a somewhat baggy sweater, but this was nuts. There are several possibilities to explain what happened:
I adjusted for the bagginess by taking up the seam on the underside of the arms. I did it by sight, and it actually turned out to fit him pretty well and was fairly symmetrical.
One problem after I took the arms in was that the leftover taken-in material was bunching up and making Jeff uncomfortable. I imagine it would not be difficult to sew several stitches in the hem that tie down the fabric to itself, but I have not gotten around to it yet because there are other issues to this sweater that bug me more than bulky seams...
Which leads me to the topic of the collar. Did I mention that I hate picking up stitches? The collar required a massive stitch-picking-up, as many collars do. In all honesty, it looks like shit. I hadn't done research about picking up stitches, so I did it the same way I had done it before on baby garments (which hadn't required much). Unfortunately, adult garments show stupid mistakes much more readily, and my holey stitch picking-up is rather obvious. Also, since I felt that the collar might be too loose, I ignored all advice on collar-ribbing-casting-off and cast off the stitches rather tightly. As a result, the collar not only is wide, but it lies flat, like the leotard of some strange ballerina.
The collar was really frustrating, and took a damn long time. Do I try simply re-knitting the cast-off row? Or should I overhaul it completely?
Oh, and lastly...the tummy area is really baggy. I mean, do I take it in, or leave it out? It looks funny. Maybe I will simply take in the ribbed band at the bottom. But how can I do that without taking in both sides entirely? The dilemma continues, and meanwhile, I have babies to knit for. Unlike them, I don't think Jeff is growing out of this one anytime soon. Besides, it's too goddamn hot outside.
Update...
It's September, and the chill is coming! In honor of the fall season fast approaching, I packed away some of my sweater anger and unpacked the sweater from its hiding place. I ripped out the collar, yippee!!! Now I will pick up the stitches correctly, and bind off loosely. That should solve part of the problem.
It's October. I redid the collar, loosely, and sewed in all the loose ends. The collar looks better now, however it is gigantic and looks like something a woman would wear to "show off the goods." Plus it still has those bulky arm seams. Stay tuned...