Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Finally - an FO! Can't show it here, but you Ravelers can click to view. LOVE these! And clearly, Frisky is mesmerized by the knitting:

"Ooooh...shiny!!"


I'm also making some progress on this. Shhh...

In other knitting news, I had to do some surgery; my top-down raglan apparently intended to go south for the winter - as in, creeping down my shoulders - and I had to take action.

You know, as much as I love that top down seamless construction (and as much as I respect the guru EZ's opinion on the matter) I've come to believe that there really is some truth to the idea that seams help a sweater keep its shape.

I don't mean to criticize anyone else's preference, but I do have to admit that being at Rhinebeck and seeing all those handknits together in one place drove that point home; I saw some absolutely lovely examples of why seams work. Lightweight sweaters might work just fine without seams, but a heavy wool sweater - and especially in a large size - not so much. Gravity is a reality that has some inconvenient consequences - as those of us over 40are well aware - that must be taken into consideration.

Anyway, I decided at the outset that here was no way I was going to frog my raglan. After considering my options, I took a deep breath and snipped off the neckband:


Then I picked up the live stitches and started knitting up, decreasing as I went.


Once the neckline was small enough to stay up on my neck, I bound off the remaining stitches. Next step will be to pick up stitches along that bound-off edge and knit a collar. I'm hoping that this treatment at the top will help keep the rest of the cardi from sagging. Fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, Frisky is busy trying to stay warm and adjust to the pretty drastic drop in temperature we've been experiencing over the last few days. He's been pulling out and assessing his winter wardrobe


and getting caught up on his naps.

4 comments:

Vivian said...

That's very brave of you to operate on the raglan, hope you'll be able to post the result soon. I'm a believer in the well tailored designs -- seams, short rows, folds, whatever it takes to make a garment look good on the person.

What's the result of Frisky's assessment?

Yarndude said...

Ooh, you have a lot of confidence in your knitting skills. I would be afraid that if I cut off the neckband I would never be able to get the thing back to the way it was. I hope it works out for you!

The A.D.D. Knitter said...

Oh Frisky is is stylin'!!

Dianne said...

Frisky is quite a handsome little gentleman in his sweater!