Just in time for Stitches South:
ready!
Vital stats: Going Green from knit, Swirl!, in Mirasol Nuna, on 3.5 mm needles.
Oddly, the Swirl is an eensy bit small, despite substantial swatching efforts and my prediction that it might turn out a tad large. Oh, well. It’s still eminently wearable. And the fabric! Nuna’s blend of merino, silk, and bamboo is divine. I suspect this’ll be the sweater I reach for on cool summer mornings, to layer over a tank before the midday heat kicks in.
Unlike my size prediction, a different prediction held true: the stitches that I had cast on provisionally for the sleeves were wicked funky. I really, really should’ve worked one plain row before short-rowing the first half of the sleeves. (Chalk it up to casting on at a retreat, and the eagerness to get knitting.) Fortunately, working one plain row over those stitches let me fine-tune those stitches – and adjust the stitch count – before grafting the sleeve seams. Overall, the process was fiddly and time-consuming. Would I graft sleeve seams again, on another Swirl or some other sweater with dolman sleeves? Maybe, but before making that decision I hope I would engage my brain, and take a few minutes to toy around with some test swatches.
In contrast, the Swirl’s raglan seam – the one that runs from one underarm, across the back of the wearer’s neck, and to the other underarm – was a breeze… thanks to the right prep work. First I used stitch markers to divide the seam into sections:
orange markers along the neck opening, green along the collar
Then I used binder clips to hold the pieces together, subdividing the sections further:
matching orange and green markers, and holding with binder clips
Then it was zip! zip! zip! across with a crocheted slip-stitch seam. Oh, I love me a good crocheted seam — mattress stitch is fine if you’re matching rows to rows, but crocheted seams are fabulous when you’re easing one piece to another.
So! Early tomorrow morning I’m off to Stitches. With six classes, the Teacher Meet-n-Greet (fondly known as Speed Dating), the Fashion Show, and the Student Banquet, it’s going to be another jam-packed weekend! I suspect that before I know it, the weekend will be over… and then all of sudden it’ll be time to head to Seattle for a talk with the Seattle Knitters Guild and some classes at Acorn Street Shop. As best as I know, those classes still have room – so if you’re interested in Charts Made Simple or Slick Set-in Sleeves, go sign up now!
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