Had the dark grey Flora yarn sitting in my stash forever, so I decided to use it as my base yarn to finally make this sweater. Will use it doubled with sockyarn scraps.
October 16, 2022
Close to finishing the back at app. 50 cm before adding the ribbing. Want to learn this “seam with a crochet hook” technique, so I decided NOT to knit the front from the top-down and attach the sides as I go as I did with the FF Backwards sweaters I knit.
October 16, 2022
Bound off at 53 cm. However, 82 stitches give me just app. 60 cm in width, i.e. my gauge is more at 14 stitches to 4 inches instead of 12 stitches as given in pattern. So I might cast on 96 instead of 82 stitches for the front, i.e. this might be wider than the back but this should be ok.
October 18, 2022
Finished front, attached with a crochet hook and picked up 63 stitches for the first sleeve (before closing the side seams, did not look good in my first try…).
Will knit the sleeves in the round
October 21, 2022
After reaching the arm length, I did k2, ktg for one round, then changed to 6 mm needles and did 15 rows of ribbing, binding off in normal pattern, i.e. k1, p1
October 22, 2022
After finishing the second sleeve, I picked up for the neck - 1 stitch for each of the casted-off stitches and 8 stitches every 9 rows for the sides. Did ribbing for 8 cm, then folded over and crocheted the live stitches to the pick-up edge with a 6 mm hook and slipped stitches.
Used dark yarn for slip-stitching the side seams close - this looks quite invisible, way better than my first try, but then I also did sc instead of just slip-stitching.
Picked up for the bottom ribbing, will not do ktbl as I did for the neck as it slows me down. If I knit this again, I would probably start with the ribbing instead of adding it in the end.
October 23, 2022
Finished knitting - definitely won a game on yarn chicken, finishing the last app. 10 stitches with the Drops Flora held doubled. Now just trimming and weaving in some ends, but I do not want to do this today. It is too warm to wear it anyway.
November 4, 2022
Oergs… note to self: Though Drops Flora is non-superwash, it can successfully be washed in the machine… However, it is NOT a good idea to use the highest possible agitation cycle - now it is totally felted and can only be used as mats to sit on during hiking … sighs