01-13-2022

Swatched on US7 metal cubics, US6 metal cubics, and US5 wood cubics. Mistake rib is also US5. I probably should’ve gotten out a US4 needle for the ribbing. I think 5 is the right needle for this yarn for my gauge. Makes a nice fabric and I didn’t quite get 5 sts per inch. It’s more like 4.875 sts per inch or 19.5 per 4 inches. So my FO would come out bigger in theory.

I’ve knit this pattern 3 times before, but never for myself. My hips are quite a bit larger than my bust at this time (pandemic gain I suppose). If I cast on for my bust size, will it fit where it hits my hips? I suppose I can try it on by holding it around my hips after I knit the ribbing. It is knit after all and that does stretch quite a bit. I don’t have any problem with my sweatshirt hoodies fitting. So maybe it’s not something to worry about. But still wondering what size I should cast on. I don’t want it too big or too small. I want to want to wear it when I’m done.

I hand-dyed the yarn myself. I have never dyed 8 skeins at once before. There is some variability to the skeins as to be expected. I swatched with the very darkest skein. I wanted a dark color, but that one is just a touch darker than I wanted. Overall, I’m happy with the yarn and eager to see the knitted fabric it produces.

01-14-2022

I think I will do a stretchy cast on. I learned of Alternating Cable Cast On today and it’s fantastic! Looks like a tubular cast on, but it’s sooo much easier. Basically, you do a cable cast on, but alternate knit and purl as you go. Where have you been all my life?! I’m gonna try it on another swatch before committing to my project. I’ll use this stretchy bind off to check that out too.

later…
Alternating Cable Cast on is indeed awesome. I’m gonna use that.

The stretchy bind off is indeed stretchy, but it makes the bind off edge flared. I dislike the look so much, I’m going to frog it on my swatch and do a regular bind off. Wouldn’t need it for this project anyway.

Swatch #2 specs:
Alternating Cabled Cast On, US4 wood cubics
Mistake rib US4
Stockinette US5 wood cubics
Mistake rib US4
Regular bind off in pattern (K1,P1) with US5

01-17-2022

Cast on 203 sts on US4 wood cubics, using alternating cable cast on. Love it! It is slower to cast on than long tail, but faster than tubular and I think easier too. Looks great.

01-21-2022

18 rows on pocket before starting pocket shaping.

I want my pockets to be a bit deeper, so I knit 18 rows before starting the pocket shaping. Hoping my phone will stay in my pocket.

02-02-2022

Attached pockets to body. Since I had knit an even number of rows before starting pocket shaping, I ended up attaching the pockets on a purl row instead of a knit row. It was uneventful, but worth mentioning.

I have about 11 inches of sweater so far.

02-10-2022

Sleeves

Knit body to 16” and then started sleeves.

I go up a needle size for knitting in the round.

First cuff done. Alternating cable cast on. K 19 rounds broken rib ending in a K round. With US5 needle.

Then switched to US6 for stockinette stitch.

02-11-2022

Oops! forgot to increase on the first sleeve round after ribbing. Knit 8 rounds before I remembered. Will just start increases there.

02-18-2022

Finished first sleeve. Alternated 2 skeins. Used about 80g of yarn.

Increased 12x after the first repeat for 13x total to accommodate my massive arms, or just because I my gauge was still a little tighter even with using a larger needle. Either way, needed more increases.

02-20-2022

Started second sleeve. Doing same as first sleeve. Alternating same 2 skeins for the second sleeve.

02-28-2022

Attached sleeves to the rest of the sweater.

Always a little difficult to get the cable around the round part of the sleeve and then straight and knit through that area. Best to have an extra long cable so you can pull some slack through the sleeve area. I had a long cable, but attached an additional cable to assist with this process. Shorter needle tips would help too, but I didn’t have any in the appropriate size.

03-26-2022

Finished knitting hood. Just the icord left to knit and then on to all of the finishing.

Put this on hold to knit a hoodie for nephew, Benny.

04-19-2022

Ordered zippers today because I was ordering for another project. Not many sizes to choose from so I just went with 27”. If it’s not long enough, I guess I’ll have to order another later. Chose 2 colors because you really have to see it in person to know!

From zipperstop.com

YKK #5 Brass Jacket Separating Zippers - 27”
Color: 558 - Dark Royal
Color: 220 - Purple Royal

04-21-2022

Ugh. They sent plastic zippers. I ordered brass. They look fine and they are the same as the ones I use on kids hoodies. Just not what I ordered.

04-26-2022

Zipper stop made it right. They sent me the correct zippers. I will continue ordering from them.

08-01-2024

icord
Finally did the icord bind off. This project has been hibernating for various reasons (including laziness) that don’t really matter now. Time to finish it!!!!!!!!

I’m not sure what I did in past projects to end the icord bind off, but it probably wasn’t right. The pattern doesn’t say how to do it. So I looked it up and here’s what I learned:

Finish the i-cord bind off by cutting the yarn with a generous 3-4 inches spare, thread the tail into a tapestry needle and weave it through all three stitches left on your needles. Pull tight to secure the i-cord and weave in the ends as you normally would.

You can also knit three together and weave in the tail from there if that’s easier for you.

More good info on icords.

edit: my icord bind off end is a little shorter than the cast on end. I chose to knit three together. I guess that makes sense as you cast on stitches at the beginning.

08-04-2024

I have completed the knitting! Ends weaved in. Pocked seamed. I’m never all that happy with the pocket seaming. Ugh! I’m not redoing it.

Still need to block and sew in zipper. That is the one downside of this pattern, sewing in the zipper.

The sleeves are just about perfect. The bust seems tight. It is kind of hard to tell when it curls in so much. I’ll measure. I’m really hoping that I can block it out to fit. When I lay it out, the size looks pretty good.

Okay, so currently, it would be tighter in the bust than I would like. So fingers crossed blocking do your thing! Swatches are always measured after washing without any pinning etc., so as of now, no telling the final size.

A little jolt of happiness for me. I showed my husband my hoodie laid out for the picture. He asked, “What yarn was this? Madeline Tosh?” First of all, so much credit to the man to even know that I love Tosh yarn. Second, O.M.G. I aspire to make beautiful hand dyed yarns as beautiful as M. Tosh! Such a compliment!!!! You might think since we live together that he would remember me dying this yarn, but it’s been literally years since I dyed it.

I have 173g or 377yards left of my died yarn.
FO weighs 662g yarn after ends weaved in

Measured my bust and it is 44” now. Ugh! Thanks menopause and broken ankle! I guess next time I’ll go up a size.

Later:
Of course everything grew with water as expected. I was able to pin to my desired measurements. I would prefer that the hood and sleeves not be bigger, but experience tells me they won’t dry down all the way back to pre-blocking size.

Measurements:
Before blocking/ wet & pinned
19.5” / 22” across bust
14.5” / 16.5” armpit to hem
16.5” / 18” sleeve armpit to cuff
11” / 12” hood neck to center
? / 9.5” armpit to shoulder (wet, forgot to measure dry)

08-12-2024

Sweater is blocked and dried. Just need to add zipper.

I just learned of the Clasp Weft Join, which is a way of joining yarn so as to not have ends to weave in. Looks good. I want to try this on my next large project. Some say in the comments that it is just a Russian join without the anchoring. I guess I’m off to look that up now.

Okay, watched 2 videos on Russian Join. I think I get it and I understand what the commenters were saying now.

Video 1 on Russian Join

Video 2 on Russian Join (very pink knits)

It looks good. I may just give this a try next project with multiple skeins.

08-27-2024

Zipper
Zipper in stalled!!!! Woo hoo!!!!

This was the best install yet. Maybe now I can stop being afraid of installing zippers and feel confident.

I reread my notes from previous zipper installs to help me remember how I did it last. This time I used the quilters tape, plus a few magic clips to hold it all in place. I had to cut a few inches off the zipper. I folded the cut end over and then I cut the metal zipper teeth off the part that is folder over the back side. I hand sewed around the top teeth to prevent the zipper from coming off the track.

Consolidating previous zipper notes here. I practiced on a swatch with an extra zipper the first time. This was good learning. Once I was happy with that, I practiced with my FO and zipper without any thread in the sewing machine to make sure it would go thru ok. It did.

I used the tape in place of basting in the zipper. I put the tape in a position, such that I could remove it after sewing. I did not sew thru the tape. It’s not perfect at sticking to knitted fabric, but it’s good enough to temporarily hold it while sewing, and easy to remove after as long as you don’t sew thru it. I then used my sewing machine to sew the zipper into the sweater.

Zipper foot is not the right thing for sewing over an icord. So used the regular foot (J) and practiced on scrap swatches. Then practiced on actual project without any thread in to see how the needle would go and if the piece would move thru the machine. This was good learning. Stitching spacing set to 5. Okay, so did the right side first (very slowly!!! one. stitch. at. a. time.) and it came out great. Time to do the left. Had a slightly harder time seeing the trajectory of the needle. I had the needle positioned in the center. I might try it to the left next time to see if I can see where it’s going better (practice first!). Anyway, I used the blunt end of a crochet needle to spread apart the stitches a bit and sewed very slowly (important). Every 3 stitches I would stop and look.

I am so happy with my hoodie. It fits great. It looks how I imagined when I set out to dye the yarn. Just couldn’t be happier.