Thursday, June 21, 2007

To frog, alter, or hide in the back of the closet?

Remember my Bloomsbury Sweater? After several months I finally put in all 12 buttons. Finding 12 matching anythings in one location is a feat in itself. Having not seen it for several months, there were a few things that I noticed that I hadn't before. Some of it has to do with not satisfied some of the stitches. I do love the lace panels.

I don't like
  • that it is heavy. It is cotton, but it isn't a light sweater. This would work as a fall sweater.
  • the length of the sleeves - too short. I think I would like them to be 3/4 or full length. This would gear it towards cooler days.
  • the see through lacy panels, love those - BUT I have to wear something under it so that my bra doesn't show. Again - that would gear it towards cooler days.
  • the length of the sweater. It is too long, and though it does look like the photo on the pattern, my back end doesn't. And this sweater emphasizes it.
  • button band is flimsy. I would have done better to pick-up the stitches with smaller needles and knitted. Instead of knitting the band separately and stitching on. The button holes seem loosy goosey.
  • collar needs a little help.
OK - to solve some of the above
  • I can pick up the sleeve stitches and knit down. Maybe... the entire sleeve is K2P2. I will try. But I wonder if that is similar to color work and all my stitches would be off 1/2 stitch? If that doesn't work. I can just start the sleeves over.
  • Length... I could find where I want it to end and place the stitches on the needles, remove the rest of the yarn, and then bind off. My fear is the lacy panels. I have to find a spot where I can easily find all the stitches to pick up. All of those yarn overs, k2tog, ssk... I could make a real mess out of it.
  • button band - try it again. Though I will see what mess I have if I am able to shorten the sweater. If I am happy with it then continue with the small finishings.




Bloomsbury or Doomsbury Sweater?
Here the final picture of it with the buttons. If I choose to not hide it in the back of the closet - I will post a before and after. (Oh, that could hurt. Before photo: a decent sweater that won't get much wear. After photo: a big old pile of tangled yarn.)

Still deciding. I like the challenge of trying... then there is the possibility of frogging it if I totally screw it up. I would then knit it into something I would like. But I may like it if it was shorter...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are you sure this yarn wants to be this sweater? I think that you could do all of those changes, just take your time and use a much smaller needle when picking up the stitches at the point where your going to shorten. I can help if you want.

Unknown said...

It's a hard call. With all you have to redo about it I think I would reclaim the yarn and make something else entirely. But that's just me. Or maybe try it on with all the outfit you would wear it with. Sometimes that makes all the difference.