14 Rows

The fronts, just before the raglans got the party started.

Once upon a time, I knitted. It may shock you to learn that I still do. Yes! It is true! My passion for the craft has not waned!

Although I truly love to read about others' works in progress, I find it difficult to write about my own in any compelling way. I'm not sure why; perhaps because rehearsing the minutae of such things is somewhat boring for me? It is significantly more enjoyable for me to take on topics in an instructional manner, as unvented sock constructions or discussions of decrease methods.

Nevertheless, because I'd like to write more often and because knitting is once again consuming a great portion of my life, I feel the need to share more of it here. As many of you know, I am nearing the completion of Oblique (and at Ravelry), my second or third Véronik Avery pattern. It is quite outside my character to voluntarily knit a sweater in pieces, particularly one with raglan shaping and no real surprises in the construction or stitch patterns. However, I respect the designer quite a lot and felt that, in this case, the seams might have a real structural benefit: lace lacks structure (as opposed to drape), especially when blocked flat, and the shape of the cardigan takes full advantage of the drapey nature of lace in its loose silhouette. Thus, if the cardigan were to look the part of a stylishly casual piece -- and not, say, like a dressing gown or bathrobe -- it needed the structure that only seams could provide.

Not to mention my aversion to any extra work, some of which would be required if I wished to convert the pattern to something unseamed.

The back. Posed on the dining table near the only natural light of the week.

Of course, for a variety of reasons (yes, mainly one: my loose, Continental style*) the pattern has required extra work anyway. I suppose my two impulses have both had their day now, between primarily following a pattern and needing to fuss some numbers after all.

The photo below probably captures the color best. The yarn is Rowan Scottish Tweed Aran, picked up at massive discount during the Holy Crap the Economy is Collapsing post-Christmas sales. I bought six balls with no direction in mind, but it looks as though I'll use something just shy of five (depending on how much yarn the collar and button bands eat up).


* Much to your surprise, perhaps, I do not mean slutting it up in France (like some people), but rather my style of knitting -- that is, I hold my yarn in my left hand while my right-hand needle is my working needle, half "picking" and half "flicking" the yarn in a concerted manner that yields a rapid rhythm with quite the economy of movement. And you know how much I love economy of, well, anything.


I've now just about done the sleeves, but discovered upon "completion" that I'd ended up with a few extra stitches. This was especially strange and worrisome because I began the sleeves with fewer stitches than the pattern called for, and had maintained this situation until the last 14 rows of raglan decreases. So what happened in those 14 rows? This is the question you should be asking me, and it was the question I would have asked myself -- if I hadn't already known. What happened was this: I couldn't imagine the decreases here would be any different to those on the fronts, so I translated my notes from said previous section without reading the pattern carefully -- or, more importantly, thinking carefully.

You may already have gathered from my excellent foreshadowing that the sleeve raglan decreases are not the same as those on the fronts. Yes! Shocking! Believe me, I nearly fell over, but I was semi-engrossed in Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, so I didn't. I just said a bunch of unpleasant things in my head, such as, "Bugger!"

Well. I still haven't had a proper think about why this is the case, but here's a summary of what happened: Both my stitch and row gauge are off, predictably, so when decreasing on the raglans I've had to modify the rate of decrease slightly. Crucially, whereas the pattern calls for repeating a decrease row and a "rest" row 21 times, I instead have repeated them 11 times each and knitted an additional 14 rows (7 RS) in which I alter the rate of decrease. On the back, this resulted in alternating 4 RS rows of double decreases on each end with 3 RS rows of single decreases. However, on the fronts I worked fewer stitches because I wanted a slightly smaller overall cardigan circumference, so the double decrease rows became resting rows (i.e.: no-decrease rows).

Having worked fewer stitches on the sleeves as well, I naturally translated the crucial 18 rows (Rest/Decrease/R/D/R/D/R). Instead of ending up with the expected 11 sts to bind off, however, I seem to have ended up with 15.

Bugger.