What a Life!

I’ve said before, I love finishing knitting projects. You take these separate pieces that are pretty but really nothing by themselves, seam them together and create this single beautiful object. It takes days to knit the individual pieces, but in a matter of hours, you can turn it from a pile of pieces into a glorious finished project.

But now I’m thinking that the reason why so many knitters get stuck at this phase – and so many projects get abandoned when they need only a few more hours work – is because finishing is different than knitting. Yes, it plods along when you get going on a particular seam.

I would say the level of difficulty, though, is on par with designing. It isn’t just seaming it together. You have to decide which seam to use, and which stitches to work together at each step. Nothing you do occurs without a lot of thought. You must be very deliberate, and you must not I’m telling you, it’s intense.

Not that I don’t like it. I’m just saying…it’s intense.

Take the Cabled Cardigan, for instance. This is what it looked like back in December.

I had blocked it and done most of the seaming, but once I tried it on, I decided that the blocking I had done was not adequate. I had just laid the pieces out the way I thought they looked good and left them at that. I should have measured them, because when I tried it on, it was too small. And the method of seaming I was using did not create seams that were elastic enough.

So it waited about two months before I blocked it again. Then I ran out of pins when I had blocked the body so the sleeves had to wait. I read an article in Interweave Knits Spring 2008 about finishing. It discusses what order you should do all the finishing steps in suggested doing the collar and buttonbands before sewing on the sleeves – you have less bulk to deal with as you work. I took that advice and did the collar and buttonband this weekend while the sleeves were blocking.

Here it is now, ready for the sleeves and final seaming.

I must confess, I’ve come up with a different idea for the seaming than I used previously, and I’m chomping at the bit to get it done.

In the mean time, I have finished Notre Dame de Grace – my pullover for keeping me warm in the evenings when I knit and work. (Yes, that is what I am modeling in the photograph at the beginning of this post.)

The finishing on it, too, was a major engineering feat. At first, I thought I would knit the collar and attach it at the same time, but I decided that wasn’t working. So I made the collar and then seamed it. The designer had you leave the back stitches on the needle rather than binding them off. I don’t know what you would call my seam, but I worked it so those live sts became purl stitches as I attached it to the stitches along the edge of the collar. You can see it here.

If you’re looking at the picture wondering where the seam is, good – you’re not supposed to be able to know where it is. If you’ve knit this project, you know where it is and you can appreciate what I am talking about. Bottom line, it’s an amazing piece of engineering, if I dare say so myself.

Here’s another take of the finished product.

Forgive the soft focus in those self-portraits. After I downloaded my initial photos, I went back and made adjustments to my settings (and put on my wedding rings and some lipstick). But I was never again able to get a picture of myself that didn’t look dumb. The joy of self-portraits…

Initially I knit it with standard ease and straight sides, thinking it would be a nice oversize sweater. But then I started over and I knit it to fit me with very little, if any, ease. I’m so glad I did – even though I blocked it exactly to size, it has plenty of room. In fact, I think I could even nurse in it without any problems, which I was not expecting to be able to do.

The sleeves are quite long. I made them a bit longer than I did on Salt Peanuts. Those sleeves fit just right when I started wearing the sweater, but the more I wear it, the shorter they get. They aren’t too short, but I wouldn’t mind if they were longer.

On Notre Dame de Grace, I wanted the sleeves to cover my wrists even when my elbows are bent while I am working on my computer or knitting. The shoulders came out a little wider than I had intended – I think the collar’s width and design makes the shoulders spread more than usual – so they’re even longer than I intended. But the sleeve length is perfect.

If the sun wasn’t shining into the living room, I would be wearing it right now. I made it to be my relaxing sweater, though. You know, then one where you just put it on and your frame of mind changes. So I really need to save it for those times when I can let my hair down and not worry about what two little boys are doing. Oh, the life of a mother!

Now, hopefully, I shall be warm again. My dad sent us an electric blanket as an early birthday gift for both of us. I must confess, I’ve been going to bed much too early in the evening because I am too cold to think, and my bed is so nice and warm. Now perhaps I can stay up and get more done. Because that’s what life is all about, right?

Next new project: the Hemlock Ring Blanket using the same yarn I used to knit Notre Dame de Grace. It shall be my travel project for our upcoming trip to Florida, a la Elizabeth Zimmerman and her July project in the Knitter’s Almanac.

Traditionally, I take socks as my on the road knitting project. They’re small, and they take a long time, so they are a very economical use of space. But dpns with a one-year-old on a plane? I think not. This project may be larger, but it is done on circular needles and thus will still be confined to my lap.

Somehow I don’t think I’ll get much work done on it except when we’re driving. With Joey, it’s all hands on deck unless he’s asleep or strapped in his car set. And we didn’t buy him a plane ticket. So unless he falls asleep on Steve’s lap, there shall be no knitting on the plane for me. Ah, the joys of motherhood.