22 March 2007

Third time a charm?

The Baby Bolero pattern from One Skein is cute. It's easy. It's fast. I've started three and haven't finished one.

Not one to lose faith, I'm plugging away at #3, fully believing I can have it knit, seamed AND delivered to Florida by next Wednesday, March 28.

Yeah.

Tuesday's status:



As of Thursday's lunch break, I had finished the back (shown partially done, above) the left front (on the stitch holder to the left), and 3/4 of the other sleeve (sleeve one at top). I didn't actually work on it at all Wednesday or today--turns out Mr. Cygknit is actually sick, oops--so I've come pretty far in a short amount of time.

So, my internal Q & A runs something like:

Question: Do I have any hope of finishing it before the weekend is up?

Answer: The knitting, no problem. Even if I don't knit a stitch tonight, I'll have that sleeve done on my lunch break Friday. But to get it in the mail Saturday, I ought to block and seam Friday night. And get to the Post Office by Noon on Saturday.

Question: So what's the problem with finishing these?

Answer: Overwhelming frustration

This is the first one I knit, for Baby CygKnit:

I've blocked the sleeves and armholes, and all that's left to do is seam it. Except...when I tried to sew the shoulders it turned out awful.

Olive helpfully points out that when you graft shoulder seams together, you should have wrong sides facing. Not right sides.

The other shoulder, (seen if you click for big) is just live stitches swinging in the wind. It turns out that blindly following directions isn't always the best idea. Not only did I bind off as directed, but I actually wove in the ends. Then, I read the assembly instructions: "Sew shoulder seams together." Um, OK. How? What's best? An hour of picking my ends out later, I was prepared for the grafting...which I promptly did inside-out. Can you see why I want to frog the whole darn thing and make a different sweater?!

*Deep breath*

For the Florida Baby's bolero, I left the shoulder stitches live (seen in top photo) so I could do either a three needle bind off or kitchener. Which should I do? Any suggestions would be gratefully (and tearfully) received.

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7 Comments:

At 4:22 PM, Blogger Little Terry said...

You did remember to use the revised directions from the website, right?

(There's the extent of my knitting knowledge: look for corrections in the directions.)

 
At 5:38 PM, Blogger ~Tonia~ said...

They are really cute!! I say kitchener them. The 3 needle bind off give a ridge as the kitchener doesn't. Much more comphie for a little one. I hope that they decide to cooperate for you.

 
At 9:40 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

So...we're going to read through the entire directions from now on, right?

*runs*

 
At 8:02 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree with Tonia it sounds like it would work good. Finishing isn't really my strong suit. Good luck!

 
At 9:16 AM, Blogger NeedleTart said...

I vote for the 3 needle bind off. It's a little more sturdy for the little one. Maybe he/she can pass it on. Then again, ~tonia~ has a point on the comfort level. I guess either would work, it's which one would take the least time and concentration.

 
At 10:52 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have made 2 of those, finished one, and the other is sitting languishing in the pieces-are-finished-but-not-assembled stage. Cause the finishing stage is a pain in the arse. I think what I did was bind off the shoulders then loosely weave the shoulder seams together a la kitchener stitch. Worked pretty well, I must say.
Good luck!

 
At 10:30 PM, Blogger Leigh said...

Ah. Always better with a kitty to lay on it ;)

 

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