All Koigu, all the time!
It should come as no shock to anyone that I keep creeping closer and closer to knitting all Koigu, all the time! The Koigu Cashmere pullover is almost done, I have to sew the second puff sleeve in and weave in the ends and then I can wear it.
The puff sleeve came out cute, didn't it? This was my first time knitting and sewing a puff sleeve so I took my time and really thought about it and planned it out. I looked for info about them online and there really wasn't anything geared to knitting, so I ended up looking at sewing resources about puff sleeves, which were also scarce. I finally found something about how to alter a paper pattern for a set-in sleeve to a puff sleeve, and used that concept for the knitting. I first printed out graph paper in the correct proportion, then drew in my sleeve cap using my pattern. Then I cut it out and altered it to have a wider top, glued that onto the graph paper and traced it again, translating the new edge into stitch counts.
Then when it came time to sew in the sleeve, I again tried to look up information in my references, namely the big Vogue Knitting book, which had no specific information about how to sew the gathered edge onto the smooth edge. So I ended up winging it and found a good ratio: 3 sleeve stitches to one body stitch gave it a nice gathered puff. I'm really happy with how it came out and I can't wait to wear this cutie!
The peach blob on top of the cashmere pullover is my newest Koigu project, which is actually a commercial pattern! I know, shock of shocks. I just got the new Vogue Knitting and it has this cute shrug pattern in it:
The gauge is exactly right for KPPPM so I jumped right in and already finished the back and picked up stitches for the body. The instructions have you knit the body even for several inches, which seems really strange to me (I think it would make more sense to have some increases), so I picked up and started a sleeve instead of continuing the body. My plan is to finish the first sleeve and try it on to see whether the pattern might work as written or if I have to alter it. I don't have that much faith in Vogue patterns since they tend to always have some problems, and I'd rather do it right the first time than blindly follow a pattern that seems wrong only to have to rip and re-write it later anyway.
Oh, and in health news I went to the doctor for my knee and he says I damaged one of the disks of cartilage between the leg bones, behind my knee cap, and that is what's causing my varying degrees of pain. I'm on prescription anti-inflammatory, taking Glucosamine to encourage the cartilage to grow back, and doing exercises to tighten the joint. It definitely could have been worse and I'm happy I went to get it checked out so I don't have to worry about it.
Back to the couch to finish my pullover and give my knee a rest!
Happy New Year to everyone! See you in 2007!
3 Responses
Devorah
The puff sleeve looks really good, I cannot wait to see the finished sweater! Happy New Year!
gleek
that puff sleeve is totally cute :) happy new year!
Shana
January 01, 2007
Let’s try this again:
I love the puff sleeve. Have a happy and a healthy new year!