HELP with Pea Pod
I drooled over all the Pea Pod entries on this blog and finally found the perfect yarn for me in my stash. I had bought a single ball of Rowan Calmer in Kiwi on sale at a LYS last summer. I swatched it after having tried tons of other things and instantly I was in love. I had bought that ball of yarn just to see what all the hooplaa was about and if it might ever actually be worth it to spend THAT much money on yarn for a project, like a sweater for me. Well, it makes my Pea Pod a little more expensive, which is all the sillier for a newborn sweater, but knitting this thing has been pure bliss. First I used the ball I had and knitted 2 hats from the pattern. I know I didn't have enough to knit the sweater from that one ball, but I couldnt' wait to get started so I made the hat unplanned. :) Then at next chance I went back to that yarn store and found beyond all odds that they had 2 more balls in the same dye lot, no longer on sale, but that was okay. So I started the sweater immediately and have knit the whole body. Loved knitting it. Love that yarn.
Anyway, where I need help is the sleeves. I read about sleeve issues in some of the other Pea Pod entries, so I was kind of prepared for this, but thought I'd give a go at just following the pattern (highly unusual for me). Well, I've knitted one sleeve and it seems to small to me. Oh, did I say I followed the pattern? Well, sort of. I knitted it cuff up according to pattern, but did it in the round instead of flat. And when I measure it is slightly smaller than the schematic. Like a 1/4 inch at the cuff, in diameter, no worries, but maybe 1/2 to 3/4 an inch at the shoulder. Doesn't seem like it will be to small for baby, but I'm not sure about how to make it fit with the armhole opening. I don't think I actually checked my row gauge. silly me. stitch gauge is fine. Still, even looking at the schematic, the armhole and the top of the sleeve are not the same size. Sleeve is actually supposed to be a bit smaller than armhole. Did I mention that I have never knitted a sweater with set in sleeves before? Only top down raglan style. Still, this shouldn't be that hard, should it? I'm just wondering, after I seam this booger at the shoulders and try to sew in the sleeve, how do you manage the differing number of stitches in hole and sleeve? Do I just grab 2 stitches of the arm hole every now and then when it feels right? I'm almost tempted to just seam the shoulders, frog this sleeve and pick up stitches and knit sleeves top down. Experienced knitting advice needed!!! Thanks for any suggestions.
Deborah in NC, due April 18th
Anyway, where I need help is the sleeves. I read about sleeve issues in some of the other Pea Pod entries, so I was kind of prepared for this, but thought I'd give a go at just following the pattern (highly unusual for me). Well, I've knitted one sleeve and it seems to small to me. Oh, did I say I followed the pattern? Well, sort of. I knitted it cuff up according to pattern, but did it in the round instead of flat. And when I measure it is slightly smaller than the schematic. Like a 1/4 inch at the cuff, in diameter, no worries, but maybe 1/2 to 3/4 an inch at the shoulder. Doesn't seem like it will be to small for baby, but I'm not sure about how to make it fit with the armhole opening. I don't think I actually checked my row gauge. silly me. stitch gauge is fine. Still, even looking at the schematic, the armhole and the top of the sleeve are not the same size. Sleeve is actually supposed to be a bit smaller than armhole. Did I mention that I have never knitted a sweater with set in sleeves before? Only top down raglan style. Still, this shouldn't be that hard, should it? I'm just wondering, after I seam this booger at the shoulders and try to sew in the sleeve, how do you manage the differing number of stitches in hole and sleeve? Do I just grab 2 stitches of the arm hole every now and then when it feels right? I'm almost tempted to just seam the shoulders, frog this sleeve and pick up stitches and knit sleeves top down. Experienced knitting advice needed!!! Thanks for any suggestions.
Deborah in NC, due April 18th
posted by Anonymous at 11:20 PM
1 Comments:
Sleeves: I generally knit the sleeves on straight needles (both at the same time so I don't need to count twice). Then find the center of the top of the sleeve, match this to the shoulder seam and using waste yarn in a contrasting color tie these two points together. Then I tie the front corner of the sleeve to front corner of the front, and back corner of the top of the sleeve to the back corner of the armhole. With these three points "fastened" you can then judge how to ease the sleeve into the armhole by taking a larger stitch on the fabric that is looser. I've never knit sleeves in the round before - as I think it would make it much more difficult to set the sleeve in. Just my dollar (much more than two cents in this case).
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