As you all can see I completed the body piece of CPH last night! It did not take me long to finish up the two inches I had left to do on the Left Front. I am so excited that the biggest part of this sweater is done. It certainly did not take as long as I had thought it would before I started knitting it. My advice to anyone who has never done a sweater, this is a fantastic "First Timer Sweater". Even with the basic basic basic cabling. I am like Shameka, I have a sneaky feeling that I will defintely be knitting myself another one of these babies! I'm just not going to buy the yarn for it until I have finished this one. (grin)
After putting in some thought to how I wanted to handle knitting the sleeves, my final decision was to not do them in the round. Why? Well, I really wanted to do both at the same time and I did not have more than one set of needles for this project. Some will say that I could have done both with the Magic Loop method. I respond by saying sure but 1) I have never done the Magic Loop and 2) Again I don't have the appropriate length/needles to have done the Magic Loop. So I settled for the ol' fashioned knitting them straight and I am ok with that. I think I can handle the little bit of seaming for them. Maybe for my second hoodie I will do them in the round.
So once that all important decision was made I prepared myself to start the sleeves. I didn't want the two skeins of yarn to get all tangled up together so I pulled out my reliable zip lock baggies. I just cut one of the corners off and fed the yarn through it. This is something I have done before and it really works wonderfully. I also took this one step further, ya know because I am all organized and anal about things, I pulled out my little label maker and labeled my baggies as "Sleeve #1" and "Sleeve #2". I did this because I didn't want to get confused or anything, just in case I had to stop in the middle of working on the same row for the sleeves. So this was really a precautionary measure for me.
I have finished the ribbing on the sleeves and just completed the first row of the pattern. I know these sleeves will fly. I should hopefully have them done by Friday. BTW... Shameka, do you noticed anything in the picture? That's right, when I had to place my marker I thought of your comment to me the other day when we were knitting and I used some of the beautiful stitch markers you made me. Thanks again for them!
I also have another FO! This morning I finished the second baby bootie. I haven't taken a picture of the completed ensemble yet. I will post it soon. Maybe with the new baby modeling them? We'll see. I'm off to bond with my CPH sleeves.
Those are lovely stitch markers!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you regarding CPH as the first-time sweater knit- as long as it's done the way you are doing it- in the round for the most part.
After knitting the pieces to my first ever sweater, I had no idea (blogless as I was then) the effort that seaming required.
I wonder if people hate finishing because it's so difficult or because it came as such a shock to them after all the work of the first sweater. As in, "I have to BLOCK it and SEAM it and I can't wear it tomorrow???"
The shock is as sophanne states, but I also consider lack of finishing skill to be a culprit. Once I mastered the why's & wherefore's of finshing on smaller projects, finishing became less & less of a dread.
ReplyDeleteThe CPH is turning out gorgeous. Can't wait to see you modeling it.
It's looking great! And, I always do both sleeves at the same time, whenever possible. Because, really, why not?
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad it's almost sweater-wearing season!
I am so happy that the CPH is going so well for you. I feel like such a dork for letting other projects get in the way of me finishing mine. The sleeves should take no time to be complete.
ReplyDeleteVogue Knitting - The Ultimate Knitting Guide has the absolute best illustrations on seaming.
Also, to answer Sophanne's question... you can steam block wool with an iron (just don't let the iron touch the fabric), and in an hour you can start seaming your garment. So you really can do it all in one day.
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ReplyDeleteYour CPH looks great...can't wait to see the finished sweater, hood and all.
ReplyDeleteMy head is spinning you are knitting CPH so fast. I think this sweater has to go in my list of "Sweaters I want to make." What did people do before zip lock baggies were invented? I'd have a hard time living without them.
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