Thursday, September 13, 2007

CPH - More Than A Rectangle

Ok all you CPH "Wanna-See-Inch-By-Inch-Knit" fans! Here you are. My Hoodie no longer looks like a cabled rectangle. Today I started working on the Right Front independently from the rest of the piece. After knitting up to the 14" I was ready to do the bind-off for the armholes.

At first I was perplexed on how this was going to be done. I had read ahead in the directions (I always like to know what I have coming up) and noticed that the armhole shaping started on the "Wrong Side" for the Right Front and on the "Right Side" for the Left Front and Back. After coming across this, I immediately posted to the CPH KAL asking anyone who had done this in one piece how they handled it. I received a couple of good responses and I decided to mix what I had been guided to do and what I thought would be easiest (at least for me).

So what did I do? Well after I completed a "Wrong Side" Row of getting me to the 14", I separated all the stitches among three cables. Fortunately I was very smart when I casted on for this sweater and had use blue stitch markers to indicate the "seams" of each piece. By doing this I didn't have to count out all the stitches to make sure I got them on the right needle. Since I decided to start with the Right Front, I needed to knit one more "Right Side" row to get to the"Wrong Side". However, once I got to the last stitch of the "Right Side" I turned my worked to start the binding off for the armhole. Right now I have worked up to the 6" on the Right Front. I am now going to stop there and worked on the Back section because the Right Front and Left Front have to be as long as the back piece when all is said and done. The Back is done a little differently, so to make sure all pieces match up in the end, I am going to do the Back now. Once I am done with the Back I will finish the Right Front and the work the Left Front.

To start the Back I am going to add another skein of yarn and immediately work as the pattern instructs. Since I had ended my 14" working a Wrong Side row, I am ready to do the armhole bind-off. Now some of you may be thinking that the Right Front will have one more row than the Back and Left. You are correct but I figured that it wouldn't be noticable and it has to be done this way to keep the cabling rows intact. Besides, who is really gonna get down with my sweater and count the rows just to tell me I have one more row around the armholes on the Right Front when compared to the rest of the sweater?

I'm sure this all sounds complex and confusing, but in reality once you have the basic idea of what needs to happen it becomes clearer. All I have to say to those of you who want to do this sweater in one piece is "Do Not Be Afraid". It's easier than it appears!

6 comments:

  1. I totally agree with you in that it's easier than it first looked. I'm about 11" into the back. I fretted over whether to go straight or circular and decided to go with straight. I may put the sleeves on circular. Right now it's on hold until I get the RIGHT COLOR so that I'll have enough. I bought extra skeins on Tuesday night and got Northern Landscape instead of Avacodo Tweed and yes, I've knitted about 10 rows of the wrong color...argh! I don't want to go any further until I'm sure I"ll have enough yarn. Thanks for the inch by inch story. It's like having a cheat sheet!

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  2. The CPH is looking soooo nice. I love the play by play.
    I am still fighting with seaming the hood in my first one, so I decided to go to the library. I got the Vogue Knitting - The Ultimate Knitting Book. I think I may actually have to buy this one. It actually tells you how to graft knit and purl stitches when they are next to each other, and the illustrations are so wonderful. I highly recommend the book. I mean, I knew it existed, but I never actually needed to use it, so I just overlooked it. Now I am sold. Hopefully I will get to my second hoodie soon.

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  3. Sophanne - I can understand why you fretted over which way to go with this one. I say you have to listen to your gut and do what you feel is right for you. Going straight was it for you. The important thing is, is that you started it after all this time. It stinks about the wrong color, but at least you only went about 10 rows on the back instead of the front and back.

    Shameka - I have the mini version of the Vogue Knitting book. I love it and use it all the time with another book I have. I'm glad you picked it up and hopefully it will get you through that seaming of the hood!

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  4. I want to do a CPH (whine,whine)! I'll be a good girl & wait til I finish my Puff Sleeve Cardi. (Which is nearing the finish line.Yay!) I love the color of your CPH & the knitting is looking so fabulous. You keep working out all the in-the-round kinks so I can call on you when I do mine.

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  5. Hi there, Shameka pointed me to your blog. I'm doing my CPH in the round too, and just started armhole decreases. I'm using a little trick for row counting, and now I made three of them, one for the back section, which is resting on its own set of circs, one for the right front, resting on stitch holders, and one for the left front, which I just did the third decrease row on. I had to draw a sketch to get my head around it all, since this is my first sweater. My trick for row counting, is a heavy strand of tight twist yarn, doubled, with ten loops knotted into it. Each row I knit, I move the needle down one loop. I know to cable on #3 loop. I know the odd loops are the RS and even loops are WS. I also used blue stitch markers to mark where the side seams would have been. fingers crossed, and everyone's posts have been a big help.

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  6. You're hauling ass on CPH! I am a more timid knitter & never would have figured out those modifications. It's looking more tlike a sweater and less like a rectangle. I'll soon be posting photos of my own rectangle (someday to be a sweater)

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