Recently in designs: fall 06 Category

This pic indicates:

1. I'm desperately behind on my pedicure.


2. I need to buy more towels.


3. It's sure to rain all weekend at Rhinebeck.


4. It's 11:30 PM and I spent most of the weekend frogging finishing the sweater*.

* it was 11:30 Sunday night when I wrote this, but I was so tired I never actually published it!

   

I've always planned on a bell sleeve, but I wanted something more than just a widening sleeve at the edge.

After trying a few different edges, I decided on the lacey one you see here. It's a messy lace, in a good way.

I've been dying to use beads so I picked up a few varieties this weekend. I crocheted a couple of edges on the lace, and I'm leaning toward option B (on the right). They've both similar but I like B because it's sturdier. I think it'll be fun to wear with the weight of the beads and the strength of the crochet.

There's this nagging part of me that wonders if it's too much. I'm keeping things as is for now, and I'll see what I think after the second sleeve is done. It's so easy to rip crochet that I'm not too worried about it if I do want to remove it.

The way I figure it, I have about a week left to finish. If I can finish the cap this week I should be safe. That'll leave the arm, the crocheted edging, and about 50 more ends to weave in over the weekend.

So the big black blob of the back is done. I did a quick mattress stitch of the sides and tried it on -- success! I can't be the only one who's terribly nervous at this point on every sweater, am I?

The motif is stretched a bit more across my body due to the negative ease, but the picture makes it look more skewed than it is. You can't see how it's going out and back in around my bust.

The sleeves

I've always been curious about top-down set-in sleeves, but then Lauren went and posted about it several times this year and put me over the edge.

I'm thrilled I did. I had very little fretting to do with this sleeve -- the thing just worked. It's the closest I've come to knitting magic in a long time.

I feel the way I did the first time I knit a cable or a short row.

In addition to the sleeve cap fitting beautifully, I can now try it on as I go. I have a couple of ideas on sleeve cuff treatments and this will make it so much easier to try them out without the fear of wasting so much time knitting. And, there's just something simpler about knitting a tube in the round. I know I could have knit the sleeve in the round anyway, but this just makes it that much easier.

I love it.