Thursday, April 19, 2012

Miette 9: Removing the Sleeves

I had some time for knitting yesterday, and I managed to get my sweater to the point of removing the sleeves.  I won't go over how to do that, because the instructions in the pattern are clear.  I do want everyone to be aware though that in each size, there are a few rows with no increases just before removing the sleeves. I mention it because I haven't encountered that in a top-down raglan before.

Also, each size removes the sleeves on a different row.  For my size, the medium, I removed my sleeve stitches on row 47.  Once you've got the sleeves on yarn, it's a good time to test the fit.  My circular needle wasn't long enough to have all the body stitches spread flat, so I moved half of them onto a second needle.  You can see that clearly at the back:


And here's the front:


Once I had it on my body, I realized that the raglans aren't quite deep enough for me.  No big deal - I'll just put all my stitches (including the sleeve stitches) back on the needle and knit a few more rows.  I'm thinking two or four rows will do it for me.


I'm going to continue to knit straight, with no increases, because the width across my back and fronts is good.


But what's that you say?  What about the lace?

Danger, Will Robinson!  (Please image me waving my arms about.) (And I included the link for those of you who are a) young or b) not American.)

Yes, adding those extra rows to keep my upper arms from getting strangled is going to play havoc with the lace pattern going down the front.  I'm going to have to continue with the lace and shift it by a few rows when I remove the sleeves again and continue with the body.  Which means I'm going to have to pay even more attention!

To make that a little easier, I've created a couple charts for the vertical lace panels: one for the left front and one for the right front.  And I'm giving you the links so you can use them too.  Because some of you might have to do this same type of adjustment.

I made these charts on a very cool website:  Orangellous.  All you do is input your instructions (according to their format), hit a button, and Hey, Presto!  A chart!

There are a couple things I want you to know about the charts I made:
     1) I omitted the purl rows, so after each lace row, you should work a purl row.
     2) The lace pattern is 12 rows long:  6 each of knit and purl.  I showed two full repeats (minus the purl rows).  My 12-row charts represent 24 rows of work.
     3) The chart called Left Front Lace Pattern shows the first 6 stitches of the right side (knit) row, and the chart called Right Front Lace Pattern shows the last 6 stitches of the right side row.
     4) Both charts are worked from right to left, from bottom to top.

I much prefer to work from charts when knitting lace - it just makes more sense to me when I can see a representation of the lace pattern.  I like to use a sticky note to keep track of where I am in the pattern.  I line the bottom of the note up along the top edge of the row I'm working.  After I've finished a row, I just move it up to the next row.  I like to have the note at the top because it's more like my knitting that way:  I can see the rows below that I've already done, but can't see the rows above that I haven't knit yet.


So what I'll do is work a couple more rows with no increases, then remove the sleeves and continue on with the body, all the while working the first and last 6 stitches of every right side row according to where I am on the lace chart (and thereby disregarding the instructions in the pattern for those stitches).  Make sense?

That means that I'll probably have to fiddle with the length too a little, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it!

18 comments:

  1. The cardigan looks beautiful on you already and you are truly a lace chart goddess!! Oh, and did I mention that I love the color you chose??

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    1. Well, not really! I tried to make the charts by hand, but totally flopped! Thank goodness for that website!

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  2. Oh my goodness, I read this post through about three times trying to squeeze all the information out of it and into my brain! lol! This is really great! I suspect that if you have to add length in the armpit I might have to as well! Luckily we all have your fancy lace charts now :) Wow, I sorta kinda think I understand what's going on... lol :)

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    1. I'm going to try to document my changes as well as I can, to use as an example for anyone else who has to do the same.

      I'm glad you understand what's going on! That was the goal!

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  3. It's so pretty Gail!

    Thanks for the laugh...a few weeks ago I introduced my 14 year old to Lost in Space [ it comes on here on Friday nights]. Oh my goodness, I use to love that show and it was so bad!

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    1. I loved it too! I tried to watch the reruns every day, and when my mom told me to turn it off, I'd say "But I haven't seen this one!" - no matter how many times I'd seen it! I can't believe they're still showing it!

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  4. I'm loving your cardigan and I'm really considering knitting along with you :)
    But right now I'm writing to tell you that I LOVE your blog and I have nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award:
    http://carmelabiscuit.blogspot.com/2012/04/versatile-blogger-award-nomination.html

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    1. Thank you, Carmela! So sweet of you!

      It would be fantastic if you would knit along with us - you could really give us some help with all the tricky maths! I'm not always up to it myself!

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  5. It's coming along! I prefer charts too, so thanks for that link! It will come in handy some day, I'm sure!

    I'm glad some else still says "Danger, Will Robinson!" :-D

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    1. I'm always surprised when people give me puzzled looks after I say it!

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  6. My head is spinning with all these modifications....but will I have time to catch up...that is the question???!

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    1. We don't have any deadlines - everyone who wants to join is just making this on their own time schedule. I just wanted to get the information out there because I've got some travel coming up. So you definitely have all the time you want!

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  7. Love the in progress photos and all the details about your process!

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  8. Everything has been going great...until now! I'm almost at the point of removing the sleeves (I'm on row 43). I was counting away and somehow have 1 more stitch in the center section, so, I think I've fixed it then 2 rows later it looks like a slipped stitch! If I fix the slip then I have one extra stitch in the back. Help! What do I do?

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    1. Hi Heidi: I can tell you what I'd do to fix it - I'd cheat! I wouldn't go back and unknit. Instead, I'd do one of two things: either leave it, and just decrease one stitch at the center back all the way at the bottom of the body, just before the bottom lace above the rib. Or, if you're still doing decreases at the raglan, just leave off one on the back.

      Does that help?

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    2. whew! yes! I was hoping you would say "cheat" That is exactly what I want to do. Okay. So, I need to pull that stich back up (to close up the slipped stitch hole)...that will leave me with that one extra stitch on row 43 (ws - purl side). So, on row 44 the only stitches other than knit is at the ends for the eyelet. Should I leave well enough alone here? I guess I'm not sure about your last sentence and how or where that is :). Sorry, I am not really sure about where I am in the project in terms of raglan, etc.

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    3. Hehehe - it's OK to cheat: there's no knitting police. If there were, I would have been hauled away long ago!

      Yes, just pull that stitch back up and then keep on following the directions. What I meant is that we'll deal with that stitch MUCH later - once we've removed the sleeves and are all the way down by the waist.

      The raglan is the diagonal line where you did your increases. But I've realized you're done with your increases now, so you can just ignore that last sentence above :-)

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    4. ok. Awesome! Away I go...can't wait to try the sleeve removal and then try the sweater on my daughter. I'll take pictures.
      Thanks so much!

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