Thursday, April 5, 2012

Winnie Update

I finally finished the back of Winnie the other night.  It seemed to take longer because this one has a different shape:  at the armhole, you increase instead of decrease, resulting in an exaggerated drop shoulder.  So instead of going faster after the armhole, it went slower!


Actually, armhole is a misnomer.  There's only a marker where the armhole shaping starts.


The great thing about knitting two-row stripes is that you can carry the yarn up the right side.  But it can make the shoulder shaping fussy.  I used my normal method for weaving in ends to carry the color not being used to the position where it will need to be to start the next stripe.  That way I avoided having a lot of ends to weave in at the shoulders!

I also used Elizabeth Zimmermann's method for making the shoulder bind-offs more of a straight line rather than steps.  To do this, you work the last two stitches together on the row before the bind off, and then after you turn the work, you bind off one fewer stitch than the instructions say, because you took care of that stitch in the previous row.  I don't always use this technique, but I felt that it would make sewing these shoulders together a little easier.


You can see that the tops of the shoulders are rather curved.  I'm very interested to see how this all comes together!

8 comments:

  1. Fascinating!! Your stripes are so beautifully done ... I'm envious.

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    1. Thanks! Mind you, this piece has already been blocked ;-) I forgot to mention that!

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  2. I just love stripes. I'm looking forward to the day when I understand what you're talking about when it comes to knitting. lol :)

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    1. Coming soon to a brain near you! Very near!

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  3. I'm impressed, your binding off looks very neat! As does all your knitwork actually. Beautiful stripes!

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    1. Thanks, Carmela! That Elizabeth Zimmermann sure knew what she was talking about!

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  4. You make this entire process sound intriguing. Will go take a closer look at this pattern. Thanks for showing us.
    hugs

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  5. It's already looking so pretty. Thank you for the excellent tips that I must remember when I make my Winnie, and I will make my Winnie!

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