I know it’s been a while since I last blogged. The DH and I have been busy painting the family room, getting new carpet installed (which you can see in the picture, although the color isn’t even close to accurate), and trying to get the family room put back together. It’s been a slow go because I’m kind of lazy. In between moving stuff, painting, and moving stuff back, I’ve been doing some spinning and knitting, but on this WIP Wednesday, I’m focusing on Emily’s Cassidy hoodie.
Cassidy is starting to look like a sweater!
As you can see, it is going together nicely. The shoulders were seamed using a three-needle bind-off, and I’m pleased with the how the shoulder shaping turned out. I did short rows instead of binding off stitches to shape the shoulders, and it looks great.
I also managed to get one sleeve is sewn in, and then I seamed the sleeve and side seams. I’m using mattress stitch to seam the sweater, and it is like magic. The seaming is done from the public side of the sweater and disappears automagically, leaving an invisible seam. Mattress stitch is easy to do, but that doesn’t make it fun.
I do not enjoy seaming sweaters (or anything else). But I shall persevere and get the seaming done so that I can start knitting the hood and button band. I love the knitting part. 🙂
Cassidy is a well-designed sweater. Bonne Marie Burns knows just where to place the shaping, and she chose cables that are easy to do but look complex, and the pattern is well-written and free of mistakes. The only concern I have at the moment is that the sleeves are going to be too long. That won’t be the end of the world. If the sleeves are too long, I can remedy that pretty easily by cutting off a few rows at the cast-on edge, unworking a row, and then finishing with a sewn cast-off. No one will ever know.
There was a time when the thought of taking scissors to my knitting would have horrified me, but no more. I am Knitter, hear me roar! I’m totally fearless when it comes to cutting off naughty ribbing and teaching it to behave properly. 🙂
Be sure to visit Tami’s WIP Wednesday to see more wonderful hand-crafted projects.
Your sweater looks terrific. Love all those cables. I’m sure I’m not brave enough to cut into my knitting. 🙂
Thanks. I love the cables, too. I learned to knit cables back when I first learned to knit at 9 years old. I think the simple ones are the prettiest ones. The first time I cut my knitting was to put sleeves into a Norwegian sweater. Yikes! That was scary. But cutting off ribbing near the cast-on edge isn’t so scary because knitting won’t run up from the cast on, only down from the cast off. In fact, picking out the last row/round of knitting to get to live stitches is a royal pain because the knitting won’t run. I once cut off the ribbing of a sweater knitted in the round–about 250 stitches– because I didn’t like the way it pulled in and knitted a folded hem to replace it. It sounds scary, but once you’ve done it, it’s pretty mundane. That said, my first Norwegian sweater sat for over a year before I worked up enough nerve to cut the armholes. LOL
Ahhh. I never considered that the stitches wouldn’t run from the cast on edge. That’s a great solution to too-long sleeves. Thanks for sharing.
love the cables and it looks like you will be done just in a nick of time(winter is coming)
I am where you were one year ago. that is I am a newbie spinner. I am going to go back and explore your old post about learning to spin ; )
Thanks. It’s a great pattern. I hope to finish the sweater before the month is over. Spinning is a black hole. A delightful black hole, but a black hole nonetheless. 🙂
Awesome color and cables!
Thanks. I love electric blue, and so does the sweater’s intended. It shows off the cables well, imo. 🙂