I opted for a high, round neck version this
time, those yarn marks on the Back really helped to solidify this for me, so I
shortrowed the neckline, beginning 8 cm down from top of shoulder.
Neckband is pretty easy – just rehang the
stitches, eliminating the empty-needle spaces and knit as the original pattern.
And those sneakers! I didn’t plan that
but, you know, when good things happen…
The past is the past! Onward and upward! I forgot to tell you to add an extra stitch at the left on the sleeve so the pattern repeats equally on each side – not a big deal but I find it easier to have the same needle arrangement on each side when increasing - use the single prong tool and move the edge stitch out one space, filling in the empty needle from the adjacent stitch. To keep the empty needle arrangement on the increase, beside the empty needle, move the end stitch out and don’t fill in, leave the space.
The second sleeve went perfectly.
To the Back! When choosing your size, check where the empty needles are hitting – you don’t want an empty needle one or two stitches in from the edge – if it’s close, leave that needle in work – it will be at the side seam and no one’s looking there! Also, look ahead to see where the empty needle is falling at the sleeve edge and the neckline – you don’t want it to be 1 stitch in – either make the neck width fit within the needle out of work – for example, when I charted out mine, the neck should have been 21-0-21, but #20 at the left and #19 on the right would have been out of work so the neck is shaped now between 19-0-18 ns.
You might recall I was going to ponder my
front neckline as I was knitting the Back. On my chart, I put the row number of
the original vee neck – I don’t like vee necks anymore-I want everything
covered up to the neck! I also charted the vee to start 12cm down from the top
of the shoulder and in consideration of making it a high round neck, with a
depth of 8 cm. As I was knitting, I placed removeable yarn marks at these spots
so I can hold it up to myself in front of the mirror and decide which to use.
Of course, the underarm shaping was done
with the holding position method of shortrowing. And I have 3 full skeins left!
I knew there was going to be a reason for me to knit the sleeves first! When I was making my swatch, and, truly, I did read the original instructions and my notes, I thought, well how dumb is that? ‘Knit 10 rows at regular tension and then 1 row at T9’ – that’s an 11-row repeat! I’m never remembering that, so, I knit 9 rows regular and then 1 row loose so that every 10th row would be the loose row. When you’re knitting the sleeve and need to remember to do regular increases in there, it just makes more sense to have a 10-row repeat. A-a-r-r-g-g-h! Did anyone else catch that? You know, maybe if I’d knit the Back first and already had that 11-row pattern down pat, but, no, I can’t even use that as an excuse because I noticed it on the swatch…
And then I get to the sleeve cap. I’m
going to be brutally honest here – I haven’t made a sleeve cap where I’ve actually
cast-off stitches at the beginning of every other row for a zillion years! That
makes ‘steps’ in the outside edge and makes seaming difficult. In pattern
writing, especially for multiple sizes, it is easier to do the cast off at the
beginning of the next 2 rows thing, but in honesty, I shortrow the decreases –
it’s quicker and gives a nicer, smoother edge for the finishing. If you’ve had
a bit of experience and want to step up your game, here’s what you do:
For my new sleeve, the decreases via the
old method but my new size, are:
45-0-45 sts. At RC116, cast off 4 sts, K1R, 2X; 2 sts, K1R, 12X; 1 st, K1R, 24X; 2 sts, K1R, 4X to RC158. Cast off remaining 9-0-9 sts, RC160.
Regular rules of shortrowing apply, as
well as about wrapping, etc. You must hold at least one stitch on every other
row to continue shortrowing, so in the original pattern, the sleeve cannot be
shortrowed entirely because of the K 6 (8, 10, 12) R.
To shortrow here, set to hold. At RC115, always holding at side opposite carriage, hold 4 sts, K1R. Always at carriage side, loop yarn under last needle beside working needles, and at side opposite, hold 4 sts, K1R. Remembering to keep to the pattern sequence, and to move claw weights up under the working needles
If the holding position shortrowing is too
much for you, you could try the ravel cord method of shortrowing:
https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2017/01/life-lessons.html
And, if you’re ahead of me and you’ve
already knit the sleeves, hopefully I can inspire you to make a second ‘Kicking’
Around’!
the thing about using old patterns? What was the style back then? It was 25 years ago! At the time, I was feeling proud that we were getting away from that old drop-shoulder, no-fit, big-is-better look and moving into more fitted look with a set-in sleeve but the shoulder pads! OMG! https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2018/03/i-had-lump-in-my-throat.html And, MSP knitters, I’m here to warn you – those sleeves, you could hide a football player’s pads in there! https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2017/01/evolution.html
And, the sleeve! Here’s the big difference
– check out the width of the sleeve at the underarm position, ‘L’ on the
diagram – old-school, 23 cm for half the width, now, I’m going with 20 cm. ‘J’
was 16, now 15cm. ‘I’ was 13 cm, now 11 cm. ‘K’ was 38 cm, now 40 cm. Because
the armhole was so big and oversized, the overall length was shorter with the armhole
hanging so low!
I was going to apologize for the
centimetres but no, get with the program! or get a two-sided tape measure…:)
MMKC is planning to have a KAL starting in June and we
would like to knit, with your permission, Knitwords issue #5 on page 16
"Kickin' Around". We are excited about the look of this sweater, the
range of sizes and that the pattern is written clearly enough for all who might
want to participate.
At first, I was thinking, OMG, that’s so old! It was 1998! But then it dawned on me, I’ve always thought of myself as the ‘classic’ designer and by definition, a classic is an outstanding example of a particular style, something of lasting worth or timeless in nature. Oh man, it’s a real compliment! And, I remembered when I was in TN in March, Sharon was wearing her "Kickin' Around" - didn't ask her when she'd made it!
I got another message from the other the other day saying they had ten excited participants and she would be updating me on their progress and promised to send photos!
I pulled out the pattern, got all excited
myself and decided to give it a go too! I haven’t knit on the LK150 in quite
sometime and can hardly wait to get back at it. Checking my stock – I don’t
have a lot of hand knitting yarns to choose from – the original was made with
Patons Rio, DK weight – it was 50% cotton, 50% acrylic, needs 5-6 100g balls –
I found a bag of 7-100g balls of Kramer Yarns Tatamy Tweed, 45% cotton, 55%
acrylic in cherry, with blue flecks in it! I’m even more excited! I used this
yarn in a beige colourway for In the Tweeds, a mid gauge Serial Stuff
pattern back in 2011. It was a sideways-knit A-line hoodie, I loved it then and
still wear it! https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2011/01/stuff.html
https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2011/06/west-coast-swing.html I vaguely recall someone gifting me these 7
balls which weren’t quite enough for that project, and ever hopeful, I saved
them for this day, I think it will be perfect!
Read the pattern, checked my notes (yes, I
still have them from 1998!), made my swatch – the gauge matches perfectly! I’m
ready to go!
