Liv has not passed the “do you want to wear it this way for the rest of your life?” test. I reinforced the shoulder seam to minimize the stretching, and it doesn’t reduce the sleeve length sufficiently to have them end at my wrist. (I don’t have many colors of this heavy embroidery thread, but this doesn’t show on the front.)
I decided that I don’t like the sleeves falling below my wrist. And so I’ll do what I imagine many knitters feel is unthinkable—but something I have indeed done before. I will take out the sleeves, rip the cap, reposition the decreasing for the armhole about 1 ½ inches below its current location, reknit, and attach the sleeves again. This is a pain in the [insert your favorite body part here], and I’m not looking forward to it. I also need to measure carefully, and we’re headed for some humid, August-like weather that the TV forecasters are beaming about. It baffles me that whenever we have an unusual burst of warm weather in September or October, people are actually happy about it. I yearn to be enveloped by a cold air mass. I feel betrayed that we’re now officially in the fall, and we’re still getting temperatures in the 80s. It’s fall, damn it. Where is the cold weather? So I’m not trying on Liv again until the weekend, when the weather is better and I’ve gotten calmer about making this adjustment.
In the meantime, I’ve made decent strides on finishing Ed’s sweater. I redid the pocket ribbing so it doesn’t obliterate the cable pattern on the front. Formerly, I had 5 rows of ribbing, and the ribbing covered half the Saxon Braid above the pocket. Now there are 3 rows, and the Saxon Braid looks as if it flows from one motif to the next, as it does in the sections without a pocket. I also used a “regular” bindoff. It matches the slip-stitch selvage on the fronts, and it makes a less stretchy finish than more elegant bindoffs.
I also blocked the fronts and back so I could get an accurate location for the top of the drop sleeve, and I started knitting the sleeves. Since I really don’t have a firm plan about how many 3x3 cables will flank the Saxon Braid going up the sleeve, I will do one sleeve at a time to minimize the amount of potential frogging. Also, the top of the sleeve is about 20 inches across, and by time I get to the tops of both, the knitting will be come heavy and awkward. One 20-inch-wide sleeve at a time is enough.
So despite the heat, I’ll press on with Ed’s sleeves.
Ouch! But I do think you're making the right decision. You need to be happy with it or you will never wear it. I think your great attention to detail is what makes your projects so spectacular. And I'm with you about fall! I love the cold days - sweater weather! I'm currently in Orlando and it's beyond me why people choose to live here. It's so blasted hot, you can't even go outside during the day.
Posted by: Dorothy | September 24, 2007 at 09:38 AM
Redoing the sleeve caps probably won't take as long as it took you to decide to reknit them. :) It will be worth it in the end. Knit for a few days, wear for years.
That is one gorgeous, perfect, pocket. What does Ed say about that?
Posted by: Luni | September 24, 2007 at 11:21 AM
Oh wow. I can't believe you are going to do that but you certainly have the talent for it!
Posted by: tiennie | September 24, 2007 at 01:39 PM
I would do the same thing if the sleeves bugged me. You'll be glad you did! Ed's sweater is looking great.
Posted by: Robin | September 24, 2007 at 08:14 PM
Ed's pocket looks fabulous. I'm hoping I'll remember how you did that if my turn ever comes. And good for you for sticking with Liv until you get it exactly the way you want it. It'll be beautiful when it is finally just right.
And yep, we're still hitting 90 in north FL most afternoons so I'm not touching any felty wool yet.
Posted by: Linda M | September 25, 2007 at 08:37 PM