In which we discuss construction
I'm in the process of formatting the instructions and chart for those of you who requested it. I'll send them out early next week!
But first, some shots of my pullover so far. I've picked up the sleeve stitches and placed them on waste yarn, and I've gone ahead with the body, creating a gusset at the underarm and decreasing to the original number of body stitches. I'm putting in a little bit of waist shaping, decreasing to 80% of the body total at the waist, and then increasing back to the original number before doing the rollover cuff.
Let's talk a bit about gussets. Why the need for gussets? Good question. I'm not referring to any solid information here, just my guess. Gussets are wedges that create ease for a better fit. Gussets are created in the arch area of a sock, and in the underarm area of a sweater. It may be a personal preference, but for some things such as form-fitting sweaters I like to have a little wiggle room there. My revision of the pattern will include gussets.
The pattern calls for a ssk as a left-leaning decrease. While I do like ssk, I decided to try an skpo this time. Curious,that's me. TECHknitting has some good posts regarding left-leaning decreases, if you're interested in this. I like my skpo: slip 1 stitch purlwise, knit the next, pass the slipped stitch over the knit stitch.
Here's a tip. When you're working the body, the yoke tends to get in the way, brushing into things. As a result, it starts to shed (Pastaza is very sheddy). Tie the neck with a length of yarn and turn the whole thing inside out, so that the your needles will be on the far side, with the purl side of the stockinette facing out.
In my next post I'll discuss the yoke and how to make it wider.
Past the jump, my lengthy notes on construction.
Construction: this was one of the things in the pattern I knew I'd change immediately. You can also file it under "Why?" but there is probably a good reason BdF did it this way. Or not.
The pattern instructs the knitter to knit up flat pieces: the front, the back, and the two sleeves. Then the live stitches of all four are gathered up on one circular needle and the yoke is then knitted. Finally, the sides are seamed. I find it odd that if all stitches are used for the yoke, you don't have selvedge stitches for seaming.
At the point that the live stitches are gathered up, this is what you will see. So imagine yourself knitting up a heavily-cabled yoke with four parts in your lap. Okay.
I'm knitting the body and the sleeves as tubes. I've indicated that the yoke is knit up, and the body and sleeves are knit down. If you're like me, you like to get into the meat of the pattern, and the yoke is it! I cast on the total number of yoke stitches using waste yarn, knit 3 rows for stability, then started with the yoke using my working yarn.
Once the yoke was finished, I set about working on the body and sleeves. The body is basically the front and back stitches, as indicated by the pattern. I calculated my underarm gussets. Divided it in half, and added that number to each side of the body.
So here we go, time to pick up the stitches for the body and sleeves!
Step 1: Turn the yoke upside down. Unravel or cut away the waste yarn. Your starting point is at the working yarn, and you will be going clockwise.
Step 2: Using working yarn, cast on one quarter of the total gusset stitches, then pick up and knit the back stitches.
Step 3: Using waste yarn, pick up the stitches for the right sleeve.
Step 4: Using working yarn, cast on half of the total gusset stitches.
Step 5: Continuing with the working yarn, pick up and knit the stitches for the front.
Step 6: Using waste yarn, pick up the stitches for the left sleeve.
Step 7: Go back to your working yarn and cast on the remaining one quarter of the total gusset stitches, place a marker.
Step 8: You will begin knitting stockinette at this point. If you think you'll like the fit without making the gussets, then proceed to knitting the body to your desired length. If however you like the gussets but want a closer fit, use paired decreases to reduce the body stitches to its original number.
Step 9: Once you've knit the body, it's time to do the sleeves. Since you already have the gusset stitches on the body, it's simply a matter of picking up the same number of stitches from the body gusset and knitting them with the sleeve stitches.
Step 10: Once again, going clockwise: pick up half of the gusset stitches from the body gusset, put the live sleeve stitches on the needle, then pick up the other half of the gusset stitches. Place marker. Knit straight if you prefer, or decrease for a gusset and then knit the body to your desired length.
I think the gussetts are ingenious. I have a feeling they'll make a big difference in the feel of the sweater. I was thinking I'd knit mine in 1 piece, from the bottom up. Make a body tube and 2 sleeve tubes (starting the gussetts in the final rows of the tubes) then join them all on a big circ for the yoke. Of course, the thing will probably weigh about 20 pounds and not be very portable, but I'm hoping the yoke will go quickly.
It's going to be a gorgeous sweater. I haven't knit one of their patterns in *years*. They're good patterns, or at least used to be. :-) I hope they still are. Your sweater is coming along beautifully.
Thank you for taking the time to write up these great notes. This increases the chances I will knit this! The cables...they keep calling to me. I think this may become a rather popular sweater! =)
it's looking wonderful - I look forward to seeing more.
Oh my goodness gracious! I've been ogling that Bergere sweater since I first saw it, but just starting to work on the french daunted me...your is looking just beautiful in the charcoal! might I be on the list for your notes?