Crackpot Quilters’ Blog

My rendition isn’t quite perfect (I was rather sloppy when sewing in the sleeves and really ought to re-do that), but it’s the name of the pattern from Mason-Dixon Knitting. I recommend reading about the genesis of the pattern – it’s quite amusing.

I did this pretty much to spec. I used the called-for yarn, Cascade 220, which has really become my go-to worsted weight wool – I love the stuff, and the fact that I’ve got an LYS with an amazing selection of it doesn’t hurt – an entire wall of scores of colors of yarny goodness. I did alter the pattern a bit to make the sweater about an inch longer. The sweater itself is a perwinkley purple (a.k.a. a version of a certain crackpot’s favorite color – sorry, Mom – it fits me!) and the hem facings and neck are done with a medium purplish blue.

I also didn’t use a smaller needle when knitting the hem facings, so there is a slightly belled effect at the sleeve bottoms. This wasn’t entirely intentional, but I quite like it.

Oh, and I had to re-do the sleeve caps because my row gauge was off. Note too self: if you know the row gauge is off and compensate for it while knitting the body, you also need to compensate for it while knitting the sleeves. I don’t know what I was thinking.

I finished this sweater a couple weeks ago and have already worn it a few times – it definitely passes the wear test. It’s a great sweater for casual wear over a t-shirt, and I love the bit of waist shaping.

And, what’s coming up in the yarny craft category – I have a crocheted baby blanket for afghans for Afghans underway. After that, I plan to finish the rug for my living room that I started last year. I’m thinking about doing a fair isle sweater for my next major knitting project. If I start this spring, I might be done by winter. The current leader in pattern options is Hillswick Lumber by Ann Feitelson – some gorgeous pictures can be seen here and here.

As promised, more pictures and details on my Dale sweater. The pattern is Dale 3006 – Sedalen. It’s out of print, but I’ve seen it at various places online. I knit the sweater with the recommended Dale Heilo yarn – the yarn, pattern, and accessories all came from Bea Ellis Knitwear about a year ago. I started knitting in October 2006, took some time off for some Christmas knitting and finished on February 12, 2007.

I completely adore this sweater.

And now for some pictures! Please excuse my horrendous photography.

This modeled shot is a little better than the one posted earlier this week. Note the super-high-tech tripod, aka roll of paper towels. (and no, my fly is not open – it’s the angle and lighting)

Here’s a detail shot of the sweater body. The fact that the large colorwork pattern is nearly aligned between the body and sleeve is pure coincidence.

Here’s the neckline. You can see the mitering of the braid:

Here’s the back of the sweater, where you can see that the design is centered:

I thought Ann might be interested in looking inside, where you can see the sleeve facing which covers the stitches which were sewn and cut for the sleeve hole:

If you’re not so into knitting geekery, you can probably stop reading now, but I wanted to address a few topics which have come up in a couple listservs that I belong to.

These details are already recorded in the lovely blank book that I got from Cathy for Christmas…

Sizing: I knit the size 12 kids’ body and size 10 kids’ sleeves, with some added length in the solid-colored sections. When I re-did the sleeve tops, I stopped increasing at the point where there were as many stitches as on the size 8 kids’ sleeves, so I probably could’ve done the size 8 sleeves (again, with added length) for a more gentle increase slope (instead of the more dramatic increases and a longer straight portion at the upper arm which you see in the pictures).

The result of the mix-and-match sizing is a sweater which is far less oversized than the Dale patterns depict (for the record, I typically wear a womens’ medium in shirts). The sweater came out exactly the size I wanted it.

I also changed the colorwork a bit, by using parts of the smaller patterns from the adult-sized pattern (the large colorwork design is the same for both kids and adults).

Steeking: Instead of knitting back and forth starting with the front neck shaping, I did a front neck steek. By the time I got to the back neck shaping, all of the rows were one-color knitting, so I knit back and forth. I do have a couple previous posts about steeking.

Pattern Alignment: On the pattern leaflet, the colorwork is not symmetrical with respect to the cardigan opening for the adult sweaters shown (it is for the kids’ sweater). I did some calculation and found that if I started at the right front (after the center front steek) with the stitch marked on the pattern and knit all the way around the sweater, I would end up with the pattern centered at the back and symmetry in front. I didn’t have to stop and re-start the pattern at the side seams.

Last night I finished sewing the clasps on my Dale of Norway sweater. I had intended to finish the sweater on Sunday, but that estimate failed to account for my excruciatingly slow hand-sewing when applying the braid.

I need to take better pictures, but I don’t think that’ll happen until the weekend (when I’m home during hours when there is decent natural light). So, to whet your appetite, here’s what it looks like:

Does it fit? Perfectly!

Details and better pictures will come in the not-too-distant future, but I’m thrilled enough with the sweater that I needed to post something now.