I took my Finishing for the Finicky class yesterday. I came home all fired up to finish Lottie/Hottie and my Shapely Tank. What a disaster. Lottie/Hottie is--as I feared--way too big. It will be a good kicking around sweater but it won't be a "Come 'ere, Big Boy" sweater. Those of you who know me are probably rubbing your aching sides right now after laughing so hard at the thought of me in a sweater that meets the latter's description. So, other stupid things I did with this sweater. 1) While knitting, I experimented with a different M1 which ended up leaving holes everywhere. 2) Sewed up shoulders and then side seams in a fit of enthusiasm. "Um, Jess...sleeves?" 3) In a pique of frustration started sewing on the first sleeve backwards. Yes, cuff to shoulder. Don't ask.
Disgusted I cast the sweater aside and took a picture. Today things are better. I have attached both sleeves the right way. And now I'm starting to seam up the sleeves/sides.
I realized about a week ago that I've been making the wrong size sweaters. (I'm pretty sure the Shapely Tank I'm making will also be huge). With the Debbie Bliss book the patterns are all by bust size. I have a 38" bust. So I've been knitting the patterns for a 38" bust. But these are all the largest sized patterns. I don't wear a large. I wear a medium. Hence, a bunch of gigantic sweaters.
The finishing class was outstanding. It's the second class I've taken from Susanna Hanson. She is a fabulous instructor. She's incredibly knowledgeable but more importantly she's well organized and very clear in her directions. She prepares excellent handouts with lots of notes and an annotated bibliography. She will be teaching at Stitches East so if you have a chance to take a class with her I strongly recommend it.
In the class we covered a lot of basics about how to knit to make your finishing easier--adding selvedges, counting rows, dumping projects you hate. We also covered mattress stitch,
Japanese short rows for shoulder shaping,
picking up stitches
and button holes.
I was also introduced to "The Scary Doll Book."
Click to see just how scary this doll is.
It's a Japanese knitting and crochet book that's been very badly translated into English. It has really good illustrations of the Japanese short row technique.
