George's Sweater

I've talked a bit about George's sweater. I've been working on it for some time, although, in fairness, I have not concentrated all my efforts on it while also knitting a couple of wraps, my smokering and a pair of socks, and attending Madrona. Last year I was on a frantic search for the vintage Rowan DK Marl yarn in the Buttercream colorway to knit Rebecca's Sock Monkey Sweater for myself. When I found my yarn, the same seller had 15 skeins of the Fudge colorway, so I bought it to knit a sweater for George. I didn't realize his would come before mine...

Knowing I would be using Karen Alfke's Unpattern with raglan sleeves, I measured George's favorite Pendleton sweater as the example, and measured some parts of him because of the sweater's extra long arms and body length (he buys XL in order to fit body builder shoulders and arms). My swatch provided the gauge for back and forth knitting on US5 down to the front center until I switched to knitting in the round, then the sweater became a swatch (in other words, a period of knitting and re-knitting) until I identified that I had to go up two needle sizes to US7 in order to have the same gauge.

The neckline was the big unknown because he doesn't like his neck to feel confined in any way. I had always planned a shawl collar of some sort, and wasn't clear in my mind about the look I wanted. I was absolutely clear that I didn't want the standard pick up around the neck and knit out with a rib stitch. I didn't want that horizontal look for this sweater. (George said he didn't care, he just wanted it finished.)

I considered a shawl collar squared like a wide henley in the center front, or in a V, then ultimately decided on a combination with a 16 stitch bridge across the bottom of the V. That enabled me to finish the body of the sweater and think about the collar later. I looked at books, patterns, photos, and finally saw what I wanted in my own wardrobe - a sweatshirt from Target had the collar idea I was after! I also saw the look I wanted in several of Elsebeth Lavold's designs at the Nordic Heritage Museum, and as luck would have it, in a book I have of her designs. Next was how to do it. I enlisted guidance from skilled friends; showing them my dilemma and hearing something about short rows.

I was focused on wanting to pick up the neckline as I knit the collar, and hadn't really taken the issue of fullness around the neck into account. I finally picked up the first 16 stitches and began to knit. I tried a couple of different stitches and settled quickly on the 2x2 rib to echo the purl darts at the bottom edge. Picking up the neckline 1 for 1 gave the look I wanted but was v-e-r-y s-l-o-w and tedious, so I decided to pick up the 16 stitches then knit the entire collar separately to sew in afterwards. Experiments (I knit and tore out the collar beginning at least a dozen times) with how often to increase led me to settle on 1 stitch every other row, a make-one two stitches in from the neckline. After having an "aha" moment of realization about how shortrows could be used (I, and everyone who talked with me about them, didn't realize how vague my understanding of shortrows was), then getting a look at a diagram of how to plan shortrow fullness in Principles of Knitting, I finally used some graph paper and inserted a long and short shortrow every 8 rows. I like the finished collar even better than I had planned, and George is thrilled.

Although I still have the finishing to do: the final 12 inches of collar to knit, sewing it in, the grafting to do in the center back, and the blocking, I'm already mentally reviewing the entire project. My afterthoughts on this sweater are that I clearly have some design impulses, and my inclination is not to draw things out. I balk at documenting the steps I've taken with this sweater, yet this is a collar design I believe I will want to use again. Since my memory can be limited about some things, it's worth changing my habits. The good news is that I have not settled for less, and have stubbornly waited (trying George's patience terribly) until the look and construction are what I envisioned. Especially good is that I have the resources, not only in print, but in talented, creative and exacting friends who are patient enough to nudge me through new-to-me steps of the design process.