Thursday, May 08, 2008

Ready To Start Those Sleeves

By Leigh

I've been wanting to share my progress on the Shetland Sampler Cardigan....


... which now includes these freshly spun yarns from the rovings from Sharon sent....


Three of them are from Sharon's own Shetlands, and the gray is from Mim's.

I puzzled over the sleeves, until Gertieanne sent me a link with the perfect solution to my sleeve problem. It is for Lucy Neatby's Siamese Sleeves.

Why is it perfect?
  1. I can knit both sleeves at once so that the patterns match
  2. Which means I won't have to worry about running out of a particular color
  3. Plus I can use a provisional cast-on and knit the cuffs later
I'll need my circular needle, but now I'm at a stopping place on the body of the cardigan, so the sleeves are next. I'm pleased with my progress so far.

The next two photos are per request. The first one is for Tina, who was curious to see the backside of the knitting...


Even though the floats are only three stitches long, I still decided to wrap the yarns to keep them neat. You can find good instructions for wrapping stranded knitting (with photos) at KnitPicks (pdf tutorial here.)

The second photo is for Janet, who asked to see the checkerboard steek that I'm using. Unfortunately, mine isn't a very good example, since some of my rows use only one color, obliterating the checkerboardish pattern...


However, Lucy Neatby has a good tutorial on that too. Unfortunately, her website seems to exist no more.


Related Posts: -
A Contemplation On Knitting Sleeves - Trying to decide on the right kind to knit
Starting the Sleeves - Sleeve Increase Calculator
Shetland Sleeve Update - A look at checkerboard steeks in progress.
Siamese Sleeves Done!
SSC Sleeves & Cuffs
Shetland Sampler Cardigan Complete!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

My land that is beautiful!

I hadn't thought of doing the sleeves that way, mainly because I have never done steeks.

Dorothy said...

How beautifully this is turning out, I love the neat reverse side with the yarns wrapped in.

This is one of the best demonstrations I've seen of how well natural wool colours work together. At first impression the idea of browns and greys sounds dull, but your photos show wonderful colours. I think the fairisle knitting is perfect for showing off the range of subtle shades.

I followed the Lucy Neatby link - she is an ingenious knitter - I'm sure this would be perfect for matching sleeves. I shall continue to watch with interest!

Wool Enough said...

That Siamese Sleeves idea is brilliant. I have Lucy Neatby's "Finesse 1" DVD on loan from the library right now and am becoming quite a fan. Lots of good ideas.

Your sweater looks beautiful. I may be a tad wool-obsessed, because somehow the top pattern row in the first photo looks like a row of sheep at a fence. White sheep, black faces, brown fence?

Laritza said...

Very Very nice! I am following every step of the way.

Sharon said...

I just read about steeked sleeves last week and think it's a wonderful idea. Of course, I'll be happy for you to be the guinea pig! Neighbors were over today to see hats and were stunned at the rich depth of color in natural wools - Shetland, of course.

Jackie said...

(Jaw drops) That is amazing! You are amazing! Wow.

DEEP END OF THE LOOM said...

Does this mean your getting ready to cut it?!! I can't watch but I have to (covers eyes with big gaps to see, I LOOOOOVVVVEEEE the look of the sweater.

Leigh said...

Well, I'm not quite ready to cut it yet, *lol*. Mostly I wanted to get to where the bottom of the sleeve will be on the bottom of the sweater. Next on the body will be steeks for the sleeves. So I have plenty of time before I actually have to cut it.

Cathy said...

Wow.

So much fun to watch!

Tina T-P said...

Who, that is going to be such a beautiful sweater - thanks for a peek at the back side :-) T.

Alison said...

Oh, Leigh, that's looking wonderful! I'm intrigued by the 'siamese sleeves', too - will be keeping an eye on them!

Annie said...

Leigh, this is so beautiful! And steeks - that's one thing I find intimidating! You must be brave!

Janet said...

Thanks for the photos Leigh - I await the big cut. Good luck!

cyndy said...

Beautiful knitting + beautiful handspun = one beautiful sweater in progress. It is stunning Leigh.

Tracy said...

It's looking great! Nice job.