
Remember the swoncho? I finished it a couple of weeks ago but I wasn’t 100% happy with the collar.
I didn’t incorporate the optional short rows when knitting the pattern. The collar was a little too tight for optimum comfort and a little too long. Because of the funnel neck style, the sweater didn’t lie smoothly at the upper chest.
So I did surgery today.
I took a cable from my interchangeables and some skinny tips and picked up one leg of each stitch around, four rows below the ribbing. Then I snipped the yarn in the round above (I had to unravel upwards as it was top-down construction.) There was much faffing to get all the stitches from one round neatly onto the cable and in the process I ended up losing a couple more rounds.
I knitted a round or two to make sure it was all ok, then tried it on. The front neckline was still a teeny bit higher than I wanted, but the circumference was wider and I decided to go ahead and add the new ribbing. My first attempt at short rows at the back neck was too drastic and it would have looked odd, so I unknitted (tinked) that effort and redid it. By the time I was happy with it, the collar was 12 rows deep at the back and 6 at the front. Then I bound off and called it done. Really done, this time!
This is going to be so much more wearable now and I’m really glad I faffed about with it, because I don’t know if I’d have worn it otherwise.
It’s been a pleasant ‘at home’ day today. Did the vacuuming, plant watering, bathroom and kitchen cleaning, and enjoyed a bit of Outlander on Netflix while I was dealing with my sweater. Then I baked chocolate chip muffins and a dish that’s kind of like lasagna but I stuff the tofu mixture into giant pasta shells, smother it all in tomato sauce, and sprinkle a little vegan cheese (Violife) on top and throw it in the oven for 30 minutes. Add a big green salad and dinner is done.
Tomorrow is all about the errands across the lake.
Good for you! It’s always scary to do surgery on an FO, but you know you did the right thing when the results mean a **wearable** FO!
Like that description Nicola – surgery . You have to know what you are doing or big problems. Looks wearable now. I have a short neck so need to be careful with turtlenecks. You now have a new cosy sweater in a color I like.
What is faffing ? Another name for reducing ?
Like the filling of big shells and a sauce of it. Where is Violife sold? I still use regular cheese so not a true vegan yet. Somewhere I have recipes for making cheese.
Hi Rayne. “Faffing” is fiddling about, messing around, pottering. Probably a British word. Superstore has Violife in the fridge in their natural foods aisle. We were using Daiya shredded ‘cheese’ but now prefer the Violife.
I love a good sweater surgery! Looks like you got it sorted out. 😊