Lia
Finished
October 4, 2010
November 3, 2010

Lia

Project info
Lia by Mandie Harrington
Knitting
SweaterPullover
Me!
2x
Needles & yarn
US 10½ - 6.5 mm
Malabrigo Yarn Chunky
7.5 skeins = 780.0 yards (713.2 meters), 750 grams
Red
Eat.Sleep.Knit in Dallas, Georgia
Notes

I really struggled with this cast-on, feeling like I was playing tug of war with each stitch, until I discovered that if you give a tiny tug to the back of the loop before pulling snug, it will pull closed effortlessly. Not sure why this is - maybe if I cast on from the other end of the yarn, it would have worked - but thank goodness I figured it out. As it is, my hands are already tired, and it’s all from casting on!

WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THIS MALABRIGO CHUNKY? I carefully untwist the skein and set it on the swift, but it’s a mass of tangles inside the skein itself. I mean, seriously - the yarn actually doubled BACK on itself for a bit and went the other direction for a couple of loops. How is this possible??

Lifted increases: What the directions in the pattern omit is the fact that you must TWIST the stitch when you have made the lifted increase to avoid holes. 16 rows into the chart, I realized that I had way too many holes in my sweater to wear comfortably, experimented a little, and had a big “Doh!” moment.

What is not immediately apparent when you reach the Shape Sleeve Cap section is that you cease knitting in the round at that point and begin knitting back and forth - that makes the binding off at the beginning of the row make a lot more sense, doesn’t it? :) I emailed the designer to double check on this.

10/20: Brief hiatus while I geek out over Fallout New Vegas.

10/30: Okay, back to work. Finished the sleeves!

The pattern rather blithely says to sew in the sleeves. Um, how? Happily, there’s a tutorial right there on Knitty for sewing sleeves into a sweater body. Why that link wasn’t included in the pattern (along with the proper stitch count for dividing the neckline and a tiny note to start knitting flat when shaping the sleeve cap) I have no idea.

The Malabrigo bled a ton on first soak, so I’m cautiously soaking again with vinegary water in hopes I’ll set the dye better. Considering how easily this yarn spit felts, I’m so nervous about inadvertently felting the sweater! After blocking, I’ll attempt to sew in the sleeves.

11/3: Sewing in the sleeves: the Knitty link says to go under one vertical row to every horizontal stitch (with a double vertical row every 4th row). That didn’t work for me and I ended up going two vertical rows to every horizontal stitch all the way until I could make the pattern line up near the armpit, at which point I kept on keeping on.

As for the length: I really wish I’d made mine longer. I did the short rows and I added an inch or so before starting the chart and I even blocked it out long. It still doesn’t seem long enough for me. Maybe it’d be the right length for someone in a smaller size, but I like coverage, baby.

Even more length talk: I wore this for the first time all day last Friday. It was definitely too short. If I could go back in time and add two inches, I would.

viewed 1413 times | helped 82 people
Finished
October 4, 2010
November 3, 2010
 
About this pattern
Lia
315 projects, in 1150 queues
addlepated's overall rating
addlepated's clarity rating
addlepated's difficulty rating
About this yarn
by Malabrigo Yarn
Bulky
100% Merino
104 yards / 100 grams

22653 projects

stashed 13602 times

addlepated's star rating
addlepated's adjectives for this yarn
  1. soft
  2. pilly
  • Project created: October 4, 2010
  • Finished: November 4, 2010
  • Updated: November 29, 2010
  • Progress updates: 6 updates