Zimmermania

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Rorschach progress

I posted this at my blog a couple of weeks ago, but wasn't able to coax Blogger into accepting the picture for this site. I've got half a Rorschach jacket to show you:

I made an unfortunate mistake in my notes, cast on the wrong number of stitches for the second half, and knit merrily all the way to the sleeve before I realized that Half #2 was a good two inches shorter in body length. Oops... frog, frog, frog. A corrected version is underway. The yarn is Schoolhouse's Unspun Icelandic - it survived the ripping, but just barely.

This sweater is from Knitting Workshop, which has become my favorite of the EZ titles in my library. Well, maybe not my favorite - that's like loving one of your children more, isn't it? But its small trim size makes it very portable and it contains the Rorschach, the Surprise jackets, the Tomten, the Seamless Hybrid, and countless other goodies. If anyone is interested in making a Rorschach like mine, N.B. that Elizabeth tells you to divide the work in thirds when you get to the sleeve and continue knit on the central portion. I realized pretty quickly that I was going to end up with a very tight little sleeve if I took this advice literally, and I don't know how I ever would have gotten my hand through a snug cuff worked on half of those stitches. I wanted a blousy sleeve, so I worked it on 45% of the body stitches. I decreased 5 sts on each side over 10 ridges for a gusset, and then I decreased to a few more than half the remaining sts for the cuff. Also, I'm using the 40" directions for body length, but the 36" directions for width.

Apart from my blunder with the cast-on, this is a fast sweater to knit and I love its '60s vibe. I can't wait to have it done!

6 Comments:

  • wow i love the pose. it is a little andy warhol. and it will be interesting to see the sweater once finished. funny how it is possible to breathe new life into these garter stitch sweaters. a clear sign of home timeless ms. zimmermann was and how foreseeing.

    By Blogger knititch, at 3:32 AM  

  • Sarah,
    Your sweater might be half done, but you deserve full marks for your work. Wow.
    I like the clean lines and your choice of colours. Very classic.
    Lucette

    By Blogger Lucie, at 10:08 AM  

  • Thanks for sharing the details of your modifications with us. Can't wait to see the finished sweater.

    By Blogger becky c., at 4:51 PM  

  • I had to keep staring at the picture as I was wondering if it was a picture of a manequin! What a pose!
    So far, it looks really great!
    You are too funny!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:43 AM  

  • I know I'm a little late here, but I love the look of that sweater. I think that's going to go on my list of things to knit (with some modifications). Love that sleeve!

    By Blogger ChiaLea, at 8:03 AM  

  • You take such great photos!

    By Blogger Jen, at 8:45 AM  

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