Friday, August 31, 2007

Incremental Progress

This looks very much like the previous yoke picture, but in fact it is not: here is a completed fair-isle yoke, about ten rows away from separating for the sleeves. I am pleased with the final product: there was no avoiding a sort of striped look, but I think I was able to balance simple peerie bands with more complex bands in a harmonious way. I'm not totally sold on the final band of pattern: the one that looks like lavender flowers with red centers at the bottom there -- it's lovely, but I am not 100% sure that it's in keeping with the other, more abstract and graphic patterns. I think that when it is on and I am not looking at it so critically that this will cease to be an issue.

If you look carefully at the photo above, you can see that there are stitch markers dangling from the cable at the bottom right-hand corner. That is because I decided after the yoke increases were done to switch to raglan-style increases until I divide for the arms. I don't think that it will be noticeable in the final product, but I think that it will make it easier for me to try on the sweater as I am increasing and divide at exactly the right point.

Anyway, if any of you are interested in the patterns that I put together for the yoke of this sweater, I have posted a link to my chart in the sidebar. It is not a sweater pattern so much as a very sketched-out "recipe," but since it took much longer than I thought it would to design my own balanced fair isle pattern, I though I could save other people the trouble.

Stay tuned in the next week for photos of a finished and blocked top-down arwen!!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very pretty - are you doing this in the round? It doesn't look like it from your picture, but maybe its just how you have it?

Jen said...

Thanks for the comment, Jeanne --

I am not knitting the sweater in the round, just because I am afraid of steeks and I don't mind two-stranded purling. Of course, knitting fair isle flat has led to almost as many ends to weave in as steeking would, what with having to cut and rejoin colors whenever there is an odd number of repeats between the rows that use a particular color. My consolation at this point is that at least there will be no ends to weave in along the button band from this point on.

Batty said...

Wow, this is amazing. I envy your amazing colorwork skills.

Anonymous said...

Awesome! I've been collecting yarns for a fair isle for my eldest, thanks for making it seem a little more doable.