Not to harp on about the weather again but it sure was a knitting kind of day again today! I was busy knitting in bed first thing this morning because I had to make a start on my Westknits MKAL. We did have a little bit of sunshine through the clouds this morning but the clouds took over and it’s been pouring rain since early afternoon.
Of course, I can’t show you my progress on the MKAL yet but it did consume the majority of my day. As expected, Stephen West is bringing us some interesting knitting. I’ll post my completed Clue 1 after the next Clue drops – it will probably take more than a week to get it done.
Before the MKAL started I had been knitting an Einstein cardigan. On Wednesday night, before Clue #1 dropped, I was working on the last section of my Einstein – the collar. It’s all finished now apart from the buttons and sewing in the ends, and I’m really happy with it. I took this photo tonight and it’s actually showing the correct grey of the yarn.
The colour of the yarn was really blown out in this picture as it was on the almost black carpet. The Einstein jacket has a very interesting and simple construction. As you can probably see in the photo, you knit the skirt of the jacket sideways and then pick up for one of the fronts. The pattern has buttonholes on the male side of the jacket but I put them on the correct side.
You can see here that the two fronts and the back are now finished. The pattern has you stitching up the shoulders after knitting the sleeves but I chose to Kitchener stitch the shoulders and leave live stitches for the collar instead of binding them off.
The sleeve is picked up from a front and one side of the back and knitted flat then sewn up along the top side and across the shoulder. After I Kitchener stitched the shoulder, I picked up the stitches and knitted the sleeves in the round. I think the sleeve decreases could have started immediately, not as the pattern indicates to knit several rows before starting. You can see there is a wide bit right at the underarm which is not required.
There is a fair bit of fabric under the armpit but it fits snuggly as a jacket. I think I could make some changes and refine the pattern to make it again. I did cast on less stitches for the skirt to make it an inch shorter and I think that was the right thing to do, but I also think I’d like to add a flounce to the bottom. I have enough yarn to do this but I feel that this jacket will probably now hibernate until the weather starts to get cold again early next year.
Time to get back to my MKAL knitting and some Criminal Minds. Thanks for spending some time with me and I hope to see you again tomorrow. 😊
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