WIP: Still working on this sweater

But it's getting done faster than it really ought to be. I'm knitting too much, is what's happening. I figured out that I can knit this while reading journal articles (at least, ones where I don't have to take notes or highlight things). Not so much for school because I have to deeply interact with those, but while I'm doing less in-depth reading of articles for the lit review I'm completing for work, I totally knit this sweater. Plus I spent more time than I really should have knitting this weekend. Plus I'm giving myself at least one episode of my re-watch of new Doctor Who each night to knit.

The problem, really, is the knitting while working. I'm really starting to feel it in my right arm and I've got the tiniest bit of a nerve pinch making my fingers occasionally tingly. Will that make me stop? Sadly, no. I keep thinking...but I'm almost done and then I can wear this for class!!!!! So, as I sit here writing a blog post with tingly right fingertips, I have just wound what will (I think) be the final ball of yarn for this project. Really, I need an intervention, but I live alone, so one isn't coming. I'm going to the chiropractor tomorrow and then all will be set right.

Here's the progress I've made in a week. It's a bit shameful considering how little time I actually have. Most of it was done over the weekend or while reading for work.

 

Not the best photo, I realise, but the back and the sides had been on the towel blocking (I thought blocking as I went along would expedite seaming. Which it will. I could technically start now.) so I just left it all there. Plus there's next to no decent natural light in this apt. Which keeps the temperatures down, but is terrible for photographing anything.

As a reminder, the yarn is Berocco Fiora and the sweater is Louise by Amy Christoffers from the Fiora book that came with the yarn.

If you recall, last week I was here.  This is basically knitting at my normal really fast sweater creation rate where I have a real job but not any extra work after it and can just knit post work every day. I suppose maybe now that I can knit while reading it ends up being an equivalent amount of time, but I feel like I'm spending too much time knitting for the amount of work I have to do. It's the multitasking thing. I'll get used to it. Or I won't.

 So...back is done. Sides are done. I'm working on sleeve 1 (about halfway done). I have to attend a public meeting tonight for class and I'm debating whether or not to bring this sleeve with me to work on during it (and while I'm waiting an hour after class to head over there) or if I should bring the second bomb pop sock because it won't require any attention at all. At this point, I'm really comfortable with this pattern, but I fear I'll get to the part where I have to shape the cap. I wouldn't really care, but some of my classmates are coming to the meeting with me and I should probably make it look more like I'm paying attention than I would if I were there (nevermind that no matter what, my attention level will be the same). I can tell you one thing...there is no way I'm going to a public meeting on transportation for an hour plus without SOMETHING to knit.

WIP Wednesday: I meant to have this sweater done a month ago

Granted, in order to have this sweater done a month ago I would have had to start it a month ago. Instead I was working through more (hopefully) lucrative ventures and knitting up samples in yarns I've dyed. So I suppose that's worth doing. Then there were those yarn swap things...

Though, TBH, even if I had started this in time, I'm still not sure it would be done. It's only recently that I've come into some knitting time.

Enough of that! On to the talking about knitting.

This week's (and last week's and probably next week's and maybe even the week after that's) WIP is a summer sweater, "Louise" by Amy Christoffers from the Berocco Fiora book. All of this came to me as a door prize from Minnesota Knitters' Guild Yarnover. I have nine skeins of this yarn and a book full of patterns and the fibre content is 40% cotton, 30% viscose, 15% alpaca, 10% nylon, and 5% wool in a DK weight, so I thought this would make a good sweater for air-conditioned classrooms. (It turns out, however, that these classrooms are not so much air-conditioned as set to "freezer" and "Siberia", so I'm pretty sure I could roll in in a full wool/alpaca worsted weight sweater and be perfectly comfortable even though it is July.) Regardless, I think I'll still get some wear out of this sweater in the early fall and, of course, next summer. And if I happen to get this done before August 7 (I'm on track for now, but you never know these days) then I'll have it for summer classes, too.

Here's where I am for now:

The back is done, the pocket lining is done, and the left front is started. I've had more time recently, but I'm also going weirdly polygamous in my knitting (thanks to podcast KALs) so...we'll see.

Thoughts on this yarn: It's nice. It's soft because of all the fibre contents, but sturdy. It's a tiny bit splitty, but not that bad. Although I've never found cotton to be particularly hard on my hands, this one definitely isn't. I didn't get gauge for the sweater on the needle size suggested (well, I got row gauge but not stitch gauge...which like...it's written for this yarn, so IDK what that's about), so I went down a size (so now my row gauge is wrong AND my stitch gauge is still wrong) and then I just did the math that allows me to knit the size XS wide to get the size S I need and I just have to keep track of my row gauge. It's working out.

About this pattern: I get that it's in a pattern book for the yarn and there's limited space, but holy wow is this hard to follow. There's one chart. It's 15 stitches by 42 rows. For the whole sweater. Which is fine, because as you see above the pattern repeats, but the chart makes you read R-L on RS rows and L-R on WS rows which I know some people find confusing. Worse than that, the sweater is shaped with increases and decreases which mean you have to re-think the chart and how it all lines up on your own. Then, now that I've moved to the front...you don't have the right number of stitches. The chart has 2 stitches border on the RS, then a repeat of 8, then 5 border stitches on WS. This works for the back, but on the front I had to cast on 44 stitches and turn 5 of them into a button band, which left me with 39 stitches...which isn't a multiple of 8 if you take off the 2 stitches on RS or the 5 stitches on the WS, so I guess it's now 44-5 button band stitches and then including the 7 border stitches to get 32, but the pattern is VERY NOT CLEAR about that and I wish it would be.

Also, I read the part about how to attach the pocket lining and I'm super confused. So, we'll see about that when I get there.

I'm smart and can logic this out, but it's somewhat annoying and means I *really* have to think about knitting this, which is not always what I want to do.