Sweater Update – On the Home Stretch!

And I really am on the home stretch! I got the sleeves attached and started working up to the neckline last weekend. I’d be finished by now, but I goofed and had to frog back sixteen rows. Since I was afraid to just lay it on a table, remove the needles, and start ripping, I “tinked” back the entire sixteen rows one stitch at a time!

I know, I know! And if the yarn had been wool, I wouldn’t have worried, but the silk is SOOOO slippery! I had visions of the entire sweater unraveling before I could stop it. I kept telling myself that the process was important, and I’d finish up the sweater this weekend instead of this week…and not-so-patiently unknitted the entire sixteen rows!

Once I was finished with the tinking, I started knitting again, this time binding off the center front stitches and beginning to work flat for the neckline short rows. I’m now within a half-dozen rows of finished! Then I’ll do the 6 rows of seed stitch for the neckline edging and bind off.

Then it’s wash and wear! I’ve woven in the ends as I’ve gone along, and got impatient with the tinking and went ahead and sewed the underarm seams night before last. So the finishing chores will be quite minor. I am slightly concerned about the finishing, though. I washed the yarn, and some of it isn’t as color-fast as I might wish. I’ll wash it with a color sheet and then rinse in vinegar water – hopefully that will be enough to keep me from having to buy Synthrapol before next month’s supplies order.

Now it’s time to start thinking about my next project…