Something to Blog About

In avoiding the Pit Of Despair (and lack of blog-fodder) that is the pseudo-Prairie Blanket, I have managed to weave in the last of those ends:






Dulaan 2007, Item #8.

I am going to keep the mismatched ribbing -- don't think it looks all that bad, and I'm really anxious to move on to other things.

Here's a closer shot of the yoke pattern:





This was done free-style, sort of like knitted doodling. (Very fun.)

As for the rest of the "pattern," I think it went quite well. I have a few nits, but these are problems I have with my own choices (don't think the 2x2 ribbing at the neck quite works) more than with Zimmerman's directions.

I do think that if I did another yoke-type sweater, I would try distributing the yoke decreases a little more evenly. Zimmerman suggests three rows of relatively dramatic decreases. Instead, I would decrease fewer stitches over more rows. As it is, when laid flat, I have some puckering in the yoke. I suppose this might be necessary to a good fit, but I think it more likely that it might be reduced somewhat (without harm) by a different pattern of decreases. I just can't tell whether it is a feature or a bug. (I lack a person of appropriate size to test this.)

When I joined the underarms, I did get loose areas (we won't call them holes) at either side of each underarm. I solved this by reinforcing a little with the darning needle. There might have been a better way to deal with it, but I think it looks fine:





Finally, Zimmerman's false seams are just brilliant. They do help immensely with the blocking. And, although I was a bit worried that they would look awkward, it turns out that they are hardly noticable:






(There's one going straight through the photo -- I know it's there, and I still have a hard time seeing it.)