October 14, 2002

Almost finito.

My sweater is pieced together! I dawdled over it, like always, because I don't enjoy seaming as much as I enjoy the actual knitting of a garment. Like I've said before, don't you wish you had a little robot named Rosie to seam all your knitted pieces for you? We've got robots that mix cocktails and a robodog that'll read your e-mails for you, but no robot that'll seam together knitted pieces for lazy knitters like me. Sony?

Anyway, all my sweater needs now is for me to knit an enormous turtleneck (the neckline is boatneck-shaped) about 7 inches long, and some major blocking on the sleeve seams. Backstitch is my favorite way to sew sleeves to the body of sweaters (I use mattress stitch for side seams) because it's stronger than mattress stitch, but the thick seams always make the shoulders look as big as a linebacker's. Blocking the backstitch seams always smooths them out, though. (Thank heavens for blocking.)

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6 comments to this entry:

Have you tried crocheting the sleeves in instead of backstitching? I tried that recently and it looked much better to me and wasn't as bulky. I used to have all my finishing done by someone else, but now I try to save the money and do it myself. I don't like finishing but I find it's more pleasant when I do it in the company of other knitters.

[Larry on 15 oct 02 @ 05:55 pm]

i have not been able to force myselt to sew anything together yet... i have the makings of a beautiful sirdar sweater for the boyfriend, but i am at a loss as to what i should do to piece it together in a shapely way. eek!

[robin on 15 oct 02 @ 06:37 pm]

Hey, Becky -- I'm actually about to put together my first sweater ever, and I'm here checking out your learning links to figure out the best way. I like the seams that lay flattish best, myself, but I don't know the terminology well enough to say what kind of stitch achieves that. Hope you are well! :) S

[Suzanne on 15 oct 02 @ 10:15 pm]

Oh I hate piecing everything together, if it weren't for the fact that doing it gives you the finished project, I'd never sew anything up!

[wendymc on 17 oct 02 @ 12:33 am]

Thanks for that tip, Larry! Hey Suzanne, check out the weblog - I just posted a link to a site that illustrates how to assemble garments. I've found that the seams that lay the most flat are i) the three needle bind-off for shoulders, ii) grafting, and iii) the mattress (or ladder) stitch. I personally like the mattress stitch for sewing side seams. Good luck :-)

[Becky on 21 oct 02 @ 01:55 pm]

Thanks, Becky! I got waylaid experimenting with a circular needle (heh), but I'm getting back to it. Merci beaucoup!

[Suzanne on 27 oct 02 @ 09:29 pm]

October 14, 2002

Almost finito.

6 comments to this entry:

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