Archives for January 2020

As I mentioned last week, I have knit facings for my Yell cardigan: The bottom edge, the front bands and the bottom edge of the sleeves.

The pattern directs you to do a few rows of moss stitch at the garment edges, which to me seems like not enough of an edge to combat the piece curling up, as the rest of it is miles of stockinette. Several Ravelers have mentioned this issue in their project notes, so I figured my fears were justified. So I knit a facing.

It’s easy to do. I cast on the requisite number of stitches, then worked stockinette in the round — for the bottom edge I did about 1.5″, for the front bands I did it deep enough to cover the bands on the wrong side. Once the facing was deep enough, I worked one purl round on the right side. This is the turning round: having that one purl round makes the facing fold obediently to the inside of the work.

I then carefully sewed the cast-on edge of the facing to the inside of the sweater using the same yarn as I used for the sweater. And there you have it — a nice neat facing!

A tip: I am using a 3.25mm to knit Yell, so I used a 3mm needle to knit the facing. My gauge is slight tighter knitting two-color stockinette, so I went down a size to knit the one-color facing.

I have one sleeve done and inserted in the armhole.

Coming down the home stretch! Loki celebrates by lounging on the coffee table.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, my Alcedo Socks pattern is this month’s pattern in Boost Your Knitting from Arnall-Culliford Knitwear.

You can purchase the book at the link above and hey, guess what? There are kits available as well!

(Pssst: If you use the code WENDYSENTME at the checkout then it will give you 10% off anything in the Boost Your Knitting collection.)

Not sure your gusset heel skills are up to snuff? Check out this video tutorial!

Meanwhile . . .

I finished the body of my Yell Cardigan!

I decided to knit the front bands before doing the sleeves.

I knit a facing for the bands, the same way I did the bottom edge. I l;ike the way it looks on the inside:

And Loki is as helpful as usual!

It’s January 2020 — that means that it is the month for my pattern in Boost Your Knitting — a toe-up gusset heel sock. Check out the blog post from the Arnall-Culliford Knitwear blog on January 2 for all the deets, including a knit-along.

Meanwhile, I am working along on my Yell Cardi.

I worked a couple of extra inches before the armhole to make mine a bit longer than the pattern directs.

I’ve started the armhole steeks.

I’m doing my usual 10-stitch steek for the armholes.

And Loki is still being a big help!