This was Miss Zee and me just before making this post. Her curled up to me… while I was knitting on this sleeve for a third time. I was really counting on getting this sweater off the needles this weekend but that did not happen. I had finished the body and tried it on then discovered that the sleeves were not only too short but the right one was a whole inch shorter. It turns out it was the gauge problem. It’s a very long story that I will spare you from but I frogged a bit back and went up a needle size. Now I think I’m on track. I’m determined that this sweater will be finished this week.
One really interesting discovery while making this sweater was learning a new bind off. I’ve been really not liking the basic or ribbed bind offs that I usually use to finish off my sweaters. Usually they are just too tight and just don’t look very smooth. I’ve been interested in tubular bind off but up until recently all of the tutorials I had found were way to convoluted for my liking. Then the other night I came across Purl Soho’s tutorial and my mind was blown. They suggested taking the time to split the knit stitches on one needle and the purls on another and then just Kitchener. I love grafting with Kitchener and can do it in my sleep so this was perfect and I can not be happier.
The photo above show the differences. The sleeve on the right is a basic bind off and the one on the left is a tubular bind off. Still looking a bit lumpy but in person it looks smooth and professional. It’s so nice and stretchy as well. I usually avoid knitting toe up socks because of my bind offs but I am forever changed. This will be my go to for all my ribbed edges in the future.