Prequel | Part One | Part Two | Part Three
I made it! Sea Glass is done! I love it so much!
Heads up: this project develops its own gravity. I found several-many stash balls joining the project bag as I went along. When tidying up the project bag, I added 400g to stash… so just under 9.5kg to use, then! But I did use 450g of yarn in making it so it’s a net improvement, even if it’s not one I’ve measured.
I made a number of daft mistakes on the ribbing round the bottom. First of all, I forgot to change down a needle size, and furthermore I used a super stretchy bind off. The result was a hem that was both flared and flipped up when off the needles. Sub-optimal.
I set it down overnight, then came back to unravel it and start again. ‘This unraveling isn’t going well,’ I thought. ‘It must be because of the super stretchy extra loop? That doesn’t really make sense though. Perhaps I’m unraveling the wrong strand, there are a few of them here…’
After I’d done a full row I realised I was unpicking the cast on at the neck. How basic an error can you make? It was so obvious in so many ways and yet I just… didn’t figure it out? Anyway I picked those stitches back up and cast them off with no harm done.
Then I got back to the bottom hem, unravelled it nice and easy (honestly how could I *not* have realised I had the wrong end of the jumper?!), and picked up with smaller needles. I also followed Patty Lyons’ advice (Modern Daily Knitting link) on slipping the knit stitches in the first rib row, to reduce the risk of the hem flipping up again.
Then, about five rows in (of a total eight), I realised I’d done 2×2 rib instead of 1×1. I was absolutely not going back and finished it in 2×2, then cast off. Nobody will notice the difference between collar and hem, not even me.
The seams have turned out OK, even though I didn’t follow any of the suggestions from the pattern for dealing with ends. I wove and/or held yarn double as I went along. At the end, before washing, I (unscientifically) pulled all the woven-in ends tight, then used a crochet hook to go up the inside of the seam and pick up the loose part at the beginning of the round to snug it all up.
The seam is visible but, as Amo said in a comment last week, it looks like a design feature. I’m glad I kept the body seam straight up the middle of the back rather than move to the armpit – I knew I’d likely end up with a visible seam and didn’t want it to be in two different places. If I was to make it again (which I don’t rule out) I would try braiding the ends next time.
This is a Sea Glass Sweater (Ravelry link) by Wool & Pine (Designer’s site). I made size 5 on 4.5mm needles for the body, and 5mm for the sleeves (4mm for neck, hem and cuffs). It produces a very cosy jumper, and the fabric is dense but not stiff.
Each full round in pattern, by which I mean one row of both sleeves and body, took about 20 minutes and used 2-3g of yarn. It took me about two and a half weeks to make, that time being my christmas break and including two 7+ hour car journeys.
I’ve made it in colours inspired by the classic Doctor Who scarf. Incidentally, the person I made that scarf for has now received it in the post, and said that she was so excited about opening it that her teenage son came out of his bedroom to see what all the fuss was about. If that’s not a glowing review, I don’t know what is!
The Crafty Yarnster 