But You Can Call Me Swatch
The mittens that were inspired by the preparations for this sweater turned out a little oddly, and were consequently called by several names, some of which probably shouldn't be said outside a knit circle, so let's just call this one Swatch for now, 'K?
It worked out exactly as I had planned, size wise, but it turns out that this cable needs ease to be flattering, so it's back to the cast-on again with 18 additional stitches on the next attempt. I was trying this morning to work out how I could avoid having to knit the whole body again, but no amount of cleverness or perfectly mattress stitched seams will apologize for the ruthlessness of a large cable panel's demands on the stitch count. ::sigh::
It's too bad you have to reknit, but I love the design! A wonderful blend of interesting and classic.
Posted by: Danielle | March 26, 2008 at 10:37 AM
That looks so fabulous!
Posted by: PumpkinMama | March 26, 2008 at 10:48 AM
If it's only the cable part that needs ease, why not rip to the start of the cables, and adjust your armhole shaping to accommodate the larger stitch counts? Then when you make the front (if this is the back; vice versa if not), add in the extra body stitches so that the side seams (invisible via mattress stitch) are not exactly centred at your sides, but fall towards the back.
Of course this brilliant plan isn't so clever if you've already knitted both back and front to the armholes...
If you have already knitted both back and front, then you can easily add a creative twist to the design by working side gussets, and there are a couple of options here.
1. Pick up stitches along one side, rib (or whatever) as long as you must, and graft to the other side. If you're in the mood for waist shaping, you can do this very nicely with short-rows.
2. Use the intarsia in the round method detailed in the Threads knitting collection on colour (whatever they called that book) which is a little tedious, because you have to pull your working yarn through the selvage stitches to join invisibly, but it really works well: I did an entire Tumbling Blocks sweater in the round this way.
In summary: you don't need to rip much.
Posted by: Charlene | March 26, 2008 at 11:04 AM
THAT is awesome! Love it!
Posted by: elizabeth | March 26, 2008 at 11:09 AM
OH my gosh...I love those cables! BEAUTIFUL!!
But I have no solutions to fixing it. :(
Posted by: Christie | March 26, 2008 at 11:44 AM
I hope you can just hand that one off to someone smaller rather than ripping it all back!
;-)
The color, everything...'tis truly lovely.
Posted by: Lynn in Tucson | March 26, 2008 at 11:50 AM
Sorry to hear about the size woes... but oh, the color! :-)
Posted by: Beth S. | March 26, 2008 at 11:58 AM
It's a great design, and is well worth a re-knit for the right fit!
Posted by: Deb | March 26, 2008 at 01:19 PM
The sweater will be lovely, and you will be happier if it has a nice amount of ease for the cables to look right. However it is the post title that got me giggling. I don't know if you are old enough to recall the commercials, 'you can call me Ray, or you can call me Jay...' Which is what the post title makes me think of, from so very long ago.
Posted by: PICAdrienne | March 26, 2008 at 02:12 PM
Love the cables, very architectural (which to my mind is a good thing).
Posted by: erin | March 26, 2008 at 02:13 PM
It's a lotta work, but it looks like it will be worth it in the end run.
The cables are magnificent.
Posted by: Laurie | March 26, 2008 at 02:22 PM
I do so love that cable. I need those books.
Posted by: Lucia | March 26, 2008 at 03:26 PM
I'm totally loving the cables. Something off the beaten track.
Posted by: Celtic Queen | March 26, 2008 at 08:58 PM
That color is making me want wool. On the other hand, it was 80 yesterday.
I look forward to seeing this one emerge.
Posted by: liz | March 27, 2008 at 07:56 AM
The cables and the color are wonderful. Depending on what you have in your head already, I think Charlene's plan A would work great. I took a class with Sally Melville once. She outlined that same scenario and showed us finished examples. perfectly good solutions.
Posted by: Judy | March 27, 2008 at 09:10 AM
The post title makes me think of the Paul Simon song Call Me Al. Haven't heard that one in a long time!
I like the idea of adjusting the armhole shaping to give more ease to the cables. I hope that works for you sake so that you don't have to re-knit the whole thing! I imagine you've thought of a good blocking?
Love the cable pattern. I too am hankering for those books! :)
Posted by: Sarahfish | March 27, 2008 at 09:48 AM
It looks fabulous. Could you rip back to the beginning of the cables, then do stealth increases in the cable crosses or in the purl sections? It would be a shame if the body ended up too baggy from the 18 extra stitches.
Posted by: Kiyomi | March 27, 2008 at 04:16 PM
Absolutely gorgeous!
Posted by: Ann | March 27, 2008 at 05:11 PM
Dang, you have to reknit it. That's definitely no fun. I can see the yellow undertones now, but still a pretty green.
Posted by: Wanda | March 28, 2008 at 01:13 AM
GORGEOUS cable pattern and colour!
Posted by: canknitian | March 28, 2008 at 09:18 AM
just a thought, but you might want to consider blocking it before you rip? just in case the whole look and size changes quite a bit?
it's gorgeous!
Posted by: quinn | March 29, 2008 at 08:08 PM
That's a beautiful stitch pattern--definitely worth the work it's demanding!
Posted by: Sarah-Hope | March 31, 2008 at 04:57 PM