OTN Friday - May 17, 2013

Two pair of socks have been added to the finished basket since the last On The Needles post. This yarn is Wisdom Yarns Marathon Sock yarn. I have more of it, sigh. In fact, there is a lot of sock yarn in the yarn storage bin. Does that surprise you? It shouldn't. I realized that not only does the sock yarn multiply, but the downloading of free sock patterns is bordering on the obsessive. To that end, I am trying to pair a pattern that I haven't knit before with a yarn from the stash. And so, I knit the blue socks using Fluted Banister free sock pattern and the black/grey ones are Scales Skin Socks. The SSS link goes to Ravelry and it is now a for-sale pattern, but when I downloaded several years ago, it was free. I changed the top a bit on the SSS socks by doing a K1P1 rib instead of the picot edge, because the yarn is a bit too masculine for a frilly edge.

I promised photos of the steeked sweater. Which is still a WIP, believe it or not, although it looks finished. I CAN wear it this way, but it needs a bit of tweaking still.

It fits beautifully across the shoulders and the neck. And I really ♥ the elbow length sleeves. The steeking* was easy after the first cut. Once the cut edges rolled into the inside, I covered them with a braided ribbon from my stash. There-in lies the problem. The edge stretched a bit as I was sewing the braid on and the bottom front edges formed dog-ears. I need to frog the ribbon and stitch it on by hand, all the while easing in the fabric so the ears disappear. That is a job for high summer, when I can hide in my basement sewing studio.

On the inside, I left little 1" strands of the yarn hanging. Once they felt up a bit from wearing the sweater, I can trim them closer to the fabric. These little 'tabs' are from adding on a new ball of yarn.

The sweater needed pockets and there was enough yarn left over to add a pocket to each side. I picked up stitches just above the garter stitch edging at the bottom of the sweater and knitted on a pocket lickty split . Using matching yarn, I stitched the top and sides onto the sweater fabric.

For more knitted goodness, you can visit JudyL at Patchwork Times to follow the link ups.

*I will post my process of steeking since I shot photos during the process. 'K?