Neckline Done, On to the Sleeves

All weekend long I procrastinated getting the Lavold sweater out of the bag to frog and reknit the neckline so it would fit over my head. I knew I was not doing it. I delighted in not doing it.

There were times when I thought about never knitting on the Lavold sweater again. I had bad feelings about the yarn, bad feelings about the sleeves, and especially bad feelings about the neck.

Finally, last night about nine, I hauled out the bag for the moment of truth - and the truth was good. I liked the sweater, I liked the yarn, and I started having ideas about how to do the sleeves. Best of all, it only took an hour to frog that neckline back to the pickup row and reknit it with less decreases and less rows. I like the way it looks now and it fits great.

What an attitude turnaround. I'm going to have to use the throw-it-in-the-bag-for-a-month technique again when I get tired of a project.

For the sleeves, I'm going to attempt set-in sleeves knit in the round from the top down. Sound impossible? The technique is spelled out in Knitting From the Top by Barbara G. Walker. I've wanted to try it for several years now and I'm excited to finally have the perfect project to give it a try.

In the introduction, Barbara says:

Most modern knitwear is designed to be made from the lower edge up to the neck or waist. There is a popular myth to the effect that working a garment in the other direction is much more difficult. This myth has been circulated not by knitters, but by instruction writers - for the good reason that it is more difficult to write directions for such a garment . . .

Makes sense to me. I'll let you know if it still makes sense after I attempt the top down sleeves.