Let the past sleep, but let it sleep in the sweet embrace of Christ, and let us go on into the invincible future with Him. (Oswalt Chambers)

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Metro Finished


Metro was a quick and pleasant knit. I love the feel and look of the City Tweed. If this sweater doesn't pill excessively, I'm sure I'll use City Tweed again, maybe in the Sport Weight version.

The comments on Shirley's Metro, mentioned she had a challenge getting the bottom of the sweater to lay flat and not roll, so I decided to put a short section of ribbing on the bottom.


One challenge I did not meet was the Kitchener of the left collar to the right collar.

My favorite basic knitting how-to book is Knitting in Plain English by Maggie Righetti, so that's where I went for guidance on grafting ribbing together. Maggie said:
Grafting ribbing can drive even an experienced knitting instructor up the wall. Sometimes I have gotten so frustrated with it that I have used the double bind-off method instead.
Since my aching jaw was driving me up the wall as high as I wanted to go, I went right to the double bind-off.


Another pattern attribute Shirley warns about is the tight sleeves, so I used the sleeve pattern for the next size up. They're still a bit tighter than I'd like.

On the other hand, I learned many new (to me) techniques on knitting set-in sleeves top down that, in my opinion, improve on the Barbara Walker method. That alone was worth the price of the pattern because I love knitting sleeves directly into a sweater instead of trying to neatly sew them in after the fact.

Pattern: Metro from the Fall 2010 Twist Collection by Connie Chang Chinchio.

Yarn: Knitpicks City Tweed, Heavy Weight Worsted. 55% Merino wool, 25% superfine alpaca, 20% Donegal tweed.

Color: Dungarees.

Needles: Options #7.

Gauge: 4.4 stitches/inch, 6 rows/inch in stockinette.

6 comments:

Dorothy said...

Metro is really pretty. I'd love to see some model shots. The City Tweed looks a lot like Tahki Tweed, which I love. I agree about grafting ribbing - I think the bind off was a good decision.

Jan said...

I like that, the detailing is unusual. I bought a bigger jumper than usual yesterday because the sleeves looked small. Even at a bigger size I had to ease my arm into it. It's OK when on and nice and warm around small of my back. Yes, I could have knitted something but I have a few things going and needed something in a cold snap at the beginning of our winter.

BTW jumper=sweater down here.

Did it take long to knit?

Susan said...

It's beautiful, Marguerite! Tight sleeves seem to be all the rage lately.

kathy b said...

metro is amazing. My favorite knit up of yours,this year. Usually your gansey's steal my heart....but this one...ahhhhh amazing

Judy S. said...

Very nice! That cable looks really complicated. I like your color choice too!

Anonymous said...

Very pretty. The City Tweed gives it a very different look than my Metro and is very nice. I wish I had known to make modifications to mine. Glad I could help.