Tags
AIWCC, bind-off, cast-off, clothing, FAWCO, jumper, knitting, patterns, pullover, Ravelry, ribbing, Stitch 'n' Bitch
of speed knitting and I finished my Ravello in time to wear it during a conference in Brussels!
My friend and Stitch ‘n’ Bitch co-leader and I were attending a day of the annual FAWCO conference. We’d already met women from the clubs within our region but this was an exciting opportunity to learn more about FAWCO and connect with women from around the globe. As one of the co-leaders for Stitch ‘n’ Bitch at the American International Women’s Club of Cologne, I already have a bit of a reputation for “wearing something knitted” at AIWCC events. So it seemed only natural to be aiming to wear my new Ravello.
At one point, I’d had visions of sewing up the ends on the train but fortunately I was finished before that and even got to give the jumper a bit of a press. There were moments when I actually despaired of finishing. The bottom ribbing was done twice, the cast-off three times.
One of the projects on Ravelry that I really liked had the ribbing in broken rib to avoid pulling in the jumper quite as much as happens with regular ribbing. I liked this idea but casting off was tricky. It looked untidy. I undid it.
I had used Elizabeth Zimmerman’s sewn bind-off on the neck and found it to be a neat edge after my four rows of ribbed neckband. (The pattern has an option for an unfinished edge but this would have left my bony collar-bones exposed!) However, when I tried doing this bind-off at the bottom, it really didn’t match the knit 2, purl 1 ribbing at all.
So then I reknitted the bottom third of the ribbing as regular knit 1, purl 1 ribbing and tried to do a tubular bind-off…very unsuccessfully. So it was back to the internet again to check out other suitable cast-offs.
In the end I ripped back half my ribbed band, reknitted with new yarn and used an adapted version of the Russian bind off from Wendy Johnson’s website. It looked a bit flared out but the edge was very even so I just had to hope for the best. After a damp press on the wrong side it looked fine. I decided to do the sleeves the same way. At least then it would all look ‘meant’.
Three weeks and three days after my second cast on (yes, there were hurdles right from the start!) I finished. I have never knitted a jumper this quickly before. I probably shouldn’t ever attempt to do it again either!
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