After avoiding it for a week, I finally sat down to bind off the front and back of eldest nephew's sweater. It went about as I expected. That is, badly.
I had bound off maybe a dozen stitches when I decided to reevaluate.
Reminder: tubular bind off is basically Kitchener stitch, which is grafting stitches together. I'm sewing them, not actually knitting.
So, to get the dozen stitches bound off took a while. And as I examined what I had done, well, it didn't look good. (That's my big issue with Kitchener--I can never get the grafting to graft. It does not look like seamless knitting when I do it.) Plus, it didn't stretch that far.
At which point I was done. My stretchy bind-off would be way quicker, actually stretchy, and it would look good.
That meant that I had to undo the dozen stitches I'd bound off. This wasn't knitting, so I had to unstitch each stitch. Then, I had to unravel the last row of knitting as that row was preparation for the tubular bind off. This all took a while.
And then binding off took basically no time at all for both the front and the back. If only I had started there...
But, bright side, when I finish the sleeves, I won't do all those extra steps. That'll make it easier.
And my bind off looks like this:
The other bind-off? Not worth the effort. This looks fine.
I'm at crunch time. Christmas is in 10 days. Will I finish the sweater in time? (The answer is no. This is not getting finished in time. Deep sigh.)
Sweater Tracking:
I admire your patience.
ReplyDeleteIt was because I had *no* patience that I switched out to this bind off.
DeleteAt least you have a plan now, although the getting there does seem frustrating!
ReplyDeleteIf I had read ahead and realized that it was Kitchener stitch, I might have altered things earlier.
DeleteI bet you could finish it before xmas! :-)
ReplyDeleteI do not need this pressure. Considering that I'm at work today when I didn't expect to be, and I probably won't do any knitting tonight (as I've been fried lately), yeah, it doesn't look good. Better to accept that now.
DeleteYou’ve got a plan, you’ll get it done.
ReplyDeleteEventually.
DeleteIt's frustrating when you have to rip out work, but it sounds like it really solved your problems with this sweater. And I'm sorry you're feeling pressured by knitting deadlines.
ReplyDeleteEven with all that it still looks great. And now you know to skip all the other things when you do the sleeves.
ReplyDeleteIt looks great! You have way more patience than I would.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure he'll understand.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I totally warned them all that sweaters might not be done in time for Christmas. I haven't even started his mother's sweater.
DeleteI only tried to knit once.
ReplyDeleteDelayed, yes. But I am sure you will make it! :-)
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I'll finish it. Probably in January.
Delete