Afterthought sleeves
I’m working on the second prototype of the Islander sweater, and thought you might like to see how it looks before the sleeves go on. See the horizontal stripes of colored yarn at each side below the yoke? I’m going to pull those out, pick up the loose stitches above and below, and knit them in the round down to the cuffs. You can also see the short rows above, which lift the back of the neck by about an inch.
The yarn, in case you’re curious, is Koigu leftovers from my Andamento sock and Knit Picks Essential Sock in, I think, Charcoal. I wouldn’t call the latter an ideal yarn for this project. It’s a little thin and hard, not bouncy like the Koigu, but I wanted to use up some stash and I thought the color would work well against the Koigu scraps. Actually, I ran out of the original leftover color a couple of ridges before the end of the yoke, so I broke into a new skein of harmonious blue/mauve Koigu that’s also been marinating in the sock yarn drawer for a good long time.
And once I had that new skein wound up, I couldn’t resist casting on a new sock. Actually two socks. It’s going to be a sock inside a sock, which I’ve wanted to try since I read the passage in War and Peace where Anna Makarovna pulls a second finished sock out from within the visible one, to the amazement and delight of the children. Katrin thinks I’m nuts. But I can’t be the only one who’s intrigued. At least five other people on Ravelry are. I’m knitting the ribbed cuffs separately, but I’ll show you a picture when I join them!
Posted: May 28th, 2009 at 4:36 am
I’m one of the five making the sock-within-a-sock pattern. I also made the ribbing separately, and divided the socks again for the heel. Although I’ve really enjoyed the project (for the sheer showmanship, if nothing else!) I found that it took longer to knit both socks together than apart. It may be worth it, if only to avoid second-sock syndrome…
Posted: May 28th, 2009 at 5:37 am
I have not seen afterthought sleeves before. Looking forward to the next episode.
Posted: May 28th, 2009 at 5:46 am
Neat technique on the sweater! The business with knitting 2 socks at once, one inside the other, scares the crap out of me. Good luck!
Posted: May 28th, 2009 at 6:37 am
I’m very interested to see how this works out for you. Looks great so far!
Posted: May 28th, 2009 at 6:52 am
There was an article on Knitty a year or more ago, about knitting one sock inside the other. I tried it. It was interesting, but I don’t want to have to think that hard about my socks.
Posted: May 28th, 2009 at 7:12 am
Love the sweater. Very intriguing construction. Can’t wait to see the pattern!
Posted: May 28th, 2009 at 8:54 am
I love the sock idea– and I especially love literary knitting references! LitKnit has a ring to it. Could it become a Ravelry group?
Posted: May 28th, 2009 at 10:08 am
Ive never heard of the two socks at once thing, Im definetly going to look into that some more. Im on ravelry too my name is AmandaJoi21 if you want to friend me 🙂
Posted: May 28th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
I saw that article, but couldn’t get my head around the directions for some of the parts. You’ll have to let us know how they (the socks) go!
Posted: May 28th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Is this a new sweater pattern you are designing for yourself? I love the name Islander. It sounds very Pacific Northwest Whidbey Island (did I spell that right?) and kind of romantic. (I’ve seen the film Lucky Seven at least five times now, and there was a wedding scene on that island, I think).
Posted: May 30th, 2009 at 12:59 am
Can’t wait to see how you stick the sleeves in!
Posted: June 2nd, 2009 at 10:05 am
How clever with the after thought sleeves! And I can’t wait to see if the finished sock within a sock; I love that passage and would love to see it in photos!
Posted: June 3rd, 2009 at 1:53 am
I, too, read the Knitty article on knitting two socks at the same time on dpns. It was pretty interesting, but I’ve been knitting too many patterned socks to give it a whirl. I figured my first pair of socks done this way should be plain colored (or better yet, two different colored plain socks).
I like the thought of afterthought sleeves and I have used the related technique for sock heels when I didn’t want the yarn patterning to be compromised. I would just worry that afterthought sleeves would result in a lot of bulk right in the armpit area though with the fingering weight yarn that might not be as big a concern.