Yes, it took me four years to knit this sweater! But I finally finished last night. Right now it is drying outside. I gave it a little bath in some SOAK, rolled in a towel to remove excess water, and then put it onto another towel to pat into shape.
I guess I did ok for my first sweater! My tension got screwy in the yoke/neck area, it is looser than the rest of the sweater. Not sure what happened there. I can clearly see the decrease rounds, and that bothers me. I also don't like the bunching, and don't know why that happened. I was hoping it would be nice and flat like the body. Blocking has helped a lot though.
I made the body longer than sweaters typically are, since the recipient requested it be done that way so when he bends over, .... well, you know!
I am happy this project is done, I learned a lot. Especially that I don't care for knitting sweaters, and most likely will not make another one any time soon.
I made this with Cascade 220 using EZ's percentage method in the round. It was really easy, and I am glad I decided to make the sweater this way, instead of having a bunch of parts to seam up. The underarm seaming was enough for me, even though I love the magic of kitchener stitch.
Duplicate Stitch is a super easy way to embellish and add color to your knitting. All you need is a yarn/tapestry needle, and a different color of the same yarn you used for your project. Preferably the same, or at least the same weight, of yarn. This really isn't set in stone - feel free to experiment with different types of yarn if you like. Just do a small swatch in the yarns of your choice to see how you like it, before going right to work on your finished item.
If you decide to use a different yarn for your motif, keep in mind that if you plan on laundering your item, the two yarns should have the same laundering requirements.
Basically, duplicate stitch is just tracing or covering up your stocking stitch Vs with another yarn. For your first stitch, you will want to leave a short tail, about an inch, and hold it in place with your finger while you finish the first stitch, just to make sure the yarn doesn't get pulled all the way out.
While doing the heart in my sample, I worked from left to right on the first row, then right to left on the row above, and so on. Try not to jump around here and there too much, in order to keep the back of your work as neat as possible.
Also, don't pull too tightly on your yarn, as this will cause your fabric to bunch up and it won't look pretty at all.
To weave in your ends when you are done, just tuck the tails under a few of the stitches on the back of the work.
Step One:
Come up at the bottom of your V.
Step Two:
Cover the right leg of your V. Slip your yarn needle under the two legs of the V above the stitch you are currently working on.
Step Three:
Cover the left leg of your V. Push the needle down into the same spot you came up at in Step One.
You have now made one duplicate stitch.
Repeat this process until you have drawn your motif onto your project. If you make a mistake, it is really easy to fix. Just work the steps backwards to remove the stitch(es) you don't want.
Here is the video. Happy Knitting!
PS
If you like the nails, you can find the Gradient Tutorial HERE
