Ravelympics Progress

I ultimately decided to do the February Lady Sweater out of the Malabrigo for my Ravelympics project. Knitting has been going pretty quickly though I think both sleeves would be done by now if I hadn't decided to tear out the yoke once already. I suppose that's what I get for actually trying to *watch* the olympics while doing olympic knitting.

The increases are very odd for this. I had originally thought I would just try and do the standard raglan increases until I had nearly the right number of stitches, but my row gauge with the Malabrigo made this awkward and I did not like how the sleeves were set so I tore back to the increase row and did standard (M1) increases instead. I only did the increases on the front and back panels and had only 49 sts on the sleeves. This seems off, but partly due to the stockinette yoke and partly due to the mystery that is malabrigo weight (I know there are people that can knit this to a worsted gauge, but I'm not one of them - on US6s the tightest I could get this was 16sts/in and I refuse to murder my hands trying to get it tighter on smaller needles) I've wound up following the XS instructions.

The fit right now is snug but acceptable, and based on everything I've read about the sweater I decided not to slip in the extra repeats under the arms since I anticipate it growing a bit when blocked (If it doesn't... well I need to get to the gym more often anyway).

I have decided to do both sleeves before continuing the body, partly so that I can try it on as I go and partly so that I can use every last yard of my remaining yarn in the body. After I finish the second sleeve it turns into a much easier project - just continue in the gull lace until the yarn runs out.

I love the way the yarn feels, even if its hard on my hands. Singles yarns just do not have any give. I also love that I will have almost no ends to weave in.

When adding a new hank its pretty obvious just to do a felted join, but in places where a new ball must be attached without a preexisting end I've worked out another end free join.

I seriously doubt I'm the first person to do this, but since I can't recall seeing this detailed anywhere else I thought I'd post it up for anyone else that might find this useful.

It works equally well on the ends of a long tail cast on. Easiest with a single yarn, but I expect it would work with any felt able yarn.

1. Fold a couple of inches of yarn back on itself. It helps to fray the end slightly.

2. Leaving a small open loop, felt the end to the other side of the yarn (look up "felted join" or "spit splicing" if you don't know how to do this - I recommend using water over spit, because spitting on your yarn... just... not very hygienic >.< )

3. Slip your needle into the stitch where you will attach the new yarn. Hook the loop and pull it through as a normal stitch.

4. Continue knitting as usual. Make sure if your loop is long enough before the felt that you have a stitch (like above) that is partially or all 2 strands wide that you knit these strands as one stitch on the next row.

Ta-da! No end to weave in later and its very yarn conservative.

Now, back to work on the sweater...