Bumpy Lace Pattern

Bumpy Lace Pattern

Wavey Front Panel

Wavy Front Panel

In the Girl Friday pattern she says that the lace pattern blocks out really well, and the few people who have finished it and posted it on ravelry have said the same thing, so I thought it would be another great example of a blocking before and after.

These two pictures are of Girl Friday before I blocked it. The sleeves are a tiny bit short and small. The front is very wavy and smaller than the sweater itself, and the lace pattern is bubbled. The sweater itself is shorter than what I was aiming for.

Was I worried? Of course not! I know the amazing powers of blocking.

(Honestly I was a little worried about the front. It was much shorter than the sweater, very wavy, and I thought I was going to have to take it out and bind it off using an even looser bind off than I already did.)

DRUM ROLL!!

Pretty Lace!

Pretty Lace!

Perfect Sleeves!

Perfect Sleeves!

Hello, perfect sweater I knit. How are you? My name is Allyson and I’m going to wear you ALL THE TIME!

The sleeves stretched out perfectly, width-wise and length-wise. The lace pattern calmed down and isn’t bumpy at all anymore! The entire sweater itself stretched out to a really nice length, and, most importantly, the front is perfect! Not wavy at all and the same length as the sweater.

So I made some modifications to the pattern, but not many of them.

I’ve been saying that I knit the  body all in one piece, which I think turned out really well.

I held the top stitches, from the fronts and back, and did a three needle bind off for the shoulders and just picked those stitches up when I picked stitches up for the collar, instead of binding off then picked up bound off stitches.

I only did the collar short rows for about an inch, because I didn’t want the collar to fold over.

And I used a k2tog bind off, because I thought a stretchy bind off would be too much, but the regular bind off would be too tight. It worked out great!

My cats, though, want to eat this yarn! I had to beat them off the thing while I was blocking it because they were literally trying to chew threw the sweater. I had this problem with the yarn itself, too! I kept having to tie pieces of it back together that they had chewed through. I used the Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool! It’s wool! And they didn’t do this with my Vogue Cropped Jacket.

So, I have to keep it in a vault, but other than that I’m in love. It’s so cute and simple looking, I will be able to throw it over anything. Dress it up or down. Basically it’s the perfect sweater!

And now, present knitting. For the rest of the year, Allyson. I’m serious now.

Related posts:

  1. My First Sweater Pattern Finished!
  2. Vogue Knitting Cropped Jacket Finished!
  3. Christmas Present Update: PT
  4. FO: My January Sweater, Minimalist Cardigan; or, When Blocking Goes Terribly Wrong
  5. Summer Sweater Finished!