kniteracy | Tradition Progress Report (Reply)

[crossposted to my personal journal and advanced_knit]

Well, it's slow, but interesting, going. I knew when I decided to knit the Tradition jumper from Philosopher's Wool as a cardigan for the beloved,

filceolaire, it would be challenging. I did not expect it to be as much fun as it has been already. Of course, I'm only halfway through one of the sleeves, but I'm really enjoying the patterning and I am feeling really confident that the Fair Isle-style work I've done before on smaller projects (a couple of samplers, a little drawstring bag) has prepared me for the knitting part of this project very well.

What scares me is the eventual assembly of the jumper, of course, since it'll be knit as three tubes, all the way up, with steeks. Steeks are knitted markers (usually marked with loose yarn or with one or more purl stitches in the middle of a knitted pattern) that show you where to cut the knitted fabric-- yes, I'll be cutting this incredible piece of work open when I'm done. You machine-sew a seam up the front of either side of the jumper, then cut the steek, sew it down and attach a button band for the cardigan's buttons. For this cardigan, the sleeves will also be set in from steeks, and the neck itself is cut and sewn in, too.

So I'm anticipating the finishing with some trepidation, but I'm loving the patterning. The bonus is that it's much less demanding of my focus and attention than I had anticipated it would be-- I can work with only one pattern line at a time and memorize it quickly, after which I'm good to converse with other people and even watch movies while working!