Lion Brand Notebook ®
This Inishturk Sweater KAL has gone by so quickly and it has been a joy to see so many of you join, knit and learn. For those of you who haven’t finished your Inishturk yet, don’t worry! This KAL remains here for you to go back and read any of the posts or helpful comments from other participants. I finished my Inishturk yesterday — and just in time, since I would love to have a new sweater with this very long winter!
In last week’s post, I joined the shoulder seams with a 3-needle bind off, a technique that is perfect for matching patterns. Of course, you can sew those shoulders together after you have bound-off and I remembered the post about sewing together a cabled piece of the Cable Luxe Tunic, the KAL we did a year ago.
After I finished the shoulders, I picked up for the neck and found that I needed to pick up a few more along the front neck sides, but I decreased on the next round to the total number of stitches called for in the pattern. The second round has us decreasing 10 stitches across the stitches that were on the front holder and another 10 across the stitches that were on the back holder to accommodate for all those cable stitches that were in that center cable. If you decide to have your neck a little larger, just make sure that you have a multiple of 4 stitches for the k2, p2 ribbing.
I usually keep my sleeve stitches on a holder before I bind them off, just in case I need to adjust the length. After I finished the neck, I put on the sweater without the sleeves and then could see if I needed to adjust the length of the sleeves. Many times need to add an inch to sleeves, but these were just right! I bound off the sleeves and then saw how that double-seed stitch made the sleeves slightly “wonky”.
(The sleeve on the left shows how they both looked when they were finished. The one on the right was “blocked” by just dampening with a spray bottle and left to dry.)
After they both were dry, I used my markers to correctly place them where they need to be sewn to the body. I forgot to place a marker on each side of the front and back where the pattern told me to mark the sleeve placement. But my sleeves are 20″ across at the time, so I just measured down 10″ from the top for the front and back, and attached the sleeve making sure that the center of the sleeve is in line with the shoulder seam. I always use detachable markers (or safety pins) for my sewing and work from marker to marker for a nice even seam.
All that was left to do was sew up the side and sleeve seams — again, sewing from the right side and using those markers. I wove in the ends, put the Inishturk down for a minute and went looking for my camera.
When I came back, my faithful assistant was already doing her final inspection!
I love this sweater! Thank you all that have voted for this KAL and especially all of you who have participated, asked questions, left comments and shown photos of your Inishturk!
As you finish, please post photos of you and your sweater in our Flickr Group so we can see your results!
Related links:
Get more support at:
You must be <a href="https://blog.lionbrand.com/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.lionbrand.com%2Finishturk-sweater-knit-along-the-final-touches-and-finish-line%2F">logged in</a> to post a comment.
Tina Sanders
Gorgeous sweater!!!
Connie in Texas
Heather, thank you so much for hosting this KAL and thanks to everyone for your fabulous tips. This was my first KAL and was so much fun I’m looking forward to my next. I finished my sweater and wore it yesterday – love it! I also made the tam and love that pattern as well. I’m sure I’ll make more tams to give away as gifts. Happy knitting, everyone.
P.S. After this wonderful experience, LionBrand has become my “go-to” site for all things knitting.
Heather says: “Hi, Connie – Thank you (and everyone else!) who has taken the time to make this sweater – and letting us know how much you liked the KAL. I truly enjoyed doing it with all of you!”
Grace
I want to see some pictures of people wearing their lovely sweaters!
Donna
Oh I’m going to miss all of this. I’m still working on mine and have a few questions. Should I wait to sew the side seams and the sleeves on at the same time? Should I add the neck on before I sew the side seams? Thanks for the info about having to pick up extra at the neck and then decrease because I think I may have to do that. Also, is there a place I can ask questions if I get stuck? Thanks again for all the help everyone has give me. I’v truly enjoyed reading all the posts and knitting this sweater together. Have a wonderful spring and enjoy your sweaters. **hugs and smiles** Donna
Heather says: “Hi, Donna: This KAL will stay here on the Lion Brand website and you can refer back to it when you need to. I sewed the side seams and sleeve seams after I sewed the sleeves to the body. You can finish the neck, then try it on to see if your sleeves will be the correct length. Again, all the posts and comments will stay here, so many of the topics you may have questions about might already have been answered! I hope you will enjoy making this sweater!”
Ritu G.
Heather, I have a question regarding dec 1 st for shaping the neck. Do I do k2tog on the RS or WS or it doesn’t matter? Thanks.
Heather says: “Hi, Ritu: I did the k2tog on the RS and on every other row after that until I reached the final number of stitches called for in the pattern.”
Anna
Heather, your sweater looks marvelous! I’m impressed!!
I see that your critic is far more respectful than mine .. I have added a photo to the flickr group of my cat inspecting my sweater.
I knitted and ripped out the neck 3x before I was happy with it. I ended up picking up 4 stitches on each side of the back and 8 on each side of the front, and only decreasing 8 on the back and 8 on the front. I also only made it about an inch and a half wide instead of two inches. On the plus side, I successfully used my first life-line, so ripping out the work wasn’t *too* painful!
Lisa
Hey Donna, we are pretty much in the same boat, I’m still working on the back. You might want to also go over to Ravelry, there’s a link up before these comments start. I think between the notes we can access here and the group there getting stuck won’t be an issue. It’s also an interesting community, though I have only been there a few days. Hope this helps. Happy Knitting
Marla in Bellflower, CA
I bound off my neck this morning and began my sleeves this afternoon. I’m knitting both sleeves at the same time, in the round, using the magic loop method. I also tried my sweater on without the sleeves and decided I would not need to lengthen the sleeves. This is my first KAL and I’m looking forward to future KAL. Thank you to everyone for your suggestions from using the colored ponytail holders as markers to usining 3×5 card for each stitch pattern.
BWYA
Your sweater is lovely!
I did the 3 needle bind off as well. I am also knitting on the sleeves rather than knitting them separately, but am only half-way through the first sleeve. (I also changed the sleeve pattern a bit.)
This has been a fun KAL. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next!
Donna
Lisa, I’ve signed up for both Flickr and Ravelry. Ravelry is so packed it takes me a while to find anything but it’s nice to know I can go there to look at older posts. I’m really going to miss coming here everyday and reading the posts. I’m under DonnaBluebird on both flicker and ravelry.
Lisa
I just finished correcting an error that popped up in the double seed stitch, it was starting to rib, must have messed up my count somewhere. I am happy to say I fixed it without ripping the whole sweater back to the lifeline, just that one section. It feels so good to have done that, I had to share. 🙂
Also if anyone is interested in finding me under flicker and/or ravelry I’m mrsbudda
Julie Parlato
Hey Heth!
Lizzie just showed me the picture of annie and i loved it!
Hope you have a good week with Lizzie!
-Julie 🙂
Ursula
Hi, Heather,
Gorgeous sweater. Knitting one for my daughter in pink, can’t wait to give it to her. Have a cat that looks just like yours… adorable.
Ursula
Inge
Just wanted to say how exciting this Knit Along was. I have learned from everyone posting their tips and I must confess that this is my first cable sweater that I have ever knitted. I was afraid I could not do it, and this sweater was a challenge. The challenge was not the small cables but the patterned cable panel A and B. I have one mistake on the back on panel B that I did not catch and thanks to Heather’s input on stitching over the top to correct mistakes I can let this go. Since I have been sick, I’m not finished yet, but very please with the back and front and I’m now starting on the sleeves and I know I will have to shortened the size for the sleeves. By the way, I also had to shorten the sweater since I’m short, if I left it the sweater would come down below my hips like a long sweater instead of a short sweater.
By the my husband was very impressed with the pattern of this sweater that he would like me to knit him a sweater, or at least a vest. Is there a pattern for men size extra large cable vest that is similar to this pattern???? If you know of one please let me know.
Heather says: “Hi, Inge: I’m very happy you enjoyed this KAL, and it sounds like you are well on the way to finishing your Inishturk. A cabled vest your husband might like is the “Smart Investment” knit vest that you can see at the link below:
http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/1183AD.html?noImages=0
Thank you again!”
KB
My knitting has had to be put on hold for over a week, but I am back at it. I have the front & back almost finished and hopefully will start the sleeves this weekend.
Congrats to everyone finishing – your pictures are great and have added the spark for me to finish mine.
This Kol has been so much fun and I have learned so much thank you to everyone.
Sandra
Wow – that is one beautiful sweater. It looks so comffy and the texture of the wool in the pattern is very inviting.
Janet H
Thanks for the KAL! Your sweater turned out beautiful, can’t wait to finish mine.
Marie
I am just finishing the front today, and will start the sleeves. This is my first KAL, and I really enjoyed it, and looked forward to the tips and help. Even as an experienced knitter, I learned new tips and tricks. Thanks. The sweater is lovely, and my son is looking forward to wearing it. Although, I may have to make him another one, since the yarn I bought was on clearance and there was just enough to do the largest size without adding any length. (Sean is 6’4″) Well, my other son can wear it too. Thanks again. Looking forward to future KALs.
Anna
I finished my sweater this weekend – it feels good to be done! I never thought I’d be able to knit this, especially in just 6 weeks.
I’m a bit disappointed in how the sleeves sit at the shoulders – I’m contemplating disassembling it and redoing the top of the sleeves. We’ll see.
For now, the first day that I could wear the sweater, the high is 54 degrees. Bummer.
Inishturk Sweater KAL Round Up | Lion Brand Notebook
[…] Inishturk Sweater Knit-Along: The Final Touches and Finish Line! […]
Thelma Barnes
I have been knitting and crocheting nearly all my life and sometimes like to think I know everything, however, reading some of the comments I have found several things that will increase the look of my articles. Most of the things I make are for the soldiers (lap robes,helmets, etc.) So a sweater is really too intense for me at this time in my life. Thanks for the opportunity to read these notes.