Pink, Spongy and Finished!

I got my wish this weekend -- yesterday was all about seaming up my pink and spongy Eponge sweater. I had the body complete by late afternoon and then spent the better part of the rest of the evening fiddling with the neckline. While I have to give the Phildar designers a great deal of credit for exploring very elegant and technically sophisticated finishing techniques, let's just say that they don't always combine well with the yarn . Put another way: clever backstitching techques involving provisional cast ons and free loops would probably have been exciting and fascinating for me had I been working with some beautiful and simple merino yarn. But elasticky, fussy boucle yarn at a tiny gauge that likse to snag on itself?

I tried. Really I did.

But in the end, I resorted to using regular old backstitch to attach the neckline to the body of the sweater. This is probably the first time I've backstitched anything since I learned how to mattress stitch a couple of years ago. I just couldn't figure out any other way to make sure that the neckline was neatly attached, short of ripping everything out, picking up stitches and knitting from the neck.

Theresa Attempts to Do the Rachael

I'm mostly pleased with the result. I say mostly, because looking at the sweater through the lens of the camera, I realize that I really shouldn't have blocked it -- it's a little too loosey-goosey. But a quick trip through the washing machine should resolve that (that's one of the things I adore about Phildar yarns -- most are quite washing machine tolerant, if not down-right washing machine friendly).

Pink and Spongy from the Side

Even with the slightly-too-much blocking, I'm pleased with how the sweater hangs. Loose and comfy without being too sloppy. Want to see it from one more angle? click here see Pink and Spongy from the back

The Pink and Spongy Neckline: My Best Button Affixation to Date*

I think the brute-force backstitching that I did gives the neckline a little harder edge than you see for the magazine model, but I'm happy with the neckline over all. And the husband's first comment about the sweater? I like the neckline. So if my most serious critic is cool with it, so am I.

So what did I learn?

• Phil Eponge is a love it and hate it sort of yarn. It creates an excellent fabric (a bit like sophisticated terry cloth, if terry cloth can ever be considered sophisticated). But it is fussy to work with. It likes to catch on itself a little bit and stitch definition is non-existant. I would not recommend this yarn or this sweater to a new knitter.
• I think Phildar may underestimate the yarn requirements for this project. I used a little over 10 skeins for my size, including a swatch or two. That said, given the stretchiness of this yarn combined with the ribbing, it's not completely trivial to figure out what getting gauge means. Makes me glad I ordered that 11th skein!
• I'd really like to try the free-loop backstitch neckline attachment process. But it's going to have to be with a more user friendly yarn at a larger gauge. If this had been Calmer, it would have been a piece of cake. If you want to see what this process is all about, you can find it in Katharina Buss' Big Book of Knitting or Montse Stanley's Knitter's Handbook.
• Phildar suggests a very clever way of making the button loops that involves creating a simple loop of yarn at the edge of the band and then doing the buttonhole stitch along it.
• I can completely understand while French knitters might never need to go beyond Phildar for patterns and knitted garments. This is my 3rd Phildar garment and I am once again impressed with the styling, construction and fashion-forward feel. Even if I couldn't get the English translations of the patterns, it would be worth learning French terms just to work with their patterns. Most of what makes a garment special are the little details and Phildar patterns always pay special attention to these and rarely leave you guessing as to how to execute them.
• I need to work on my tensioning when it comes to ribbing. The edges of my ribbing are definitely getting a little wonky. Perhaps it's time to explore combined knitting...
• My next project needs to be at a bigger row gauge than 10 rows/inch...

So now I have a new sweater in hand and I am all ready to head for Maryland! If it's cool enough, you know what I'll be wearing while cruising the barns looking for my first spinning paraphanalia...

*Phildar actually has a fairly neat trick for the button loops, and I would normally give you more technical details about this, but the Eponge doesn't really lend itself to showing off details...you'll just have to trust me that the button loops are clever.