The Cold Shoulder?

Not anymore!

Wow -- two weeks without posting. Chalk it up to a combination of not a lot of knitting getting done, and being busy with a new semester and the new additions to our family.

I had hit a wall with Jeff's Seamless Hybrid Sweater, not sure quite how to deal with the neck. First I tried a 2x2 rib. I didn't want to do a normal bind-off with that, so I reversed the position of every other stitch to change it to 1x1 rib, and then did a tubular bind-off Kitchener style. The resulting edge didn't look as neat as I'd expected, plus it was incredibly inflexible. As you can imagine, un-Kitchenering 84 stitches is a pain.

I undid it last weekend, and then this week I did a 1x1 rib which I would then bind off loosely, then fold in on itself and tack it down. I estimated and tried it on Jeff but when I was done, I could see that I'd knit too many rows. It looked, well, obscene.

So I untacked it, undid the bind-off, ripped back eight rounds, re-bound off, re-tacked, and then I was happy. Just a little weaving in and a little time with Steamy McVaporsen to get the whole thing into shape. I love my steamer. I just steamed one side, left it under the ceiling fan for a few hours, repeated for the other side, and I was good to go. No need to use wires or pins -- this thing fits perfectly and it's dry as a, well, dry sweater.

One good sign? Jeff put it on for these pictures and hasn't taken it off yet.

I will definitely knit another one of these or one of its variations in the future. What would I do differently? I would most definitely start the hem and the cuffs with the contrasting yarn on a provisional cast on and then knit the two colors together on the way up with the main color as both Splityarn and Brooklyn Tweed did. I would also like to think that I would pay more attention to gauge, so I wouldn't have to start over. Other than that, this is pretty straightforward. Having done one of these, I would think that the next time around the whole process should fly by much more quickly. Providing I don't wait too long. I put good notes on my Ravelry entry for this project, so there's that.

As an added extra treat, my sister, brother-in-law and niece dropped by today to give me a book they picked up at Half Price Books today: Men Who Knit & the Dogs Who Love Them: 30 Great-Looking Designs for Man and His Best Friend by Annie Modesitt and Drew Emborsky. While there are some good-looking patterns (and dogs) in here, I'm a little concerned about a book that lumps basenjis, size-wise, with Pomeranians! Leaving that aside, there is a great section on sizing-up your dog (and the dog's man) in order to get a good fit. I know it will be a great source for coming up with a pattern for Pona. Poor thing gets so chilly on walks, lacking any body fat. I got him a sweater at the pet store while picking up some food this weekend, but it's meant more for a terrier and the foreleg holes aren't big enough nor are they positioned properly. He looked like Jennifer Beals during walkies yesterday. Not a good look for 2010.