For the record, I want to state that the easy part of the Forest Darkness has been the colorwork.
You'll recall my challenge is the smallest size is too big for me. After more knitting and frogging and knitting and frogging, I thought I had figured things out. The instructions that come with the sweater kit have short rows as well as body and sleeve increases as you transition down the yoke towards the split for the sleeves and body. Some rounds/rows have both body and sleeve increases, and some have sleeve increases only. The short rows are turned at 5-stitch intervals, producing a gentle wedges on each side that reach from the underarm to the bust.
I had already worked those instructions. I already knew they produced a sweater that was way too large for me. So I tried an alternative solution. I thought I might be able to extend the back and sleeves but not the front. The yoke is almost at my bust. I worked two inches of short rows using 2-stitch intervals. This produced a thicker wedge closer to the side of the sweater (see photograph above). I worked about an inch, then divided and started the body.
For awhile, this worked. I kept trying on the the sweater. Using 112 stitches front and back for the body, plus 16 stitches at each underarm seemed about right. That gave me 256 stitches. At 8 stitches to the inch, that's 32 inches at the bust. I want a sweater that is just my size. A classic Bohus should hug or skim the body, complementing the feminine curves beneath. Then I need gentle shaping to the waist. I'm getting 14 rounds/rows to the inch. Thus, 13 mindless rounds and one round with 8 decreases (1 inch's worth) spread around the circumference.
Then, I decided to pick up and start a sleeve. And this is where it all went sideways again.
In spite of my efforts to decrease the yoke, the sleeves flared out in a very 1980s way. Since Cuddly Hubby is home, I asked him to help. I put on the sweater. I pinched out the extra sleeve fabric. And Cuddly Hubby put pins in the sleeves to delineate the extraneous fabric.
I have 3-4 inches of extra fabric in each sleeve. Sigh.
I have been resisting this solution. Now, I think I must admit it. The answer is to rip back into the colorwork.
The last increase in the yoke is 48 stitches added on round 53. That takes the
total from 352 to 400. Then there are 4 more rounds of colorwork. At my gauge,
that last increase is adding 6 inches. And I have 6 inches too much in the
sleeves. In fact, when I do the proper math, what I want is 112 stitches for
the front and back and 64 stitches for each sleeve. Add them up and you get:
352. When I add in the 16 bridge stitches for each underarm, not only do I get my 256 stitches/32 inch bust but I also get 80 stitches/10 inches at the top of each sleeve. Those match my measurements.
Time to frog.
On the upside, at this point I think I have a solution. The only other question I have is how far to work before dividing. I tried it once dividing right past the colorwork. I've tried it working about an inch. On the mannequin, it looks a little deep. I might try working only half an inch (7 rounds/rows). When looking at the photograph above, the white horizontal lines are lifelines. The top line is the end of the colorwork. The middle line is the end of the short rows. The distance between them on the back and sleeves is about two inches. The bottom white line is dividing for the body and sleeves. If you look closely, you can see how the yoke is tilted on the mannequin, so the colorwork comes forward over the bust. This is why you want short rows on the back.
The last potential pitfall I currently foresee is working without increasing at all. Remember, the original directions have significant increases from the yoke to the body and sleeve division. I'll want short rows, but I won't want any increases. Will this work? Time to run the experiment and find out.
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