Body's Done!

I finished the body of my sweater and added a few short rows on the back before attaching the sleeves for the yoke. That way, the back and neck will be a little higher than the front. I don't like it when I see yoked sweaters that gape open at the sides of the neck and the back neckline is too low.

On the right side (above) you can see the centre front stitches that look like a seam.

They are actually 2 purl stitches (right side) that are done - one at the beginning and end of each round. Turning it inside out, the two-stitch column is easily seen. When I'm done knitting, I will machine-stitch on the outsides of the column thus anchoring all the yarn ends and strands. Then I'll cut between the two stitches to open the front thus creating a cardigan.

I probably could have anchored the middle stitch of the 5 standed 'lice' stitches on the body. We'll see if the ultimately pose a problem (catching on rings, fingers, etc.)  after I block it. I'm hoping they'll 'stick' to the main colour stitches with blocking and wear.

The yellow yarn is holding the dozen stitches under the arm of the body and the sleeves respectively. They resulting holes (live stitches) will be grafted closed after I finish the yoke. I am now using a longer cable to accommodate all the body and sleeve stitches.

When I started the stranding for the yoke, I went up a needle size to 5.5mm and am also knitting it inside out so the floats are at their maximum 'apogee'. There shouldn't be any restriction of the yoke around the shoulders.

When I turned the sweater right side out for the photo, a bunch of stitches came off the needles. With 'sticky' yarn like this it is very easy to pick up the live stitches as they don't run down.

Once I got the yoke pattern established in the first row, The rest of the yoke will be easy to knit. I was only out one stitch when I had finished the first round and was easily able to tink back and make the adjustment at the underarm.

Again, the instructions in the pattern aren't the most clear due to the translation from Icelandic. However, I have knit a couple of other yoked sweaters and the Teddy and all the concepts are transferable.

A sweater with this gauge (18 sts - 10cm/4") has about the same number of stitches as a pair of socks so it really does knit up quickly.

If I were to knit this pattern again, I'd probably do a two or three more ribbed rounds above the coloured stripes on the cuffs to make them a bit deeper. I'd also eliminate the 'lice' stitches.

One trick I did employ was to go down a couple of needle sizes on the needle tip I am knitting from (the one I hold in my left hand) so that there is much less friction as I slide the stitches around the cable. The gauge is created with the working needle so using a smaller needle for the other one won't affect the gauge at all. However, when I did the short rows, I did make sure both tips were the larger size for the back and forth knitting.