Woven Stitch section
Once you have finished your chest increases and have worked the sweater until it has reached 14 1/4 – 15″ (depending on your pattern), you will begin the woven section. The first and last stitches should continue to be worked in garter with only one strand while the rest of the fabric is worked with two strands held together. I cut one of the strands that I was alternating at the side seam and joined it after the first five stitches of garter, so that they could both be held together for the woven section. Also remember to use the smaller needles! There is no need to transfer from one circular to the other, you can simply start to knit with the smaller needle in your right hand as the “working” needle. After you have worked that first row, the larger needle will be completely worked off.
Now luckily, Connie walks us through the first row of the woven stitch, which will set up the pattern for the rest of the section. As long as you know what it should look like, you will know whether to start with a slip1 or a knit. See our close up of what this section should look like. Notice that the horizontal bars formed by the slip stitches should stagger. Work the slip stitch above the column that was knitted on the previous RS row.
Splitting fronts and back and beg armhole shaping
so after you have worked only two rows of the woven section, you begin to split the work into pieces. The back is worked first. In the section: “Back is worked first,” I am working the second size. Here is an explanation of how to translate this section based on that size:
Work 54 stitches in the woven pattern, then knit 2 stitches more and pass the first over the second, thus binding off one. Repeat until 6 total stitches have been bound off. The stitch that you will have remaining on your right needle counts as the first of the next 96 stitches that I will then work in the woven stitch. These 96 stitches will also run into your side seam markers, which you may now remove.
The rest of this section is pretty well explained, but remember that no matter what you are doing on the edge for the decreases, be sure to work the woven pattern as it should look, rather than focusing on what stitch to start with. After you change back to larger needles and the directions instruct to drop the second strand, be sure to continue to alternate strands as you were for the first half of the sweater, as you will need to now continue to blend the hand dyed hanks. For the rest of the back section, I alternated hanks at the beginning of the row (unlike the first half of the sweater), since the drags of yarn will be seamed in once the sleeves are set in. Tip: after the decreases are done for the armholes / back, I worked the first and last two stitches in stockinette stitch, so that there was a selvage edge to seam with later. The woven stitch is worked for the rest of the row.
Begin Ribbed Section
Connie gives us a nice set up for the ribbed section, which will set the flow for the rest of the back of the sweater. It is smooth sailing from here as this section has no edge decreases. Remember to keep alternating hanks at the beginning of every right side row.
Tonight at 6 pm – parking meter rate protest
Bring a project, a sign or just yourself and join our protest at City Hall:
301 King Street
Protest begins at 6:30 but we are meeting at the shop at 6 pm if you want to make a sign!
We should be easy to find! To read more about our parking protest, click here.