Revisiting My Mom

Mothers Day inspired me to get back to a project that's been on my back burner: My mom's favorite pattern.

The Original Pattern

Part of a Fleisher's kit called "Yours Truly"

This is a photo of an original kit I found on E-bay. I don't think my mom ever had a kit. I think she was probably given the leftover pattern after some friend of hers finished a kit. Pure speculation, of course, but this is definitely the sweater she made at least ten times. 

One of my mom's extant versions

This one was worked from the bottom up, with handmade ring buttons. Nearly been loved to death, but still beautiful, in its way.

Although there were at least ten of these (probably more), no two were alike. She hacked the top-down original to work bottom-up, changed yarns, changed sizes, substituted different cables, you name it. Somewhere in storage there is even a kids' version in navy blue garter stitch (which would have been a completely different gauge!), with antique jet buttons. I like to think she made that one just for somewhere to use the buttons. I would have. With five kids, it probably fit somebody, at some point.

My first prototype

Lots of you have seen this on me and asked for the pattern, because I kind of never take it off.

Here's the first one I made after getting hold of the original pattern. I included mom's genius hack of carrying the raglan cables down the sides and into the ribbing. Totally makes the garment, IMHO. This one also has the original folded placket, but I chumped out on knitting the buttonholes and machine-sewed them instead. It needs some adjustments for modern wear, I think: The original doesn't have enough stitches across the back neck. I explored that problem back HERE. I also think there could be a little more ease in the sleeves. The original was designed to be worn alone, so the sleeves are pretty tight when I layer it over other clothes.

And of course, there is the sizing: The original pattern has two sizes: Small and Smaller. Not much use for those of us outside that range. And bizarrely, I just realized I have never extrapolated sizing for a top-down raglan before! The things I think I can do just because I never have before...Not to worry; I know a genius who can help. I'm looking at you Karen F.!

Various Stages of Completion

The blue one fixed the neckline and sleeves, but it's too big and I ran out of yarn. The red one is my attempt at spacing the buttonholes while retaining the prior fixes.

Third time's the charm? I started the red version because I really wanted to prove that I could manage the buttonholes (chumped out again on the blue one, telling myself I'd try afterthought buttonholes, which remain to be seen). I also am so frustrated about having run out of yarn on that one that I just started over. I'll have to address Blue-y at some point, but not today. I have a sinking feeling that the red one is going to be bigger than I want, but maybe not. Can't rightly tell yet. At least the buttonholes are on track. I think.

I had decided I was going to rename this pattern after my mom; Jane Wolff Scott. I still want to, but now that I've made (almost) three of them, I think I'm starting to understand why she couldn't stop knitting them. It's potato-chip knitting, pure and simple. So I think a better name might be "Jane's Addiction".

Thanks for leaving me this gorgeous puzzle to solve, Mom. Working on it is a little bit like being with you again. Happy Mothers Day.

The Big Reveal

Well that took a while! I mean waiting for the sun to come out at the same time as I had a willing photographer on hand. Finally it happened, and here are my Ta-Da! photos of the Permission Denied project.

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Many thanks to you all, Gentle Readers, for inspiring and accompanying me on this journey. I hope you all enjoyed and learned from it as much as I have.

Now what should we knit?

Sleeving

Now that the neckline and fronts are finished (you DID take a minute to feel smug about that, didn't you?), the only big step left is to mount the sleeves on your Permission Denied. Or, if you aren't done finishing the fronts and neckline, that's fine, too; you can save them for last and hit the sleeves now.

But of course, first things first: Ruby is fabulous. Just saying.

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So, sleeves. If everything is going according to plan, you should have armholes that look something like this; open slots at the sides of the body with closed shoulder seams:

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Find the center top of one of your sleeves, where it will meet up with the shoulder seam, and mark it. Stick the sleeve into the slot from the outside, with the little armpit flange (the mitered part of the sleeve top facing) down toward the armpit, and the center of the top up by the shoulder seam. Pin the center top of your sleeve to the shoulder seam with a safety pin or a separating stitch marker.

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Now thread up a tapestry needle with a single strand of yarn in any color (it should disappear if you do this right - mine's purple), about three times the length of your sleeve top circumference (mine was around two yards long). Leave a six-inch tail, and beginning at the armpit, stitch back and forth from the body to the sleeve. Your sewing should land in the first column of knitting adjacent to the securing stitches, and under both legs of every single knitted sleeve top stitch at the base of the facing rounds. Make long loose stitches, like the lacing on a corset. Every inch or so, you'll pull your sewing yarn snug, "lacing" the sleeve into the armhole and watching with delight as the working strand disappears.

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As you know from sewing knitted columns to knitted rows in the past, you'll need to compensate for their differing ratios. At this gauge, I typically skip every 4th or 5th row of the body, while hitting every single stitch of the sleeve top. Your mileage may vary, of course, so be patient and unafraid to back up and start over if you have to until you get it right. The second sleeve will be much easier (for once!).

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You'll know you've got it if everything is matching up as predicted when you get up to the shoulder seam/sleeve center juncture. Take self-congratulatory photos, if so. Then continue the rest of the way around the armhole until you meet your starting yarn tail. I like to tie the tails in an overhand knot, then pull them through to the inside and trim their ends to about 1". Now do your second sleeve while you still remember what the stitching ratio was.

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You should now have sleeves in armholes that look perfectly respectable from the outside, and a little bit nightmare-y on the inside. Resist the urge to panic and get out some pins, a sharp hand-sewing needle and thread. A bit of beeswax on your thread is a good idea - you don't need any unwanted knots making things difficult for you. Smooth and pin your beautiful knitted facing down over the cut edge of the armhole slot. This is the last time that messy cut edge will be heard from, so thank it for its service, and bid it adieu. Thread up your sewing needle with a single strand of thread and knot its end. Start at the armpit again, and sew invisibly with a felling stitch all the way around the facing. Catch only the surface of the floats on the body side of this seam, and one leg of your bind-off stitches on the facing side. Keep your sewing stitches firm enough to be invisible, but not so tight they pull the knitting in.

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Once you get all the way around, secure your sewing thread and cut it. This is the magic part of the sleeve top facing. It's almost impossible to figure out from just seeing a finished one. Now that you have done it, you know its secrets! Feel smarter? You are. Finish your second sleeve and congratulate yourself with a well-deserved treat of some sort. 

If you're moving on to finish your fronts and neckline, now's the time for that. If you already did that, the only thing left is closures, if you want them, and ribbons/trim if you are a maniac.

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I skipped the ribbons and trim this time (well, not buying them, but applying them) in a bizarre fit of restraint. I made some swell contrasting button loops and ran my buttons two by two.

And that's all she wrote, my friends. Next time I'll model the big reveal. Providing I can find somebody else to hold the camera for me, of course. Ruby has yet to volunteer, but the camera is bigger than she is.