Saturday, December 02, 2006

Finished object: Mermaid!

I've finished off my Mermaid!

I'm going to wear it out tomorrow to meet imaginary people from the internet; if they don't make fun of me, I'll consider it a sucess. My gauge issues are largely masked by the application of icord as edging; normal sweater construction compensates for loosening/tightening gauge throughout a project far better than Mermaid. It's still a lovely sweater, and I'm very excited to have finished it, not least because my partner claimed that I obviously didn't need any knitting things for the holidays, as I hadn't finished last year's present.

For those with high curviness coefficients, note that Mermaid suggests curviness better than it accomodates it. If I knit it again (after I have enough sweaters to keep me warm through the cold, cold Boston winter), I'll take out part of each stripey section and add gussets like the blue ones, but facing up instead of down. (See how excited I was? I didn't even bother changing my ... lovely pants.)

The construction details on this sweater make seaming a snap. Slipped sitches make a two-stitch section of stockinette to be seamed at the shoulders. The narrower band of stockinette is where I seamed the (garter stitch) collar section to the stockinette at the top of the back.

The collar is knit as part of the body, then seamed in the middle and stitched down to the back. This does result in a rather prominent seam down the back of the collar, though it's nicer because of the (single-stitch) stockinette seaming area. It would be more obvious if I had used the icord instructions Hanne Falkenberg specified; instead of making the icord in two pieces (one for each side of the sweater), I did it all at once to eliminate the seam.

Because of all the slipped stitches and colour changes, the insides of the seams don't look as pretty. I'm hoping that a bit of steam will make them nicer. Since the yarn is so fine, bulkiness is not an issue here, just fastidiousness.

The shoulder is easy as well, because the sleeve incorporate the slipped-stitch seaming area. (You can just see the edge of it in the seam in the form of vertical pieces of yarn.) The armscye is rather flat, which is good for seaming, but probably could have been slightly better for fit. In virtually every picture I've seen of someone in a Mermaid, the shoulders are a bit large and droopy, which could be fixed by cutting the armsceye slightly deeper. If I knit this again, I'll incorporate that change.

Even the sleeves are finished off nicely with icord!

Kitty says: get on to the next sweater, or the yarn gets it!

I'll add here a blatant plea. If anyone is reading this, please let me know. I'm not sure if I should continue putting up pictures if people don't care.

20 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:48 PM

    I looked. I was looking for comments about Hanne Falkenberg patterns and kits. I like how they look on her website but wasn't sure how they look on real people - many are shown on mannequins. It sounded like you had some mixed feelings. Were the instructions clear? What is knit from the bottom up or side to side - looking at the stripes, is sort of looked like it might be side to side.

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  2. Congrats on finishing! I'm not getting any knitting presents this year since I haven't finished my Mermaid yet (last year's present). Thanks for sharing all of the pics, especially the detail on the seams. That is going to help a lot when I put mine together since I've only every seamed 1 thing - a baby sweater.

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  3. Anonymous11:11 PM

    I'm reading! Well, that's just b/c you put the URL to this in chat...
    --Dave

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  4. Anonymous11:24 PM

    (What Dave said.) Nice sweater! -brg

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  5. anonymous: I answered your questions at some length on the main blog. I hope they're useful to you! :)

    Becky: the seaming was really easy, and I've only really seamed one sweater before. The design really helps you out here. Good luck!

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  6. Congrats...my Mermaid kit is THIS CHristmas' present..gives me time for some WIPs...I found your pics and comments very helpful. Thanks much

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  7. you should be dancing! its beautiful. I am going to start mine in Dec- no pressure...

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  8. Beautiful job! I think it looks great on you.

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  9. Anonymous2:28 PM

    I'm reading. Looks wonderful and enjoy the pics.
    Mermaid is on my to do list.

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  10. Gee, I have to finish my Mermaid now. Yours looks great! I appreciate the photos and the tips. I have one question? what is the armscye? How could it be cut deeper? Do you think the droopy shoulders could be remedied by shoulder pads?

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  11. Anonymous10:57 PM

    hmm, now I am worried about knitting this -- I was going to make the large size and shorten it to the medium length as to accomodate some curves but it sounds like you think darts might be the way to go -- I'd hate to knit this up and have it not fit well.

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  12. Absolutely keep putting up pictures - they make a blog and story!
    Love your Mermaid - congratulations.

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  13. Anonymous1:36 PM

    please continue to post pictures!

    I'm trying to get up the courage to start a long cardigan. i'm afraid of starting and never finishing!

    -saskia

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  14. i love your pictures and the beautiful mermaid you knitted! i have a mermaid kit ( #7 colorway) and am alittle nervous about starting it.
    happy knitting

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  15. I just checked in on the Hanne KAL, and found your blog - your Meremaid's lovely! (I still haven't started mine...)

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  16. Anonymous1:41 PM

    Love your detail on the project and the seaming pics - it came out beautiful:) very helpful and I love seeing the finished product. Definitely keep posting! I've been lusting after this jacket but I always have problems with my funky bust/waist ratio - yours looks great, so it might be worth a shot - especially with your suggested short row mods!

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  17. It's beautiful, and I love seeing the photos and reading your comments. Love the picture of Kitty, too!

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  18. Mermaid is beautiful. Am pondering buying one but unsure of colourway or whetehr to splurge. Your site has helped - thanks x

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  19. Your pictures were very helpful. I was wondering about your armhole comments since I have small shoulders and usually have to shorten up the shoulder width and depth. If you have the time could you elaborate? I haven't started this one yet.
    becky ( another one)

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  20. Sorry, just catching up from way back as I'm starting on Mermaid and plundering all the help I can find! I've got the spreadsheet from Amy (HOL) and that's written for a medium but I'm thinking I'd rather try and stretch it bigger during blocking that have it end up all baggy on me. Sounds like I'm almost the same size/curviness but shorter (5'6"). Did you make the small? Did you get gauge initially and how did it block? My only other adjustment that I'm thinking about is to make the bottom gussets smaller in length and width to give me (i) more length from shoulder to waist and (ii) less overall width at the hem. The medium seems to have a hem width of over 4 feet! Any suggestions/comments would be appreciated.

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