Tattoo Update

It’s worth mentioning that the sun was out this morning. In this area at this time of year, we can go for a loooonnng while with cloud covered skies. I took advantage of this natural light by taking some pictures in the one room in my house with south-facing windows (my office). A few pics of my “Tattoo” sweater were in the bunch (see blog entry, January 23, 2011).

I decided to limit the knit-purl pattern to just the right front, leaving the left front plain. I may add partial outlines in duplicate stitch to a few of the diamonds on the right front.


It took me awhile to decide how to shape the arm and cap of the sleeves. I referred back to a wonderful article, “Set-In Sleeves – a love affair”, by Pam Allen. This article was published in the Winter 2007 issue of Interweave Knits. It is a nicely laid out explanation of how to calculate the shape of a sleeve cap so that it fits the armhole properly.

I wanted a shallow set-in sleeve, with plenty of ease. I won’t really know if I succeeded until I try sewing the sleeve into the armhole. I plan to try that later today.

One other decision I made about the sleeve was to have a diagonal change from Lucy + Lacy marl yarn to just Lacy yarn. I don’t do a lot of intarsia knitting, so I got out the Vogue Knitting book, aka my “knitting bible”, to remind myself how to twist the color changes on the back side of the fabric. It was way easier than I expected. I will probably add a small amount of embellishment to the sleeves. Ideas are still percolating.

Here’s a shot of the sleeves.


So far, I’m thrilled with how the sweater is turning out. I’ve done some swatching of collar ideas, but I still have to decide how to construct the button band and the buttonhole band. Can’t do that until I decide which buttons to use. That’s a topic for another blog entry….

By the way, the sun is not out right now. It’s grey, and snowing (despite the forecast for a “slim chance of snow” on the radio!).