Call me obsessed. Call me intense. Call me stubborn. This sweater, Renaissance designed by Teva Durham was NOT photographing to its fullest potential and it was driving me mad until I realized . . . oh, dear . . . it’s the SWEATER!! My thinking . . . What was it? The body fit perfectly, the neckline moved about in a ruffly kind of way as intended and certainly appropriate for its name sake. The sleeves . . . dramatic, as seen in the pattern. Wait. The sleeves. The sleeves. Something about the sleeves. Yes, they are long but that is the style of the pattern. Oh, wait . . . what about their width? That could be it. If I made them narrower. . . If I make the sleeves narrower, the cap to fit more snug at the top, that might give the sweater an overall better look. Wait. The sleeves. Maybe, just a little shorter. For comfort sake. Wait! How ’bout three-quarter length keeping the essence of the pattern? I notice I get excited, probably because I have a plan to resolve what seems to be ailing me about this garment.
Plan:
- rip out sleeves
- rewind yarn for reuse
- re-design for three-quarter length which will involve changing the shaping
- keep bell shape hem and slits as that matches the neckline
- try on and call upon a second opinion
When I think about ripping out, I just think backwards the steps I took to knit the garment. I want to reuse the yarn so I very carefully un-weave the ends of yarn around the armholes. I use a blunt darning needle so as not to split the yarn.
I begin pulling where I ended up knitting the piece. Pull. Pull into a big, sad heap.
I do all the pulling first so that I do not wind the ball of yarn too tight.
I do not want to stretch the yarn. After it is a big heap, I wind the yarn very gently around my hand.
I continue until I have both sleeves pulled and wound into balls.
I let the yarn relax and go off to work on other projects. My goal is to rid the yarn of its memory. When I come back in a few days or so, I wind the yarn so that when I am knitting, I am pulling the yarn from the center and the yarn isn’t rolling all over the place (you never need a yarn bowl). You can see how much straighter the yarn is.
I take a deep breath, call upon my patience, study my design notes, and knit the sleeves, again. I sew them back into the armhole. Yes. They are now about 1.5 inches tighter and 5 inches shorter. I choose to not re-attach the buttons.
I show hubby the new look and he wants to see the original picture that came with the pattern and he wants to see the photos we took TWICE before. I charm him into another photo shoot and I ask to go back to our original spot, the beautiful reeds of similar hue. It is a beautiful day, the lighting is on our side, we are relaxed and I am feeling confident the sweater has been improved upon.
Say what you might . . . obsessed, driven, mad . . . I prefer to call it determined to get a project to fit right and look smart.
POST SCRIPT: The story of ‘Renaissance’ is a series of events beginning with post 1 here, followed by this, ending here with a very happy girl, above.
Hollyknits 
15 responses to “Ripping Out and Resolving Renaissance”
[…] POST SCRIPT: Follow the path of Renaissance to see how she looks NOW! This is post 1 of 3. Here is post 2 and post 3 (final)). […]
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[…] POST SCRIPT: There is more to the story. This is post 2 of 3 of this project. Feel free to follow its story that has a successful ending! Here is post 1 and its final version, post 3! […]
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Third time is the charm!
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I think that is pretty much the consensus! haha Thanks, Beth!
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Some women have style, others don’t – you have it with a capital S. Love the way you analyzed what you didn’t like about the sweater and then went about solving the problem.
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Thank you, Marny. I think it is posture and attitude thing more than anything else. We (hahaha the sweater and I are breathing easier today.) Now, to figure out what is on my needles now! It never ends. :)
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Love the new look and worth all of the additional work involved! Obsession, no! Looking for perfection, yes!
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I know there are some people who would get it. Thank you, and it was awesome sitting with you and talking with you about your recent adventures. Have a great summer road trip!
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AHHH, so much better! Remember I asked you about those sleeves, and how you were able to do anything? Now they are lovely AND you can use your hands. :-) I think the tighter sleeve is perfect on you as well, the sleeves aren’t overwhelming the whole sweater.
And the reeds are a great background for the sweater now. It looks great with denim but I think I am still partial to the white jeans with it. :-)
A lot of work for you, but it sure has paid off, the sweater looks great on you!
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Hey, Sarah . . . when I got dressed, I thought about you and those white jeans! haha Thank you for your continual feedback. Different perspectives are a good thing. I think the sweater is actually thanking me, too! :)
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:-)
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You’re 100% right, the sweater is so much better with these shorter sleeves. And these reeds are the perfect background. Great job! And I so agree with you: who needs a yarn bowl?
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oh, Agnes . . . I think I was being swallowed up in cables! I so want to love this sweater and now I DO!! Thank you for your opinions! They help! Yarn bowls are an unnecessary fad.
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Awesome post! Your page is amazing! Check out my photography page! https://akamera.wordpress.com/2016/05/16/madison-booth-grand-army-plaza/
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why, thank you and think I’ll take a peak!
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