He looks innocent enough, but really, he can be the devil. He already destroyed the first wearable sweater I'd made - Funky Funnel Neck Fun from the Yarn Girls Guide to Simple Knits - but I did forgive him for that because I had bound off the neckline too tightly and it was a little annoying. However, I happen to love - no, LUFF - the Teva Durham Unisex Knock-Around Cashmere...er, Patons Shetland Chunky Tweed...Pullover. It has peanut butter on the front and sleeves but I still managed to wear it for about 23 of its first 24 hours of completed existence. Yesterday afternoon, after shooting off a few photos, I decided it was ready for the laundry pile.
Ok, so it isn't the wisest choice to have a laundry pile that lives on the floor of my bedroom when I have a slightly less than 1 year old Golden Retriever who loves to sleep on dirty laundry - but that's beside the point. I threw the sweater in that pile and the next time I saw it, there was a loop of yarn that had been pulled out about 10 inches sticking out of the dead center front of this sweater!
CARP! FISH PASTE! TARTAR SAUCE!
I'm sure he didn't mean it, and that's why I took no retaliation (at least I meant not to until I knew the exact fate of this sweater). I think his claw snagged one stitch in the front and somehow he pulled it until the entire row across the front had been tightened to where it wasn't even visible and all the yarn was coming out the front.
To poor Sammy's credit, he did not chew, slobber, or otherwise maim any other part of the sweater. I spent about 30 minutes wheedling the yarn back through all the stitches to bring that row back into the world. It worked. Yay! Sammy's life is spared again.
Once the yarn was successfully and evenly woven back into a knit row, I went to work on fixing the problem of the curl at the bottom and cuff edges. I unknit the reverse stockinette border on the front and reknit it as 6 garter stitch rows (3 ridges). Garter stitch matches the rest of the garment perfectly and hopefully should solve the curl problem that could not be blocked out since my yarn is 75/25 acrylic/wool. I did the same to the back except I did 8 garter stitch rows. I used a crochet hook for the bind off - a method I adore - and then I crochet-seamed the lower panels together at the edge slip stitches so that it was a little less of a slit at the sides.
I picked up stitches around the cuffs and added 6 rows of garter stitch there as well. My bind off there might be considered slightly less flexible than it should be for garter stitch, but the cuffs are quite wide and they are not tight at all. The garter border and bind off should help to keep them a little more under control. Plus the roll was making the sleeves feel too short.
It's now bathing in Sweater Soap and I'm confident all will be wine and roses from here on out.
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