Happy Accidents

So, where we left off on the hoodie was with the pockets, in the blog entry here.  I was having a couple of problems - I felt my chain cast on and cast off were too tight because I'm out of practice, and I was concerned about the curl on the diagonal edge of the pocket.

I've rectified the tension on the chain cast on/off with some practice swatches, which is important as we move toward attaching the pieces together.  And I've experimented with the e-wrap facing I discussed in the March 17 blog entry, and I'm really happy with the results.

Here's a photo of my "unfaced" pocket on the right, and the faced one on the left.

You can see from the picture that the two bias edges look distinctly different.  The faced one almost looks like there are a few stitches of ribbing below below the decreases, but it is just the change in gauge of those stitches resulting from the two strands of yarn (I decided to e-wrap the 4 edge stitches).  I like the look, and the feel is thick and sturdy, and there is absolutely no roll - these are both unblocked pieces.  The pocket on the right, without the e-wrapped edge, is rolling under, and while this might be fixed with blocking, I'm so pleased with the faced pocket that I decided to go with it for the matching pocket.  If you use pockets a lot, as I do, then adding that strength to the area of the pocket where your hands will be in and out can only add to the durability of the garment.  

Here's a look at the "wrong side" of the pockets, below, this time with the unfaced pocket on the left and the faced pocket on the right.

You can see the difference, but I wish that you could feel the difference.  I used the main yarn for the e-wrap facing, but in some cases you may wish to use a strand of a thinner yarn so there is not so much thickness to the faced edge.  You can certainly see that the wrong side, where it has been e-wrapped, looks different as well.  Here's a closer picture of the under side of the facing below.

I may likely be the only one that has the "roll problem", perhaps because I am using a thicker yarn and a mid-gauge machine, an inexpensive acrylic, and/or an operator with limited experience as compared with many of you, but I'm very glad I did!  I call this a happy accident as it helped me recall something I learned at a seminar several years back but never really had a chance to experiment with, and learning and using new techniques is always a good thing.  This is what Lynne and I are striving to achieve in this blog and for whoever wants to come along on this ride with us.  I think being able to understand our machines, troubleshoot problems, and modify existing patterns to suit the machines and yarns that we have available to us, as well us customizing sizes and personal preferences, is liberating and lets us get the very best use of our machines and the very best results we possibly can.

We're getting very close to the end of this project, with all the main pieces now knit.  These are the steps that we set out way back in December, with check marks by the ones that I have now completed:

1. knit the back  ✅
2. knit the two front pieces  ✅
3. knit the 2 pockets   ✅
4. place the 2 pockets
5. knit the 2 sleeves   ✅
6. join shoulder seams and attach sleeves
7. knit and attach cuff bands
8. knit and attach back/front bands
9. wash and dry garment (not necessary for acrylic at this stage)
10. zipper placement
11. knit the hood   ✅
12. attach the hood to jacket neckline
13. knit the drawstring
14. complete drawstring casing
15. complete finishing, darn in ends.

As always, let us know in the comments how you're doing, if you have any questions or suggestions, or just to say hi!

Nancy