What a difference a neckband makes

Neckband #1:

Yuck

Pretty frumpy. (The sweater, I mean - though I'm not much better. I blame the head cold.) It took me a little while to realize that the real problem was too many stitches in the neckband. At first I thought it was the narrow armscye, which to be honest, is too narrow. If you look for it, you can see it in the original photos and in most of the photos on Ravelry - it shows up as the chest of the sweater pushing over onto the upper arms.

Neckband #2 looks much better - I just cast on a lot fewer stitches. I will show it to you as soon as I fix the "quarterback shoulders". Anyone have suggestions about how to get steeks to lie a little flatter?

Sleeve setting already

Almost a week (two days back from Sac) and still no sleeves? I'm such a slacker. I will now take a break from the two new sweaters I have going (I'm a knitting tramp ("harlot" is taken)) and sew in Venezia's sleeves - stay tuned.

Getting close

Now that the election is over (aw yeah, my fellow Americans!), I shall reveal the progress on Venezia.

I finished the body a while ago (stupid standard time prevents picture taking on week nights which is why you haven't seen it yet). I did decide to go with a scoop neck, which I had to do twice because it was too square the first time.

Front neckline

I did only 8 stripe stitches on the neck instead of the 10 on the sleeve to keep it from being bulky under the neck band. I did secure the steeks with crochet, although they haven't been secured yet in these photos.

I ended up knitting the sleeve three and a half times: half of first sleeve on dps before realizing I had started on the wrong row; first sleeve on dpns; second sleeve using Magic Loop; then first sleeve again, using Magic Loop because it came out much less lumpy than on dpns. Once I had the colorwork pattern memorized, it went pretty quickly. The upper part of the body was also done using Magic Loop rather than dpns or shorter circular needles. I definitely recommend it.

With crochet secured steeks

Snip snip

It looks like a sleeve!

I will admit I was skeptical that the crocheting would hold the steeks, but they did, even through a gentle wash and block.

Can I digress? I don't understand why, if the related article on steeks only talked about steeks with an odd numbers of stitches, the sweater has steeks with 10 stitches. It was a problem when it came to securing. Lame. Anyway...

You can see the folded neckband I picked up around the neckline. The shape of the neck turned out pretty well. I tried it on at the stage you see above and noticed 2 things. First, it made me look fat. I'm hoping that was the dorkiness associated with no sleeves. Second, the neck band gaped at the back. I'm hoping a good blocking fixes that problem. Otherwise, I will be undoing and redoing.

Currently the sleeves are done blocking, but the body is still a bit damp. I will take up the task of setting in the sleeves when I return from a short trip to Sacramento. Hasta la vista (baby)!

I hope y'all voted

I did - you know I wouldn't miss this one. It sure feels good to vote. Sometimes, like today, it feels even better than knitting.