3-Hour Sweater Knitalong: dare we hope?

[scifibimoncon8]

Your concerns are valid, Michele1620. To double the needle size seems a bit...unnerving. I haven't knitted up any swatches yet, but will do so this week and post them as soon as possible.

Another thought is this: You could keep the needle sizes and get a heavier yarn, perhaps worsted or chunkier. Maybe even double a DK yarn. The ribbing would be much heavier, but the body would be less open. It appears that's what happened in the knitted-up version on The Fedora Lounge, though it also looks like she switched to a matching needle size for the heavier yarn.

Also- I just assumed when the gauge stated '4 sts=1 inch' it referred to the 5mm needles (that gives you a trim circumference of 27 stitches, meant to stretch). Could it be that it's actually referring to the 10mms? Women were tinier back in the day, and it would seem to imply a heavier yarn to match the needle gauge, though the waist would be ridiculously weensy. If anyone else knits up swatches, please do post them as swatching (alas) will be key in making this pattern work.

[knitticle]

This is a really cool sweater, and I love the finished one pictured here! But the gauge issue has me perplexed, too.

My first thought was that the yarn must've been doubled to give any sort of sweater-like result on 10MM needles if it is a DK weight. But if this is the case, then the listed gauge surely wouldn't be 4 stitches to the inch, or, 20st =4", right?

And THEN, as another red herring ( ) it says that you must first cast on on size 5 MM needles. If you are doubling your yarn to achieve an acceptable gauge on 10 MM needles, won't it be seriously unweidly to begin on 5 MMs?

The only way I can see it possible to use these 2 drastically different sizes would be if you were aiming to make a SERIOUSLY holey sweater (the finished object I've seen doesn't look like this) or to CO single-stranded using 5 MM and then switch to double stranded and 10 MM, although that's pretty fiddly and I've personally never heard of anyone doing it.

But if you ARE using the suggested yarn single-stranded for a gauge of 4st-1", then this really isn't a 3 hour sweater at all, it's just a worsted weight sweater, right?!

I think when I approach this, like scifibimoncon8 says, the best bet would be to just choose a heavy worsted or chunky weight yarn, work out your own measurements, gauge, and pattern numbers. Essentially creating a new pattern  But that way, you wouldnt' have to cross your fingers and hope it fits.

ACK! Am I overthinking this?! Something tells me there must be a simple cure-all answer out there somwhere.

omgzzzizle, that just made my brain hurt, and it probably ended up more being the insane rantings of a madwoman than any sort of helpful advice. I think I'm going to go partake in a more mindless activity, like my genetics lab report. And that is saying something. 

[wiseneedle]

One thing to consider - this sweater is NOT knit on modern size 10 needles.  A pattern calling for this particular yarn from the 1930s would be using the older "British" needle size system.  In it, a 10 would be comparable to a modern 3.5mm, roughly the equivalent of a modern US #3.  You can find a chart detailing the equivalences among the various needle size schemes here:

http://www.fibergypsy.com/common/needles.shtml

Also, if you're looking at the sweater I think you are, it may be an early version of the Three Hour Baby Sweater.  Which speedy modern knitters can complete in about 3-5 hours of knitting time exclusive of finishing.  Even if it is an adult sweater (which I find unlikely to be described as being able to knit in 3 hours on US #3s), do the math, dividing the stitch count by suggested gauge to get measurements.  You may find that the piece (as is typical for vintage knits) is sized VERY small compared to modern garment sizes. You may need to redraft part of the pattern if you want to make something larger than a modern size women's #8.

Best of luck with this interesting project.  I'll be reading along to follow your progres.

[scifibimoncon8]

I believe this sweater was meant to be sort of open and holey. They do claim we'll be amazed by how rapidly the "loose stitch" progresses. What's particularly strange is that the 5mms are only used for the bottom ribbing-you knit up the yoke ribbing with the 10mms.

 I'm beginning to think whoever suggested a fuzzy angora/mohair might have been spot-on; I've never liked the look of open stitching in plain wools but the fuzzier yarns can get away with it.

Thank you wiseneedle! Truly you live up to your moniker! I'd been looking for needle information but never thought to check whether the pattern was US or UK. The only problem is that needle sizes aren't mentioned, metric sizes are. And 10MM in the 30's is still 10MM today, though your suggestion would make much more sense.

[scifibimoncon8]

Excelsior! Straining my eyes and charting the pattern verbatim on Excel, I discovered another gauge clue! Let me take a moment to bask in the warm glow. Ahhh.

When charting the Front, instead of listing length, it says:

"Work ribbing of k 2, p 2 for rest of yoke, keeping front edge even and decreasing I st every other row on armhole edge until front edge measures 3 inches.

Bind off 6 sts at neck edge. Then decrease I st at neck edge every row, still decreasing 1 st at armhole every other row until all sts are decreased. Work other half of front to correspond.

Having charted the simplest Back piece first to have a point of reference for all the others, I discovered that for Front and Back to be the same length, for all the stitches on the front to be bound off, the front edge had to be 15 rows. That's right. 15 rows equals 3 inches according to this pattern (5 rows to 1 inch), and I've found a use for Algebra outside school. Yeaaaaah.   

Also, I found that the sleeves seem suspicious- their edges are longer than the front/back, and their yoke patterning seems to stop sooner, preventing it from matching up neatly. I can't tell if that's intentional or a flaw. If anyone has more sleeve experience, let me know if the sleeve edge should match up exactly or be a little larger (keeping in mind the picture shows a smoothly joined sleeve).

[SlickMariaVic]

Dang what a pain in the ass...lol. Seems like its going to take out 3 hours just to figure it out! Has anyone thought of contacting that one girl who finished it on the fedora site? I know her mom knit it for her, but maybe she could have some ideas?

[craftykate]

I'll be keeping an eye on this. The suggestion of white mohair with a pearl button has me intrigued.    That would be adorable.

[emilyhrudder]

Ok, I have not made one yet but my friend has made me one and one for herself. It took her about a month to make the first one (hers). She did not trust the pattern so she cast on more here less there and proceded to rip it out several times. Finally she was happy with hers with a few extra cast on but it was to big for me. Believe it or not she followed the pattern closely on mine and all the odd parts of the pattern fell right into place. It is beautiful! I think she used some Paton's worsted and US size 15. It is loosely knit but not holey, I wear a camisole under mine and you can not see it through the sweater. She did admit that mine took over three hours, maybe a few nights of tv knitting but the hard part  was just trusting the pattern and figuring it out. She is making a few more for Christmas and I am going to try one too. Hope this helps, her main comment was to just go with the pattern.

[april_cocaine]

oo, thats much more encouraging for us! do you have any pictures for us emily?

[scifibimoncon8]

Emily, you're a godsend. Please drag every miniscule detail you can from your friend and post all the pictures possible!

Does anyone else find it funny this knitalong has 2 pages with no knitting or pictures?