線材:
Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed (85% 羊毛, 10% 真絲, 5% 開絲米爾), 色號#120 灰 - 12.8 球 (104yd [95m] / 50g)
圖樣: Interweave Knits 雜誌 2007 秋季刊
針號: 美制7號 4.5mm 輪針
尺寸: 胸圍 122 cm/48 英吋, 身長 74 cm/29 英吋
製作日期: 2008/05/08 - 2008/06/24
Yarn:
Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed (85% wool, 10% silk, 5% cashmere), color #120 Ash - 12.8 balls (104yd [95m] / 50g)
Pattern: Interweave Knits Fall 2007
Needles: Addi Turbo US size 7 (4.5mm) / various length circulars
Size: Chest circumference 48", length 29"
Duration: 2008/05/08 - 2008/06/24
當初在雜誌上看到這件毛衣時，沒太大的感覺，翻一翻就過去了。直到偶然間看到 Tiennie 的成品 (
一，
二)，驚為天人，馬上加入待織清單中。這件是由下往上輪編，衣身織到胸下時暫停改織袖子，然後全部連起來織胸口、肩膀、領口，一氣呵成，唯一需要縫合的只有腋下衣身和袖子的接合處。看似簡單，抓密度卻是花了我不少精神。從沒織過這種較粗而且粗細不均的毛線，這幾年織的都是偏細線，試織片時也沒多想，織了一塊12公分見方的織片，量了密度，重新算了針數就動工了。
When I first saw this sweater on the magazine, it didn't do anything for me. Then I saw Tiennie's gorgeous FOs (
1,
2), I added it to my to-knit list right away. This sweater is knit from bottom up in circular fashion, stops at the chest to knit the sleeves, and then connect the body to the sleeves and continue to knit the yoke. The only seaming is at the underarm. The construction is simple, but I did struggle with the gauge. Having worked with mostly DK weight yarn, this is my first time knitting with aran weight and tweedy yarn. As usual, I knitted a swatch, measured for gauge, recalculated the stitch counts, and cast on.
因為我的密度和織圖不一樣，所有針數都重新算過。再加上我要的尺寸﹝胸圍約46英吋﹞在原織圖上剛好是兩個size之間，所以織圖只是拿來做參考。織了約5英吋長時發現不對勁了，怎麼...好大喔！針數多，針目全擠在輪針上量不準，把一半的針目挪到別線上攤平來量，量一量有52英吋咧！還好發現的不晚，拆了重來。這次依照所有針數和衣片寬度來算密度，重新開打。不過，我一直想不透為什麼第一次尺寸會差這麼多，我重新算過後，密度從17變成16.67，織起來也不應該差那麼多啊！
Since my gauge was different from the pattern, I had to recalculate all the stitch counts. Plus the size I want (chest circumference 46") falls between the 2nd and 3rd sizes from the pattern, I couldn't follow the pattern as is. After about 5" into the body, I stopped because it just looked so big. I couldn't get an accurate measurement with all the stitches scrunched together on the circular needles. So I moved about half of the stitches to waste yarn, flatten it out and measured - and it was a good thing that I stopped to measure, the circumference was 52"! I frogged the whole thing and started over. This time I recalculated based on the total number of stitches and the circumference of the sweater. But I still don't quite understand why my first attempt was off by so much, the gauge went from 17 to 16.67, it is different, but shouldn't be that big a deal.
重新開打後衣身進行順利，尺寸抓在45.5英吋，剛剛好。袖子織呀織的，越織越覺得奇怪，怎麼袖口看起來好大？織了約4吋多長後，不再多想，拆了重算重打。一件看起來很簡單的毛衣，怎會想到有這麼多曲折？
After I restarted, it was smooth sailing through the main body. The circumference remained a perfect 45.5". The trouble came again when I started the first sleeve. Four inches into the first sleeve, I had to stop and re-evaluate. The sleeve looked big again, and it measured big. Not sure why my gauge failed me again, I frogged the sleeve, recalculated based on my latest sleeve gauge, and restarted. Why does something seemed so simple be so difficult to grasp?
開打時五月初的灣區還是早晚微涼，是打毛線的天氣。誰知道兩三個星期後天氣暴熱，我邊織毛線邊流汗，旁邊電扇猛吹。現在油價貴，什麼都漲價，還是省一點盡量不開冷氣。是沒想到這件毛衣會花這麼多時間，也沒想到天氣熱的這麼快，實在不想大熱天抱著一堆羊毛，可是我也知道自己的惰性，這件不趁勢完成的話，大概會變成未成品堆在衣櫥裡不見天日。
When I first cast on this sweater in early May, it was still cool in the mornings and evenings. Still good weather for knitting wool. But the weather took a dramatic turn after a few weeks. While working on this sweater, I was sweating through 80-90 degree weather, with a fan directly blowing at me. With the oil prices sky high, and the prices of everything going up, I try to conserve and not indulge in air conditioning when possible. I just didn't anticipate having so many problems with this sweater, that it would take so long, and the weather would heat up so quickly. I really hated knitting wool in this kind of weather. But I also knew if I put it aside, it would probably remain an UFO for a long long time.
就這樣，汗流浹背地把它完成了。下水洗香香，攤平等它乾。好不容易乾了，拿下來照相，拿尺一量，@#$&%！怎麼變寬了？原本完美的45.5吋變成48吋，奇怪的是只有衣身變寬，袖子沒變寬，衣身也拉長了。唉，我沒力氣重來了，至少不是現在。織了幾年毛線，這是第一件織給老公的衣服，想說樣子簡單好看，沒想到完全失敗，衣身太胖，袖子看起來瘦的不成比例。
And so, I finished it, after too many scorching hot afternoons. After a good soaking bath, I laid it flat to dry. And now it's picture time, I took out the ruler and measured again, @#$&%！ It went from the perfect 45.5" to the oh-too-big 48"! What happened? The strange thing is, the main body became wider and longer, but the sleeves were okay. Sigh... I don't want to reknit it again, at least not now. I have been knitting for four years now, this is the first sweater for my husband. I thought this would be a quick and easy knit, given that I have tackled more difficult projects, never thought that this would be a failure. The body is too wide, makes the perfect sleeves look too skinny almost.
檢討結果，我想失敗原因如下：
1. 身片和袖子密度不同也許是因為織的方式不同，身片是用一隻80cm輪針輪編，袖子是用30cm和60cm兩隻輪針來織，用兩隻輪針時可能不自覺地抓的較緊，所以比較密？
2. 身片變寬變長也許是因為下水時被整件衣服的重量拉的變形？試織片時也有下水定型，不過那麼小一片是不可能因重變形的。從水裡拿出來時已經很小心了，可是將近13球羊毛線泡了水後的重量不容輕視，要完全沒有拉到是非常困難的。也許下次應該噴濕定型就好？
3. 用粗線時試織片應該織大塊一點，因為算密度時些微差距都會影響很大。
Looking back, I think my problems were:
1. The main body and the sleeves were knit in different fashions, sort of. They were all knit in the round, I used a 32" circular for the main body, and used a 12" and a 24" (two circular needles) for the sleeves. I think I tend to pull the yarn tighter when working two circular needles and maybe that's why the tension on the sleeves is tighter?
2. The sweater might have been pulled out of shape as I took it out of the water? I also wet blocked my test swatch, but obviously weight doesn't play a factor in a 4.5" square swatch. I was being really careful taking the sweater out of the water, but with nearly 13 balls of soaked wool, it was very difficult not to pull it at all. Maybe next time I should just spray it instead of soak it?
3. I should have made a larger swatch. With a heavier yarn, every bit of differences counts.
以前覺得這種輪編一氣呵成的衣服很讚，縫合的地方少，省工省時。織這件衣服時才體會到，把整件衣服抱在腿上織實在不容易，尤其是這麼大件又重的衣服，在家裡走來走去帶著這個project變得累贅，更不可能帶出門去織了。輪編時連換個方向都要整件提起來，重新擺好，才能繼續。
I used to love this kind of construction, knitting in the round with minimal sewing, easy and simple. Now I realized how cumbersome it could be, when the entire garment sat on my lap, it was heavy and difficult to maneuver. It was cumbersome to carry around the house, impossible for on-the-go car-knitting. I had to lift up the entire sweater and repositioned to continue knitting in the round for each turn.
這組線在織時被我罵翻了，因為夾雜在線中的雜草﹝？﹞太多了，而且會扎人，只好用鑷子一根一根的拔，大熱天趕工已經急躁不已，還要一直停下來“拔草”，要不是看在它價格不菲而且成份很好，當場就想淘汰它。不過下水後變得柔軟，觸感更好，倒是意想不到的。
The yarn was also quite annoying, with so many twigs (?) embedded in the yarn strand. I had to stop so often and used a tweezer to pull out these twigs. If they were poking at me while I knit, they would be poking at my husband when he wears the sweater, and that's not a good thing. I thought about switching yarn, but given the price of these guys and the fact that I really do love the compositions (wool, silk, and cashmere), I decided to stick with it. The good thing is the yarn became softer and easy to the touch after a good soak, it really is very nice, once all the twigs are gone.
拔出來的“雜草”
The "twigs" pulled from the yarn
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