Retro Prep is Finished. Kind of. Sort of. Not Really.

You might remember in January I traded Melody for some Jo Sharp Silk Road Aran Tweed. The yarn is beautiful, and soft, and I decided it should be a very simple sweater. I picked the Retro Prep, from Interweave Knits Fall 02. Yes, you've seen it a hundred times on the blogs. Sorry.


I knit on it in January and February (stockinette in the round--good tv knitting) and had worked the body up to the armholes before the Olympics. I finished it this week.

I really thought I wanted a plain sweater. But.........eh.

Is it all those plain Crazy Horse shetland pullovers I wore in high school? With a monogram? A cross stitch monogram I stitched myself using waste canvas? (Shut up, I can see you laughing.)

Anyway. It needs a little something.




I found the center stitch and marked it.


Ripped off the neckband.


Basted up the center stitch with contrasting yarn.


Sewed one stitch away, on either side of the basted line.


Cut up the middle.


Voila!


Here I have picked up stitches for the neckband again, and the cut line is on the right. You can see that even that one stitch before the machine stitching isn't raveling. Knitting does not want to unravel sideways. (Although it might get a little raggedy after I'm handling it while working the front band. But even if that one stitch frays a little, the knitting won't unravel because of the machine stitching.)


Next to do: re-knit the neckband, knit button bands, sew on buttons, and possibly sew some ribbon over the cut edges, for neatness and decoration.