The two sleeves are done, and on the blocking board.
Don’t extend the blocking wires into the side edges of the cuffs or you could stretch them out when you spread the wires for the body of the sleeves. I want my cuffs to remain as snug as possible.
My final notebook page for the sleeves:
I will begin with step one of final finishing today: Sewing the shoulder seams, using mattress stitch. Will probably get hood done by tonight. The ribbing will take concentrated efforts however, and so I won’t do that when I’m tired or frazzled. Picking up just the right number of stitches for the ribbing is very tricky, and important to have them evenly spaced within sections, and not too few and not too many. Otherwise you will get wonky ribbing bands! Ack! What could be worse?
PAGE ONE
PAGE TWO: I am modifying the ribbing application. You can read
all about it below.
Art lady…
As always,thanks for sharing all your professional tips… they are greatly appreciated…I was reading your advice on blocking and wondered how you achieved that edge stitch to poke the blocking wire through… did you slip the stitch? thanks for helping me understand…
An “edge stitch” is created by “knitting” the first and last stitch of every row, both WS’s and RS’s.
There are diff ways to create an edge stitch I guess (from Googling the words), but I learned the edge stitch from Elsebeth Lavold, the Swedish “Viking Knits” designer.
I used to put a stitch marker 1 stitch in from each end to remind me to “K” the stitch, coming and going!
It really makes for easier mattress seaming, and of course, blocking with wires!
Thanks for your kind words and compliments!
Will you be joining us for this Central Park Hoodie?
It’s very easy, and an adorable hooded jacket, I think, don’t you?
Thanks for the tip Art Lady… I admired your first central park hoodie and have read through this new knit along…I am concentrating now on my 3rd attempt at a sweater and must stay focused…but I know i will eventually attempt this very cool sweater… and when I do I will have this great knit a long to refer to…your knit alongs are like
encyclopedia’s I can refer to when I need them… I also have been following the tempting II knit along…I am determined to make a sweater that I am proud to wear… so far , my first two have been ok, but , I have a lot to learn…thanks for all your help, it has really been invaluable!!
Hi Artlady - I’m posting this for reassurance…
So I’m on my ‘left front panel’ and I’m done with the 7" required for the armhole length and put the 10 stitches on scrap yarn. I am about to start the BO for the neck shaping.
The directions say “keeping in patt, BO 2 sts at neck edge every other row 3 times - 24 sts remain.”
If I read your previous post correctly, I’m to slip the first stitch w/out knitting, then knit a stitch, then BO then knit and do the 2nd BO… right?
I like this hoodie a lot. Where can I get the pattern? I cannot access the blog in your link from this network and the issue of the magazine that it was in is not available for backorder. I want to make this when I have a little more practice.
It’s on Interweave’s Pattern Store site. The direct link is:
http://shop.interweave.com/Central-Park-Hoodie-P204C53.aspx
If you click on that above and it won’t let you go there from your network, you can go to www.interweaveknits.com, then click on the link on top that says ‘Pattern Store’ and then the Central Park Hoodie is a featured best seller on that page. If it doesn’t show up as a best seller, you can type in ‘Central Park Hoodie’ in the search box on the top left.
Thank you! That’s the one place I hadn’t looked.
Yes, that’s what I do! It produces a smoother edge, no lump.
I found it. Thank you! When I get more practice I’m going to make this. I think even my daughter will want one. She won’t let me make her anything except scarves.
Do you think it would be possible to ‘sticky’ this thread? Later this summer I’m going to be able to start a CPH, and don’t want all this information to be gone.
So many projects, so little time!
I’m checking into the possibility of Sticky-ing it. Have to check with the other Mods and Admins.
But, I don’t think the information ‘goes away’. It just sinks to the bottom of the barrel if new posts aren’t bumping it up to the top. I wouldn’t personally ‘bump’ something just for that reason. Seems unfair.
If the Sticky thing is something we can’t do…you could always ‘bookmark’ it.
Just open the thread to PAGE 1…and then go up and SAVE it in your bookmarks (on Firefox) or FAVORITES (on Internet Explorer).
Any internet browser you use will have some kind of bookmark/favorites feature.
I will post later about the Sticky factor.
Just a note: if everything of importance and/or value gets Stickied…the Sticky section loses it own value to a degree. So the Admins and Senior Mods will have to weigh in on this. I’m still a newbie Mod!
And, thank you for the compliment, that you value my KAL so much!
You could subscribe to this thread. That’s what I do with threads that I want to refer to later on.
On the top of this thread there is a pull down menu that says ‘Thread Tools’. When you click on the little triangle next to it, there is a link that lets you subscribe to the thread.
You can keep track of all your subscribed threads in your User Settings. On the very top of this web page there is a little icon of a person and next to it, it says ‘User Settings’. When you click on it, there is a menu on the left side. Under ‘Subscribed Threads’ there is a link called ‘List Subscriptions’.
Progress update:
Back and Left Front Panel complete! :woohoo: I’m going to cast on for the Right Front Panel tomorrow.
:cheering::cheering::cheering::cheering: WAY TO GO!!! 
And, the Right Front will go faster than the Left Front!
It would be impossible to post all of our great KAL’s in the Sticky section. And if just one particular KAL goes there, it would be unfair.
The best way to keep track of any KAL is:
a) bookmark it in your browser, or
b) “subscribe” to it…and then you can visit your KH User Settings and look under your Subscriptions to find it again
Thanks again for your interest in this KAL! 
The HOOD is finished, and is on the blocking now!
Due to the fact that the HOOD is “knit onto” the body directly, as opposed to being knit separately and seamed ontothe body later,
I had to hold it over/into the basin of fiber wash without getting the body wet again. Then again for the fiber rinse in the same manner. I squeezed out the excess water, patted between two thick bath towels…then laid it out on the blocking board. It will sit there til bone dry.
After that, I’ll seam the top of the hood only.[COLOR=black]…[COLOR=Red][SIZE=5][FONT=Arial Black]*[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR][/COLOR][U][COLOR=black][U]t[/U]he[/COLOR]n[/U] pick up ALL THE STITCHES for the ribbing band in one fell swoop: starting at the bottom edge of the Right Front, up over the HOOD, and down the Left Front to the bottom edge. Yeah, a lot of stitches…but the outcome will be worth it. Will have to be extra careful to pick up the right amount of stitches per 6" section. That’s a lot of ribbing to yank out if the thing puckers (from too many stitches) or “bows” from too little stitches. I use the pick-up number given by the pattern as a “guideline”. I’ll pick up two ribbing stitches for every 3 st on the jacket edge. But more about that later.
[FONT=Arial Black][SIZE=5][COLOR=Red]*[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][The pattern directions say to add the ribbing to each side and half the HOOD separately…[U]then seam the top of the HOOD[/U] with the ribbing already on. Ack. You can’t hide that seam front the frontal view. That is the one thing I didn’t like about my DD’s CPH.]
All of my blocking is finished, and oh my…my yarn is so soft and wuscious! The stitches have bloomed real nice! The cables look polished and spiffy. I’ll be casting on for the ribbing today or Monday. Then on to seaming, and the zipper later in the week.
The picking up of stitches for the ribbing bands is critical to the overall polished appearance of the sweater.
Here are a few of my steps:
a) fold the left front in half vertically…place a pin on the fold line…then fold the halves in half again, and place pins on those spots, too. This evenly divides my left front into [U]4 [COLOR=Blue]sections[/COLOR][/U]. I’ll do the same for the hood, and right front. May even consider folding those 4 in half, too, for 8 sections.
b) pick up the [U]same number[/U] of stitches in [U]each[/U] [COLOR=Blue][U]section[/U][/COLOR] of the left and right fronts
c) pick up 2 stitches for every 3 stitches on the garment edge…it produces a nice even rib, without rippling, or, distortion/curving (as stated previously, too many stitches produces rippling or waves…too few stitches produces distortion or curving)
d) I use a smallish Crystal Palace (smooth wth no bumps or thumb rests) bamboo crochet hook to pick up the stitches and load them onto my circ…picking up about 10 at a time onto the crochet hook before sliding them off at the other end and onto the circ, careful to situate them knitwise on the circ…I place red stitch markers for every 10 stitches, and blue stitch markers for the [COLOR=Blue]sections[/COLOR].
e) I like the picked up stitches to fit tight tight tight onto the circ…this will ensure that the picked up row isn’t loosey-goosey looking as it lays between the actual garment and the ribbing. I load them onto the circ as tight as possible but still knitable. That’s where KP OPTIONS are very helpful.
NOTE: If a section needs 24 stitches…then there will be two red markers marking the 2-10 sts…and 4 left over stitches will be alone just before the blue end-of-section marker.
This marking of stitches and sections for the picked-up row is very helpful, and reduces time spent counting and re-counting, or worse, guessing.
Anyhoo, I’ll take a digital photo of my ‘picked-up and stitch-markered’ row for you and insert it later. When this row is all picked up…the next row begins the 2x2 rib pattern. I plan the bottom edges to end with K2 on the Right Side.
f) important not to scrimp with those last two knits at the bottom edges…I place the last picked up knit stitch over or a little beyond the edge. I like my last two K2’s to be even steven with the bottom edges of the Right and Left Fronts. It’s a pet peeve. My bad!
Just a quick update:
Finally finished with the Right Front. I will cast on for sleeves this weekend.