Amen!
First of all, thanks to Artlady for the hint on the sleeve increases. Mine worked out great! I also added 2.5" to the sleeve before the increases.
NOW, I just finished binding off my 7 sts and worked my 5 even rows. I did the 2 decrease rows as written, which has given me 2 purl sts on each end of the RS. The next direction is “repeat decrease row every 4th row (1) more time, then…” So that means, knit the next 3 rows even, right? My dilemma is, what do I do with those edge sts? Do I want a column of 1 purl st on each end of the RS? Help!
My second question is, when trying the sleeve on for length (presuming I get through the decreases), where does the little notch for the bound off sts fall? Is it right at the armpit? I hope not, because if I pull those bound off sts right up into my armpit, the sleeve is about 1" shorter than I’d hoped for. :waah:
OK, one more question. I read several directions to SL1 at the beginning of a row. The pattern key says only “slip” and not whether you should slip knit wise or purl wise. I thought that whenever a pattern says SL1 and doesn’t specify, you are supposed to slip it purlwise, otherwise it twists the stitch. So that is what I was doing.
HOWEVER, a few rows later I encountered “SL1 purlwise.” Crap, was I supposed to be slipping the others knitwise? This distinction was always a puzzle to me when making socks. In fact, I have only one completed pair. So did I screw up? I am hoping that it doesn’t make too much of a difference, so I just continued knitting, and slipping my SL1’s purlwise.
OK, never mind about that first question. I realized I was on the wrong row. There is a RS decrease, WS plain row. Then it says repeat decrease every 4th row. Well, that would be on the WS, right? Nope, it was supposed to be the RS. Then every other row (all on the RS).
WHY AM I HAVING SO MUCH TROUBLE WITH THIS PATTERN? We are supposed to be on the Easy Peasy part. I will admit I started taking some new medication this week but sheesh!
Good morning all! Well, it’s a nice cloudy drizzly day out West!
A good day for a fireplace, coffee and the Sylvi Sleeve!
[B]Laikabear~ [/B] I do believe the BIND OFF 7 edge is basically equivalent to the same edge created with these kind of sleeve directions: “SHAPE SLEEVE CAP: Bind off 3 stitches at the beg of the next two rows” when knitting a sleeve the conventional flat way.
So, yes, I think that BIND OFF 7 area will fall in the armpit region.
The true ‘test’ will be after you finish sleeve#1 and put those ten st on hold. Then and really only then, can you truly see how your sleeve will fit. By putting your arm into the sleeve and holding the 10 st up to your sideneck…you’ll see exactly where the armpit is, and where the cuff hits.
If it’s too short…you might could frog back, pulling out the BIND OFF 7 row…and knit some additional ‘even’ seed rows to lengthen the sleeve before starting the cap again with the BIND OFF 7 row.
When the directions say, “work the decrease row 1 more time every 4th row…” it means this: there are 2 decrease rows total. And lets call that the first one Seed Row 60. The next decrease row would be Seed Row 64.
Notice, I don’t number my rows starting from 1 again after the sleeve cap bindoffs. I just keep numbering them from where I started at the top of the cuff. I use those red row markers to keep track of what row I’m on. It’s critical to know what row you’re on with this sleeve.
[B]FYI:[/B] I didn’t slip any stitches on the first stitch cuz I’m not working the inside-out seam. The slip stitch is for ‘decoration’ when the seams meet and roll to the outside, and I must say, I agree with that design feature! I think you should slip your stitches so that they don’t appear twisted. You know, their appearance should be a consistent ‘mount’ all the way up the raglan line.
The inside-out seams are too sporty for what I want this coat for, so I’m going to use the good ole ‘mattress seam’. Therefore, I worked my sleeve cap decreases using the first 2 stitches and last two stitches of each decrease row! Yup. You heard right: my decreases are on the end. The ends will be turned to the inside, hidden away, after the mattress seam is performed anyway. I don’t usually EVER work my decreases on the edge…but…I did it this time on the second time around for this sleeve cap cuz by working the decreases on the end…the seed stitch pattern wasn’t disturbed at all. I want a perfect field of seed stitches meeting at the raglan seamline from the outside view.
[B]All knitters~[/B] the main reason any of us might experience more time-consuming issues with the sleeves is because none of us is getting a correct ROW GAUGE. We all maybe have to lengthen or shorten the sleeve a bit on [I]any[/I] sweater…what pattern EVER gives us a perfectly fitting length sleeve? But with Sylvi, our row gauge is off, so we have to tinker around with the length.
I do not think we will have these issues with the body of the sweater. The coat might just be shorter or longer due to row gauge. But sleeves, they have to fit right. So we will all appreciate our time and efforts on these SLEEVES!
I mean, whoever wants a sleeve where the cuff falls 4" longer than your fingertips please raise your hand! :teehee:
On the otherhand, whoever wants a sleeve where the cuff is an inch above or just meeting your wrist bone, please raise your hand! :teehee:
[B]I agree with you Laikabear! [/B] I thought the sleeves would be the easiest part, too! :wall:
I’ll try to post pics over the weekend. My computer at home fried this week and DH is trying to reinstall everything. He’s not having much luck so it may be dead dead dead…
I’m at the Fire House til Sunday but who knows, miricals happen.
So the 10 sts on the holder go all the way up at the side neck? I gotta drag out those schematics again.
I am planning on doing the seams as per the pattern. I read that part of the instructions. It says something like “Seam on the WS.” WHAT? Having never seamed before I’d like a little more help than that. Oh well, I’m not there yet anyway.
I think that my sleeve is way too short. I hear some frogs…
Yes, the 10 are along the side of the neck.
Yes, you would flip your work wrong sides facing and perform the mattress seam from that position. This will roll the raw edges to the public side. That’s why she has you doing the fancy slip stitch on the ends.
After giving it much thought, I am going to make buttonholes.
The thought of buttonholes freaks some folks about the placement them. Rav has some buttonhole discussions running.
Not to worry.
Here’s what I do: I knit the LEFT SIDE first. By making the LEFT FRONT first, you will have as visible representation of the buttonband. How many rows, etc. By this, you can decide where each button will be placed.
If you’ve been keeping track of rows for the LEFT FRONT with the little red row markers…you can make a buttonhole ‘work order’ for the corresponding RIGHT SIDE. You will know EXACTLY which rows for the RIGHT FRONT will be needing a buttonhole, and exactly how many stitches each hole will span, and this depends on the size button you’ve settled on.
From what I can tell, the button and buttonhole bands themselves are ‘built in’ as you go back and forth across your rows. They are not picked up and knit later. I love built-ins!
So remember, work the LEFT SIDE first. Then the RIGHT SIDE with its corresponding buttonholes. You can’t fail. I’ll take some digital photos of my finished LEFT FRONT with the little yarn markers placed where each of the 5 buttons will be sewn.
Then we’ve saved the fun stuff for last: the BACK! :cheering:
I’d rather get the boring stuff out of the way first, wouldn’t you?
I will complete my final sleeve tonight. I don’t know what to call them anymore. Btu I will have a sleeve for both the RIGHT SIDE AND THE LEFT SIDE, WITH THE CUFF BUTTONS ON THE OUTSIDE! :happydance:
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[B]
PERSONAL NOTES:[/B]
I am very tired tonight. I didn’t get any sleep last night, and I’ve been very stressed. Yesterday, our year-old male St. Bernard (Charlie) nearly killed our 3-yr-old male Walker Hound (Blue) in a series of 4 horrible fights within a half hour. We had to take Blue to the vet today. Emergency surgery. He would’ve died. He’s in the kitchen now, laying on blankets.
$500 dollars later…I might add.
Both guys are neutered. However, they’ve only been snipped since Dec. Our female Walker Hound, Dani, has been spayed since she was six months old. She doesn’t know what sex is.
So the guys aren’t fighting over her. They are jealousy fighting over me and DH. We’ve seen signs of their posturing and snarling around us when we go out to play with them.
We just don’t know what to do. Charlie is 160 lbs and Blue is only 80 lbs. Not exactly a fair fight, but Blue doesn’t give in.
They just wear themselves out. My husband is a big strong guy, he can’t break them up.
I cried all night I was so upset about Blue. Charlie has all the thick curly fur. The most he gets is a pierce ear. Anyway, to top it offf…now both boys have a coating of pepper spray on them. DH tried to break them up with that on fight #1 which was worst cuz the boys had more energy and fight in them. It broke up the fight, but didn’t prevent 3 more. DH had to power wash the deck this morning…well, all kinds of cleanup due to the pepper spray. He’ll never try that again. I nearly choked to death on the spray that wafts into the house when we open the slider door.
I guess one of the boys is going to have to been in the kennel run at all times. No more interacting…not even one bit.
Blue hid in the kennel’s dog house, John locked the door…and Charlie still sat and watched for Blue to come out for round 5 maybe.
It wasn’t til morning light that we realized Blue was in real bad shape. For the life of me, I don’t understand how some folks think dog fights are entertainment for gambling purposes. It makes me ill to see it.
Thanks for listening. :pout:
Oh Artlady I am so sorry to hear about poor Blue. (I once had a Redbone hound named Blue!). In my experience, once dogs fight like that, they will get into it again and again, so they must be permanently separated. 
It can be really difficult to separate a dogfight, too. The old “spray them with the hose” trick doesn’t work with a real fight (well maybe if you have a FIRE hose).
I hope everything goes okay with Blue’s recovery. 
In sleeve news, I finished Sleeve #1 but I am a little worried that it is too short. Actually when I put it on, it seems like the area that needs more length is the decrease region (because to pull the top all the way to the side of my neck pulls the bindoff area very tight into my armpit). I guess that is one of the problems with not getting the right row gauge.
As you mentioned before, adding rows in this area will mess up the seaming, unless math is done and I figure out how to do corresponding extra rows on the front/ back pieces. For now, what I’m going to do is knit Sleeve 2 in the same manner, and hope for the best. If I go to seam and the armhole depth really is a problem, well, I guess I can figure it out then. :shrug:
I still haven’t decided between buttons and a zipper… Guess I need to get thinking on that before I graduate from the sleeves…
Dollyce, I am so sorry to hear about the boys. What a difficult spot to be in. Hoping for fast healing and peaceful energy in your house!!
Thanks for your well wishes ladies! Blue did ok through the night, wimpering a bit this morning about 4. He laid down on the kitchen floor last night at 5:30pm, and here it is 8am, and he hasn’t moved. He’s holding his head up now though, and I was able to get his pills down. Gotta get him up soon to go out to lift the old leg.
As for the Sleeves, Maureen…yeah, if the sleeve is too short, the only place to lengthen them is before the BINDOFF 7.
I re-did my entire first sleeve and just finished it last night.
I liked how I did the 2nd sleeve so much better. So I repeated that for the re-do of Sleeve #1.
It would look nicer if you added the extra rows BEFORE the increases. Then, the increases roll right up to the BINDOFF 7 with only a row or two extra.
I’ll take a photo of my two sleeves later. I can see that I need to block them cuz I have a bit of wonkiness at the junctions where the 2 circs met. Not bad but it’s visible a bit.
I was tweaking the stitches last night a little with my yarn needle and a small crochet hook, then decided to let the blocking do the work for me. I’m gonna lay 'em down later today and mist the tar out of them, and when they’re dry they’ll prolly be better. In worst case scenario…I can always pull out the full immersion blocking method for the sleeves. The big guns! :teehee:
I cast on for the LEFT FRONT. Am about on row 16. It’s gonna be a long haul…100’n’something rows of seed stitch. 
Well, one good thing about the size S is that there are only 2 increase rows, so the sleeve doesn’t change in width that much. So I can probably sneak some extra length in just by ripping back to the bound off sts if I need to.
I thought about it again and I’m not sure if I’ll need to or not. The weight of the sleeves will pull them down somewhat. I am going to wait for the seaming step and decide then. I would hate to make them longer now and find out later that they are too long! :doh:
I am glad Blue is hanging in there. He’s doing the right thing - resting! I don’t see many hounds in L.A. (except Basset Hounds, they are everywhere) and I miss that. I used to see a lot of hounds in N.C. (where I am from). I miss hearing that wonderful houndy bark. And they sure have great personalities. My Blue got into so many antics… rattlesnake bite, falling through the ice in a frozen lake and being fished out by the fire dept, terrorizing our house…
So sorry to hear about your boys, but here’s a a suggestion: you could write to Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer, tell him your story, and he may be able to give you some advice, or he may even consider this worthy of his personal attention.
We had two boys, now in doggy heaven, and they always vied for our attention, even to the point where if my husband and I were each scratching a dog, the dogs would be looking over their shoulders to make sure the other dog wasn’t getting any more scratching than he was!
Good luck to all of you.
Thanks for all your well wishes for Blue! He is doing better this evening, he can stand up without our assistance of a blanket under his chest and belly! He even has some stitches on his paws!
He’s on anti-inflammatories, amoxicillin and pain meds.
But, like I said, he’s watering the plants outside, and moving his XXX okay too!
We are looking for a home for the Saint Bernard. Being just one yr old, and a big beautiful lovable oaf, we think he stands a great chance of a new home. It is hard to place a hound, and Blue came to us as a rescue in the first place!
This is Dani (red collar) and Blue up on the mountain:
They are inseparable:
This is DH and Blue:
Ok, I am way off the subject here! I’m gonna post another post with SYLVI news!
Thanks for your care and concern! I feel better today. Looks like Blue will live. :cheering:
I am remaking the LEFT FRONT (which only got to about 6" due to issues!) When I get my new LEFT FRONT version to the same length as the first version (saved on needles), I will post photos of each…and point out why I re-did it…and how to avoid 2 pitfalls for the FRONTS.
Two very interesting tips! Don’t start your LEFT FRONT til you’ve read my notes and see the comparison photos.
Been distracted today, nursing my injured hound.
Up all night with him, I could hardly see straight today.
Better tonight after a few cat naps.
Artlady - sorry to hear about Blue, I hope you find the St Bernard a lovely home soon.
I haven’t started my Sylvi yet, My DH has just been made redundant and we are a bit panicked about what is going to happen job wise. feel very unsettled and can’t seem to sit down and concentrate enough to start anything. spent 3 hours cleaning and moving furniture around last night.
I am really sorry about what happened with your dogs, and hope you will find a good home for the St Bernard and that Blue will be back on his paws soon. 
I had two dogs as well, both in Dog Heaven, they were boy and girl and it was alright. But when my aunt came to visit with her dog, also a boy, there sure was trouble.
I got the sample card from the yarn factory and have ordered an eggplant colored 12-ply, 100% Merino for Sylvi, they promised on the phone to send it on it’s way on Monday. I have never ordered from them before so I hope it is alright. It was not at all expensive, which is always nice:) I will make swatches as soon as it’s here.
I’m so sorry to hear about your dogs fighting and Blue being hurt so badly 
Praying he continues to recover well, and that you are able to find a home for the other.
In my Sylvi update - I got the cuffs knit! Maybe. I decided to knit both before moving on to the sleeve portion. But I just made them the way the right sleeve direction said, assuming they were the same, because I was snuggled up with the baby and only had page 1 printed off … then today, staring at them, I realized maybe they weren’t the same? I’m not home now. Does the P5/K3/P2/K4 pattern of the right cuff stay the same on the left sleeve, or does it reverse, so that the bind off is … uh …
see, I’m just confused. LOL. I guess if I do a mattress stitch seam and you don’t see the flap, it wouldn’t matter because I could pick up stitches from the same side of each and the cuffs would be identical. But if I do it as written with the overlapping flap, then the flap would need to point left or right and it would matter both which way the flap goes AND which side the 5P roll is on. right?
Hey, I have another question, related to gauge and yarn. I had to go up to 11’s to get gauge, and my Cascade 109 is a fluffy “bulky” yarn, not a dense one … so if I’m not careful when I knit, some of my stitches aren’t really tighter, but it’s like the yarn twists down / narrows if there’s more tension on the “puffiness” of it, and so some of my stitches look smaller. Does that make sense? is that normal? Is there some trick to knitting more evenly? I don’t knit tightly but apparently the tension of the yarn changes from slack (yarn stays puffy) to tighter (yarn gets pulled and makes smaller stitches)
I don’t want this coat to look uneven … is it just me?
I’m going to go stare at my unseamed cuffs for awhile, since I can’t start the sleeves until I read page 2 again, I guess.
imagine some confused and frazzled smilies here, I’m clicking but they’re not appearing. LOL.