Mariah's neck opening and hood

Yesterday, I determined that I must have started on the lower hood shaping too soon. When I tried it on (safety pinned at the seams), I looked like a camel according to the DH. It's less bulky than sweaters I would normally wear. It's form fitting(1) and somewhat flattering(2). I was distraught because I would have to rip back about all of Saturday's progress (2 inches multiplied by 150+ stitches!), and I had started the hood already. See the beginning of the pretty cables?(3)

The neck opening was too wide. {sigh} I should have payed more attention to the issues that Emily had encountered with the neck opening and hood.

The short row shaping really turned me off. The mountain of excess fabric was just screaming to be ripped back.


I knew that I wouldn't be happy if I didn't frog it *right then*. I carefully inserted through the stitches at the top of the cable section using my size 5 Denise needle. Then I ripped to the short row section, then ripped some more. I was pleased that I hadn't lost a single stitch because I was very attentive when I inserted the smaller needle through the stitches. {Cj pats herself on the back.}

"Don't feel too bad for me," says Mariah. "It was for the best and I look much better now."

You can see the bulges on the shoulders are similar to what Dianna is concerned about. I've eliminated the short row shaping and am continuing to decrease along the front and back seams, until I feel comfortable with the neck opening size. The sleeves are getting to be longish, but I think it'll turn out okay. It is my first sweater after all. I really want to get this done so I can wear Mariah in public for the first time at a theme park this weekend.

The second baby hat is progressing nicely. I'm using size 6 Boye DPNs and worsted weight acrylic. I'd cast-on 75 stitches for this one, and the sizing is better. I originally cast-on 60 stitches for the first baby hat, and it is really small. It's going to get frogged and redone since it took me so little time to knit up anyway.

I was randomly chosen as one of the winners at Chelsea's blog. Yippee! Thanks Chelsea.

Karma: My DH hasn't done a Meyers-Briggs test either, but I'm curious as to what he is. I'm guessing he's an ENTP.

Notes:
(1) I'm a very casual gal and with very casual garb. I'm following WW and am losing weight (-5.6 as of last Thursday/goal -20.4), so making Mariah form fitting might be for the best.
(2) I'm loving Dianna's red rust Mariah and am having second thoughts about the colour I chose. This cream isn't looking so great with my skin tone. I'll do the next Mariah in another color and I'm definitely not knitting the next one in acrylic. There's no chance I'll be able to block out the lumps in this one. I'm hoping it relaxes and evens out after a couple wash cycles.
(3) I didn't want to bind-off the 13 stitches for the square collar. This is what I did instead. Viewing from the front: Stitches between "[]" are for the right edge side of the hood. Stitches between "()" are for the left edge side of the hood. This braided cable is from here.
Pattern:
R1: [K2, (P1, K9, P1], K2)
R2: [P2, (K1, P9, K1], P2)
R3: [K2, (P1, Slip 3 sts to CN & hold to back, K3, K3 from CN, K3, P1], K2)
R4: Same as R2
R5: Same as R1
R6: Same as R2
R7: [K2, (P1, K3, Slip 3 sts to CN & hold to front, K3, K3 from CN, P1], K2)
R8: Same as R2