If you were tooling past the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue WA on Saturday evening, on whatever highway that is, you may have seen some strange women jumping up and down on the 4th-floor terrace — in the rain. That would have been Anna and me. As I mentioned, Kathy Cadigan did us the great honor of shooting these photos of us in our Tag Team Sweater Project sweaters. The sweaters themselves left a little bit to be desired. As you can see, my Trillium is currently a cap-sleeved number with no button bands or neck edging, while Anna’s Lila is a sultry, off-the-shoulder sort of thing. Very Flashdance. Still, we were wearing them, so they are technically sweaters. And although we didn’t finish them in time for the shoot, we had a ton of fun.
But let’s talk about this yoke for a minute. The true brilliance of the whole project became clear the moment I was knitting a yoke without having had to knit the whole big rectangle that precedes it. And I’m sort of glad I botched that first sleeve and skipped ahead, because this method of working the yoke upwards from provisionally cast-on sleeve stitches is brilliant. Apart from that little trick, the only modification I made to the yoke was with regard to the number of nupps involved. The pattern calls for basically a solid stream of them in the center of the chevrons. I decided to cut that in half and knitted only the ones at the peaks and valleys, omitting the ones in between. I’m in love with the circular yoke approach — in love with how well this fits my shoulders! — but am a little puzzled by the multiple sets of short rows worked in stages up the back, rather than just at the neckline. All that extra fabric is giving the sweater a little bit of a hunchback, but I’m trusting that it will work out in the blocking.
We had joked at the beginning of all this about whether we’d be great friends or arch enemies in the end. It’s not the end, of course, but it’s definitely been a great bonding experience between knitters. If we’ve learned a lesson, it’s that tag-team knitting is a fantastic idea, just as long as you don’t saddle it with an unrealistic deadline.
For the rest, stay tuned here and to @karentempler and @toltyarnandwool. And there are more photos and thoughts on Anna’s blog today as well.
p.s. There are a few more copies of the new Taproot in the shop — the one with the gorgeous Carrie Bostick Hoge shawl pattern. And you’ll also find a handful of XL bentos in red ticking. Assuming you act fast.
p.p.s. Those poor old ballet flats are officially OUT of the closet — so shabby!
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All photos by Kathy Cadigan
These pictures are adorable and really capture, for me, the essence of the knitting community.
Agree! Love the excitement! And the colors.
Love the description of the sweaters Karen. It looks like y’all had a great time, you can feel it in the photos. Friends are the best!
Provisionally casting on sleeves for bottom-up sweaters is brilliant! Thanks for sharing the link.
Very cute pictures as well.
Oh, those sweaters look fun! You guys look so happy. I just love, love the pictures!
Words cannot express how much I love this post. What a fun project. I am thinking I may have to find a tag team knitting buddy.
Oh my gosh, I just love these photos!
This was obviously a match made…in very good taste! You both have some great sweaters, awesome stories to share and darling pictures. SO! Good! And so, yes, I’m looking to do a tag team sweater with someone as well. Love this!
That looks like so much fun. I love the proto-sweaters.
Sleeveless in Seattle or just barely finished in Bellevue? Love it!
What a blast! Loved the photos. And I love hearing about when things don’t go quite as planned for people who are far more expert knitters than I. It gives me hope.
Love! The photos are hilarious. And thanks for the tip on the yoke knitting.
I initially wondered what was wrong with the sweaters – ! Hilarious!
Aw, good for you guys! If you can rock an unfinished sweater, you can rock anything :)
daww, I love you two! So beautiful, brilliant, the best knitters ever— xx
Great photo shoot! It was so nice to meet you at your booth. I looked back at your closet cleaing post and I just realized in your closet photo you have 2 pairs of the same shoe….
These pictures are so, so lovely! It seems you have a lot of fun:))
Sleeveless in Seattle with sweaters in progress is much more fun than having them done. What adorable pictures! Thank you for sharing your progress and adventure!
So beautiful…..the sweater and the high five jump
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These pictures are great! And the sweaters look lovely even if they’re not quite finished!
hehe these photos are the CUTEST! x
this is so adorable
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