It’s the WIP that won’t die; the Cabled Lake Sweater. Thrice restarted, shoved in a drawer for nearly 4 years… this sweater needs to be wrapped up immediately for my own sanity. It’s getting chilly again so I pulled it back out and finished the cuff on the first sleeve… finally.

I tried a new binding off technique as the one I have been using (K1, *K1, slip first stitch over the second* repeat) doesn’t have enough stretch. This time I knit two stitches together through the back, slipped the stitch to the right needle, slipped it back to the left needle, knit 2 stitches together through the back, repeated. The result was a stretchier binding which is great for sleeve cuffs.

Another new thing I tried was a repair to the stretched out neckline; I knit this sweater (and most of my sweaters) top-down raglan style which means the sweater has no seams to help hold the shape together and the neckline and shoulders can get really stretched out. I’ve never even worn this sweater and already the neckline was so wide it wouldn’t stay on my shoulders. To help hold the shape I did a quick crochet around the edge of the neck to tighten it up, which worked really well. I also read online that you can do a chain stitch around the inside of the neckline that works the same way.

All that’s left now of the endless sweater is the second sleeve, and to go back and redo the bind off of the hem with the same stretchy binding I tried on the sleeve because it’s currently a bit too tight. Then I can finally start something new, I’ve been holding on to some nice black yarn for like a year now haha.

Are you finishing up any WIPs this fall?