Gedifra 1376 Mayra Lacy Sweater - Beauty Shot

Every once in a while I can actually get my husband to take a shot of me in one of my creations.  This sweater looks so much better on a human as opposed to a dress maker dummy.  You can actually see the lace pattern.  The yarn is supersoft and the top is very comfy, although it has a tendency to slide off the shoulders.  No surprise given the wide scoop neckline.

Gedifra 1376 Mayra Lacy Sweater - Finished!

I have been trying to finish up some of my languishing works in progress.  This one had been sitting for three years before I picked it back up again.  When I needed a break from the never ending border I worked on this and I finally finished it up this morning.  I knit in the round until I got to the cast on increases for the sleeves, at which point I worked the front and back separately.  After I finished one side of the front I went ahead and joined the front and the back on that side.  I sewed the underarm seam working from the end of the sleeve in, and did a three needle bind off for the top seam.  The finishing of the sleeves and neckline was new to me.  The raw edges are actually encased in knitting.  When you pick up the stitches, you have a needle on the outside and one on the inside.  You knit three rows with each needle before joining them and finishing up with 5 rows of knitting.  This causes the nice rolled edge.  It was a major pain in the ass, and I would recommend putting the inside stitches on a cable that can be joined so the stitches don't get away while you are working the outside stitches.  It is definitely worth the trouble though, and I will probably use the technique again.

Gedifra 1376 - Mayra Lacy Sweater

After whipping out a couple of crochet blocks I was at a loss as to what to work on next.  Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of works in progress sitting around, it was just that none of them really appealed to me.  After some thought I pulled out this project which has been hibernating for quite some time.  According to my Ravelry project page I started this project on July 15, 2009.  I did the body in the round, working the single increases and then set it aside when I had to start the cast on increases for the sleeves.  I wasn't sure how I wanted to do the increases.  Fast forward three years.  I ended up doing a knitted cast on.  The other big challenge was the lace chart.  There are both horizontal and vertical repeats.  The horizontal repeats are marked, but the explanation was not that great.  The vertical repeat was not really marked, although they do mention it in the pattern instructions.  I ended up scanning the chart and printing out several copies so I could cut and tape them into a complete chart.

Pattern:  Gedifra 1376 from Moments 0209
Yarn:  Gedifra Mayra
Needles:  US 7 (4.5 mm) and US 6 (4.0 mm)