The Simple Stripes sweater pattern is done is rows of color. A pattern like this is fun to knit, and a great way to use up leftover yarn. In my case, I decided to use some wool yarn that I wasn’t thrilled with.
All was going well while knitting this pattern. As I reached the bottom part of the body, I added a strip of colorwork. Then, for the hem I decided to do corrugated ribbing. The pattern calls for a folded hem that is sewn and I didn’t want to do that.
After the corrugated ribbing was finished, using Uradale’s dark blue and dark brown, I was not sure of the best way to bind off. I searched for suggestions and found nothing too helpful. I ended up doing a knit one, purl one row in blue only and then did an Italian style, sewn bind off, using the blue.
When sewing a tubular bind off, a long tail of yarn is needed. With wool, I don’t mind using a shorter piece of yarn because all wool I have worked with spit splices nicely!
As I got close to the end of the yarn, I did a spit splice to attach more blue yarn. It seemed okay, but as I knit along and got to the splice, it pulled right apart. This left me with a short piece of yarn that would not splice to itself.
I’ll tell you, I was a bit ticked off about this. I tried again to splice the yarn, with no luck. I looked up some other ways to attach yarn together, but most of them needed two longer ends. I only had about an inch. I have never un-done a bind off, so that was not an option.
I was so completely OVER this yarn. I went to my wool stash and found some Rauma in dark blue that nearly matches. I KNOW that Rauma will splice. I took the end apart, separating the plies and wrapped them around the Uradale piece. I did the split splice hoping it would hold. It seemed to stay attached. I marked the area with a stitch marker to keep an eye on it.
From there, I continued my tubular bind off without any further problems.
The body is finished, and I plan to use Magic Loop for the sleeves. I may add some colorwork to them as well. I will definitely not be using Uradale yarn for the cuffs and bind off.
I did try on the sweater once everything was complete, and the fit is very good. As always, everything will look better when it’s washed and blocked.
I played yarn chicken with the green for the colorwork, and just made it! That olive green color was a bit of Tukuwool that was leftover from something long ago.
What are you knitting? I’d love to know.
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New England's Narrow Road 