Finn-ished!

Woo-hoo, it's done! Finn-ito!
And my DH loves it. The weather turned cold again today, and he has been wearing it all day. The great thing is that it looks like a well worn favourite already - in a good way, I don't mean it's crumpled and saggy, just that he looks comfortable and at home in it. I can really appreciate the natural heathered tones of the wool now that I'm no longer working on it, and can stand back and look. I have to say I'm mightily relieved to get this one out of the way.

A word on blocking. When I finished seaming the seams definitely looked rather puckered, and my DH was concerned. I airily told him all would be well after blocking, despite the fact I have never blocked anything before!
I picked the easiest looking method ie. dampen, then iron with a protective cloth underneath, to get lots of steam into the seams. This worked really well, and didn't take long.

Setting in the sleeves

I finally finished the knitting on the Finn wool jumper, and came to the dreaded making up. I don't think I've ever actually set in a knitted sleeve before, and wasn't looking forward to it.

I prepared by reading the Interweave guide, the Rowan magazine guide and consulting Helena, then using a mixture of all three techniques (mostly Helena's).
I used a yarn tie to match the top and bottom points, then pinned liberally parallel to the seams. I was going to measure lengths and divide precisely, but realised that matching the lengths by eye worked pretty well, and was much quicker. I used a mixture of glass headed pins and lace T pins, both of which worked well. I did try safety pins, but found they moved about too much.

I then started at the top of the sleeve and worked down to the bottom ie. did it in two halves. The theory is that if you end up with a fudge at the end, it will be at the less visible underarm, rather than the shoulder. I used a mattress stitch as recommended by Interweave. However, I have seen recommendations for each of mattress, running and back stitches, so take your pick!

In some respects, it was easier than sewing in a sleeve. There's no seam allowance so matching the lengths is easier, you can pin parallel to the seam, and of course you can ease as you go, stitch by stitch. It's seriously slow work though.

Finn wool status

So what has become of the Finn wool jumper?



Despite the blog silence, I have actually been making some progress on it. I picked up the neckline this morning. This is something I find quite difficult, as I can never get the number and evenness of spacing quite right. I've been saying I would do it one evening for a while, but never getting round to it. So today I started on it early, while the mind was fresh and the light good.
I'm also making fair progress on the second sleeve.



The weather has turned cold again, so I'm hoping I can finish it in time for it to be worn this season.