thermal knitalong

Elizabeth's Thermal complete!

2008-04-03T19:55:00.002-05:00

My very fist sweater is complete! All in all, I liked the pattern, and i think it was a great sweater to start with, but now it's starting to get warm and I want to knit something I can wear. Also, it ended up being a little on the small side which was a good learning experience.

Thermal (pattern) (ravelry) by Laura Chau
Source: knitty.com
Recipient: Myself
Occasion: My first sweater!
Completed: April 3, 2008

Yarn: 6.75 skeins of Sandes Garn Sisu in red
Needles: US 2.5 and 3
Other info: I tried to make things a little longer than the pattern, because I was doing it in a smaller size. I wanted a more fitted sweater. Unfortunately I didn't make it quite long enough. Ah well, that's what I get for not swatching ^_^

Silvia, another Thermal Knitter!!

2008-04-03T08:18:00.002-05:00

Hi, my name is Silvia and I jumped on the Thermal bandwagon!! I fell in Love with it when I saw it on Ravelry, so I had to make it.This is a first for me....never having done a sweater knitted in the round!! I did mess up the twisted rib but could not be bothered to frog it after 3 days of trying to cast on!! 13 stitches messed up, it did not bother me much at first......now it does. The further I go the more annoyed I am becoming. Of course it would be right at the front of the sweater!!! Can someone tell me if I move the beginning of round marker to past those 13 stitches will that be okay? Could it be that easy to move the mistake to somewhere less noticeable? Or do I have to live with it? Because I am certainly not frogging it!!!
I would very much appreciate some help on that, thanks in advance :)

Elizabeth's Thermal

2008-03-01T11:36:00.003-05:00

So, I'm late getting into this thermal knit-a-long, but figured that posting some about my experience with it, might be a good idea! At this point, I'm pretty much done the body (less the collar) and I have one sleeve complete, and one sleeve to frog.

My initial thoughts on the pattern was that it was going to take forever! But I found it to be an awesome WIP that I could come back to again and again. And when I got bored, I'd pick up something small just to get it out of my system, then return back to it again. Right now, I'm actually working on Eunny's Endpaper Mitts ^___^ Then I promise to knit that second sleeve!

So, since I'm so far along, I guess I'll just post lots of photos! Enjoy!

Thermal body complete!

This is my half-way point with the first sleeve. It is done, but I don't have a picture of it yet.

Super Liz!

I wanted to show off the sweater as it is to date, and the photo is a little amusing. I may need to stretch it out a bit when I block it to make it a little longer and it's quite warm so we'll see how much I get to wear it. I'm almost tempted to leave it as it is but I think that's my desire for spring talking.

45% mark

At this point, I had 16 inches of sweater and had decided to not do bust darts. I'm not overly big, and figured it would be okay ^^;; I'm now sort of wishing I had since it does ride up a bit in front. Horray for photos of tubes! This is right before the point where I was to split for the sleeve holes, which was scary because I did away with the button in the front.

30% mark

Julia's thermal

2008-02-26T04:19:00.003-05:00

Hi guys,
I just wanted to show the thermal in a different color, since I just completed it in dark green. I think it is unbelievable that one piece of clothing can be so popular that a whole blog is dedicated to it, but appearantly I'm not the only one that is completely crazy about this design!
I wish you all persistence since it is a long way of knitting, but the result is worth it!
Julia

Donzies

2008-02-22T17:21:00.004-05:00

Tonight I'm celebrating! Coming in just shy of one year in the making (how sad is that!?) my little Thermal is now a fait accompli - and I have to say I'm delighted with the finished product! The various pieces in various stages of completeness have been making me feel guilty for a good while now as other shorter projects captured my attention. On a particularly warm day a couple of weeks ago I realised that if I didn't get in gear I wouldn't be wearing this cosy little number until next winter. So, over the past few evenings I have been working away and last night did the dreaded requisite seaming! Anyway, all went well and I have to say I found knitting the collar particularly satisfying as the finishing was so nice. I'm not going to block as I like the fit as it is. Thanks for the great KAL!

shoulder and armhole together, again?

2008-02-05T13:18:00.000-05:00

Hi girls,

I read previous messages about the same subject but I am not quite sure to understand the right thing. Is that right: (for the size A)

1)armhole dec, : k2, ssk, work in patt to the end, neckline patt (-1 arm)
2)armhole patt, neckline patt
3)armhole dec, : k2, ssk, work in patt to the end, neckline patt(-2 arm)
4)armhole patt, neckline patt
--so I've worked 4 above, now the neckline decrease comes in--
5)armhole dec, k2, ssk, work in patt to the end, neckline dec : Work in patt to last 4 sts, k2tog, k2. (-3 arm, -4 neck)
6)armhole patt, neckline patt
7)armhole dec, k2, ssk, work in patt to the end, neckline patt(-5 arm)8)armhole patt, neckline pattThen,9)armhole dec, : k2, ssk, work in patt to the end, neckline dec : Work in patt to last 4 sts, k2tog, k2. (-6 arm, -7 neck... last dec for both as this is armhole dec #5, neckline dec #2)

thanks again to you all...without I couldn't do it!

Joelle

first sweater...a lot of questions!

2008-01-13T20:35:00.000-05:00

First.....all you girls who finished,you made wonderful thermal!!! Im trying to figure out the pattern because, it's my first evermade sweater and I speak french. I have a copy of the thermal pattern in french and one in english but it is still confusing. I totally don't understand after dividing the neckline placket. I put 8 sts on a waste yarn...ok! Then ? Do I continue with a straight or a circular needle? When it's said "wrong" side and "right" side, do I turn all my work completly?
sorry for my written mistakes...I speak french..

thanks you all...!!!

Joelle

Slow-poke crosses the finishing line!

2008-01-04T19:51:00.000-05:00

I ran track and field in college. There was this one meet where I was sick and had bad shin splints and everybody else finished the race 10 seconds before I did (which is an eternity, by the way).

That's how I feel with Thermal, minus the crippling humiliation. Knitters are much nicer than that. :)

Was it ever worth it! I adore the sweater. I actually finished it on December 26, the night before I left on a trip to the freezing U.S. Midwest for a week. Thermal kept me warm and cozy and feeling very good about myself, too!

There is another pic on my blog. I'd post it here, but darned if I can't find where I saved it.

UGH-- A Disaster

2008-01-04T15:55:00.000-05:00

I was so excited about my Thermal-- and then I blocked it and it grew and grew and grew to crazy big proportions:

So I decided to semi felt it, but, um, didn't do a very good job:

So now, I am not wearing my sweater. But my cat loves it.

If you look closely, you can see the felted waffles from the sleeves I used to make the sides of the cat bed.

Note to self: tighter gauge next time :( I do want to make this sweater again, it was so beautiful and it would have been so cute had it turned out the right size. I will probably try again and maybe use a different yarn or a smaller gauge. In the mean time, thanks for letting me play along with the KAL! It was fun.

Finished!

2008-01-01T20:14:00.001-05:00

I started my Thermal in late October and had to take a hiatus from sweater knitting for a short while in December while I finished up some Christmas presents. But! On January 1st, Thermal became my first FO of 2008. Currently she's soaking and will be blocking for a day or two, but I was so excited that I had to share my news. Photos and details to follow here and on ravelry in the next few days!

All Stretched Out

2007-11-29T10:38:00.000-05:00

I was hoping to get some advice from those of you who have finished your Thermals. I finished mine back in July, but didn't get to really wear it until September. I did use the recommended yarn and chose to knit the size 40 as that is my bust size. The project ended up larger then I would have liked, but loved it anyway.

I love how squishy the fabric has turned out but after just two wears the sweater is all stretched out. Stretched out as in the waffle pattern isn't even defined any more...this could be a sweater for my husband at this point, it's so big.

I washed it last night and it's now drying on a spare guest bed... looking bad with it's monkey arms and expanded neckline. sigh. Is there a way to fix this? I was so mad last night I almost wanted to felt the damn thing to see what would happen.

Thanks in advance.
Kris

BLOCKING MY THERMAL

2007-11-19T10:49:00.000-05:00

My finished thermal being BLOCKED.......hope it gains some much needed length

Ever So Slowly

2007-11-19T09:46:00.000-05:00

Thus confirming my position as the Slowest Knitter Anywhere, I have finally finished... the first sleeve of Thermal.

That makes the torso and one sleeve, after six months of knitting.

In my own defense... I'm very busy! I have very little time to knit these days. Perhaps by Christmas I will have finished the whole sweater?

FINISHED

2007-11-18T16:25:00.000-05:00

MY THERMAL WAS OFFICIALLY DONE NOVEMBER 15TH.....took me 3 months and 2 days....relief

Another question,

2007-11-16T17:35:00.000-05:00

First, thank you for the answers to the my last set of questions, it really put me at ease enough to finish the shoulders. Now I am working on the front left part. I'm finding that I end up having 4 knit stitches on the neckline edge... should I be knitting edge stitches on both edges, armhole and neckline?

I'm soooo frustrated!!!

2007-11-13T12:01:00.003-05:00

I'm on the wrap and turn part for the shoulder (I do know what a wrap in turn, extensive googling helped with that). I am finding that as a result of the wrapping and turning the waffles get messed up, is this supposed to happen? I get that this is short row knitting, and I like that! Are the shoulders then supposed to slant? That happened the first time I tried it.... I am soooooo frustrated. I don't know if I'm over thinking it or if I'm just not doing it right. All and any comments are appreciated.

A Sleeve!

2007-11-03T16:00:00.000-05:00

I promised a picture of my sleeve once I finished it. And now it's finished. I like the way the arm knit up, but am a little nervous about the length of the shoulder cap. As you can tell in the picture, if I pull the sleeve up to my armpit, the cap goes over my shoulder... but the measurements are correct as far as the pattern says. So I'll knit on and hope it all works out in the end. This is only my second adult sweater, and the first one with this style of sleeve.

I finally managed to cast on for the body successfully this evening. It took three tries to get the right number of stitches and to NOT twist when I joined. ::sigh:: I'm about 1/3 of the way through the ribbing at the waist and am excited to get back to the waffle pattern soon. Happy knitting!

New Member!

2007-11-01T07:13:00.000-05:00

Hi all! I was looking for patterns to knit with some gloss that I'd ordered a long time ago (in serengeti) and remembered the Thermal pattern. I did some hunting around and discovered this KAL and was thrilled.

I started knitting a sleeve earlier this week (thinking that it would be less painful to unravel than the body of the sweater while I'm working out the rhythm of the pattern) and have nearly finished it. I plan to start the body some time this weekend or next. I will post a picture once my sleeve is finished, but I'm loving the way it's knitting up and can't wait to see the transformation once the material is blocked.

Already, I wanted to thank you guys for your posts and comments because I was reading back posts before I was invited to join to figure out how to work the increases on the sleeves. I love KALs! Looking forward to seeing more fantastic FOs!

One sleeve done....

2007-10-18T22:50:00.000-05:00

One sleeve done exactly 2 weeks to the hour I casted on. I was hoping i could finish it within a week but that never happens.
I have been working on my thermal for a long long 2 months and 6 days.

Take 3

2007-10-10T17:39:00.000-05:00

Sigh....

Hopefully 3 times is the charm! Actually first cast on nearly a year ago - now I swear I will beat it into submission as I want to take it with me to India to knit. I've cast on for the 44 inch wide, and will waist shape until I get a 40 in bust (ahh, pear shaped, gotta love it).

Yarn: Bendigo Woollen Mills Baby 4ply - food dyed red.

Needles: 3mm

finally!

2007-10-09T13:15:00.000-05:00

My thermal is finished! It seemed like it took forever to knit the pieces, then even longer for me to get it seamed up and blocked. But this was such a rewarding project, I know I'm gonna be wearing this one for a long time.

I used Knit Picks Bare Superwash Merino/Nylon fingering weight, that I dyed in a muted lavender. At first I wasn't sure about the colorways the KP Gloss came in, but everyone else's has turned out so wonderful. I may just have to knit another one in one of those rich lovely colors...just not right away. :) Thanks for a wonderful KAL!

- A little note to anyone looking to use this yarn, it seemed to expand in size just the same as the Gloss has for others. This is definitely a project that won't fit properly until it's all blocked and done.

- aquaknits

TODAY IS THE DAY....

2007-10-02T12:15:00.000-05:00

...that I finished the body of my Thermal!!...Started August 12th finished October 2nd. Now onto the sleeves. I hope they go faster....alot faster.

Wrap and Turn

2007-09-29T08:14:00.000-05:00

I'm at the part of working on my body now where a wrap and turn comes into play.

Next Row [RS]: Work 14[15, 15, 15, 16, 16, 18, 19, 21] sts in patt, w&t.
Work in patt to end.
Next Row [RS]: Work 7[8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 9, 10] sts in patt, w&t.
Work in patt to end.
Next Row [RS]: Work all sts in patt, picking up wraps and working them together with wrapped sts.

QUESTION- What is the wrap and turn done to achieve? and what is done with the stitches that don't get knit? Also picking up wraps and working them together with wrapped stitches. Are we making more stitches?...or are we knitting the stitches that earlier did not get knit due to the wrap and turn. Any help would be much appreciated.

Hey guys....

2007-09-25T09:07:00.000-05:00

I started this darn thing back in March and knit all the way up to the placket before i realized my gauge was way off. So this time around I am doing swatches, that I'm actually going to wash and block. I have a few other things on my lap right now, like finishing up my last year of college and some socks I want to make... so this may take a while (well it's already been a while). But it should be done by x-mas I hope, good little gift for myself and if it is too small then a good gift for my eldest sister.
Everyone's posts have really helped get me excited about this again. My only big problem the last time was once I got to the placket, I just didn't understand how the button area was going to connect to the rest of the piece. Couldn't you technically knit it all at the same time (that way there's no seaming)? I'm sort of terrified of the seaming, never really done it, so I'd like the least amount of that as possible.
By the way, when you wash this fabric you guys are just using some sort of wool solvent and soaking then blotting and blocking into place correct? I won't be starting this until next week (I don't have ANY knitting supplies at school with me. How crazy is that?!!!)

How much will Thermal "bloom" when washed?

2007-09-16T11:55:00.000-05:00

Hi there,

I've seen some notes from people with completed Thermals that the Knit Picks Gloss grows a bit after washing. I was foolish enough to not wash my swatch (hey, at least I made a swatch to begin with!) before unraveling it and beginning the sweater.

Anybody got some numbers on how much it grows? I'm almost done with the upper part of the back, and would like to find out before I begin shaping the neckline.

Thank you!