I’m so close to finishing my version of the Jay Sweater by Rachel Brockman. I love the combination of colors I chose for it: Lime Tree and Ice Rustic from the many colors in the Universal Yarn Deluxe DK collection.
After completing the body and sleeves I’ve now reached the home stretch, sewing in the ends and a nice soaking and blocking of my beautiful sweater.
Joining a new ball of yarn by knitting two strands together.
There are thankfully very few ends to sew in when knitting a top-down sweater, this and the ability to try on the sweater in the process of knitting it, are the main reasons why so many knitters love the top-down knitting technique.
Sewing in the ends on the finished ribbing is easy but sometimes joining a new ball while knitting can be tricky. I have found the most invisible way to do this: knit two strands together (one from the old ball and one from the new) for about 4 or 5 stitches. This seems to work with most yarn weights except bulky.
Before blocking, I give both yarns a little tug to snug them in place and then trim the yarn ends to about an inch.
Inside the body of the sweater, the yarn ends are trimmed to about an inch.
Yarn joins from the right side of the sweater, barely noticeable!
This technique creates an almost invisible join and is very easy to do. Here’s the finished sweater before blocking.
I took a picture of my sweater before blocking to compare before and after…
Now for the bubble bath… I use a wool soak and some nice tepid water soaking for a couple of hours.
Soaking the Jay Sweater in a tub of water
After soaking, I gently squeeze out as much water as I can and then roll it in a couple of bath towels to remove as much water as possible. I don’t aggressively block my sweaters, instead, I just lay them out on a mat and let them dry.
Blocking the Jay Sweater on the blocking mat.
After it’s dry, I modelled it on my lovely mannequin for viewing.
My sweater’s final measurement was 45” for the bust, so it fits perfectly!
Tada! My finished Jay Sweater!
The color-stranded yoke on my version of the Jay Sweater
Notice how blocking the sweater really helps even out all the knit stitches and beautifully smooths out the stranded yoke.
Thanks to Rachel Brockman for her lovely Jay Sweater pattern! It is a lovely and easy pattern to knit. Universal Yarn Deluxe DK is smooth to work with and softens up and drapes beautifully after soaking. The LANTERN MOON Destiny Ebony needles made the knitting a pleasure. Will you give it a try? Let me know by leaving a comment!
This is part 5 of 5 in this series
Go back to part 4: Knitting the sleeves of the Jay Sweater | filling in the gaps
