Finished Collar

Here's the finished collar, with the much nicer back neck. And then the back neck picked up 'seam' which isn't too awful looking, and is mostly covered up by the collar. If you look closely you can see the center five stitches which were left live and knitted when the rest of the collar stitches were picked up.

Now that the shoulders are sewn and the collar is knitted, it is time to pick up and knit the shoulder triangles. 71 stitches, as usual, with the decreases in the center and at both edges.

New Neckline

Here is my idea for the new and improved neckline. In the photo on the left,  the top piece is the back and at the bottom-center is the triangle which makes up the back neck piece. It is the same as the initial triangle at the bottom of the back.
Then I have the two fronts pinned up shoulder point to shoulder point. Then the inside knitting there is the beginning of the neckline which will continue onwards to become the collar. I have picked up 35 stitches on each side of the fronts and decreased as follows:
row 1 cast on 35
row 2 k
row 3 (change yarn color) sl 1, 2tog, knit to three stitches from the end, k2tog, k1.
row 4 k.
Decrease on the front side until 21 stitches remain. End with an uneven ridge. (Place sts. on stitch holder or waste yarn)
What I mean by that is that you don't come back to finish the ridge with a k row. So you will  have one yarn at each end of this piece.  This is counter intuitive, but necessary, as we will be soon changing direction of the right side to the wrong side so that the collar will fold over and show the right side.
Are you following me?

Next you will have to sew the edges together where the diamonds meet and the few ridges of the new neckline meet the back triangle. This may be fiddly, but I believe it will make a big difference in the comfort and fit of the final jacket.



You can see the part that needs sewing here, from the diamond points to the stitch holders.
Then...
And this is the really counter intuitive part, slide the stitches from the left front onto your needle and begin to knit by picking up the stitches from the back neck. Usually we pick up from the front side, but in this case we are picking up from inside the back neck so that the resulting collar will be right side facing out. I am not counting the amount of back neck stitches until I do this, but will do what looks good. The I will arrive at the right front stitches and will knit with whatever color I am currently working with. This will be the fold line so it will be unnoticeable in the final product. From this point the collar will be knit until 15 ridges or 30 rows are finished, bind off loosely.
Since I haven't actually done this, there might be an update, but I wanted to let you in on the process, as these before pictures make it semi-clear, I hope!

You will note that the last five stitches on the back neck are live and on waste yarn. Knit those as you come to them.

 

What about these colors?

Well, I spoke too soon. Turns out that I DO HAVE ENOUGH. Actually three choices of enough. The two variegated (not the solid) would be more subtle, not as stripey, but if you wanted the real stripey look then the solid with one or the other would work. You decide.

At it again

Dave had a great night, thanks to me waking him up on time for all his pills. I had drunk coffee late in the day and therefore I had a lot of time to think during the night and decided that I wanted the four poster posts removed from my bed. They are in the way of the tv, and whomever sits on my chair and talks to me when I am in bed. Or some such reason. The truth is I want a padded/upholstered headboard and to be able to just hang a bedspread off the end of the bed without negotiating the posts which are always in the way. So off they came in minutes! Then Dave filed away most of the unevenness, and I painted the raw wood. It's not all that smooth, but who cares? It will be covered with fabric in the near future.
That's a plastic tablecloth on the bed, in case sawdust should fly. He used a miter saw, not an electric one, so it was pretty neat. I will still wash my sheets from this project.

In the living room I decided that the big chest should go under the stairs, since it has that white glass on top, and I can easily wipe away the dog hair etc. that falls down from the stairs above. Today it was grass clippings, but it is often mud clods. The yellow desk has too many nooks and crannies that collect stuff, and I had to get it outta there.
When we moved it to the other side of the room we were happily surprised that it fit perfectly under the quilt. Exactly the same size. And then we found that vase was the same yellow too, so we are delightedly smug.


We also moved everything else in the room, once we saw how much dog hair was escaping our notice. Ugh. The dining table is under the center light fixture which does not have a fan, so we are more comfy, not being blown on, and our food stays hot longer. As if we ever have a hot meal.
Now all has been swept clean, and sometime this week Dave will wash and shine the floor.

The couch or couchsicle got moved to the front wall where birdie watching is a feature. We call it a couchsicle because Chumley continues to lick the cover whenever he sits there. The nice thing for him is that he can pick up where he left off the last time he was perched there.
How many dogs have a coordinating bone to match their furniture?



At the far end we had nothing, so Dave decided we needed a library table and used the coffee table and the two art chairs, spreading out the magazines like it was actually in a library. What a guy.
We were all done by 8:15.