Join, Being Careful Not To Twist

I've ignored the Endpaper Mitts practically all weekend. Ignored my current knitting in general, actually. Part of this was the choice for Friday Night Movies. We watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Much too much swash and buckle to attend to stranded colorwork, or even the clever decreases that go with mitered-squares. In addition February turned snarky, again. Sleet/snow/freezing rain and drafts snaking around the window frames. I think I may suffer from Seasonal Affective Knitting. So I hauled out the Island Embrace Blanket. It's mindless, and long enough to cover my legs when I appropriate the entire sofa.

To further muddle me, the yarn for Marco's Boy Variation of the Perfect sweater arrived.

With Clare's sweater finished, I've been wondering: What would it take to knit the Perfect Sweater in the round? I'm thinking about in the round, because John wants an Elizabeth Zimmermann seamless sweater - the saddle shoulder-hybrid variation from Knitting Without Tears. I'm also thinking that, if knitting the sleeves at the same time helps keep the knitting intriguing, maybe working on Marco's sweater at the same time as John's might double the fun? I've got the yarn for both. The trick is to adapt and boy-ify the Perfect Sweater.

I'm pretty sure I can handle the lower body and sleeves. Cast on for the front and back and join. I can see myself putting stitch markers in place to mark where the side seams would have been. Cast on for the sleeves and join. Add some ribbing. Knit the purl rows. Lose the shaping in the body, keep the rest of the increases. Remember to knit every row twice.

What I couldn't figure out is how to handle the set-in sleeves. This is where I become deeply grateful that I'm literate, and that I like to read knitting books. In The Opinionated Knitter, I came across this: "I will always feel gratitude to the knitter who once said to Elizabeth, in a challenging tone, 'Well! You can't knit a Set-In Sleeve in the round.'" Turns out, there's a variation of the Seamless Sweater with a set-in sleeve in Knitting Workshop (I have that DVD), and/or in "Spun Out #21", which you can still get from Schoolhouse Press (I've ordered it; I believe in back-up).

John's is the mostly green with blue, Marco's the mostly blue with green. Set them up with Clare's yarn and the message is clear.

Knit those suckers in time to get a family picture.