A Provisional Cast On for the Perfect Fit

A few weeks ago, I started knitting the Paul Klee Sweater by Midori Hirose. But, before I cast on I knew I needed to do a few things first. 

Like, swatch. (Obviously.) 

But aside from that, I needed to take a good, hard look at the sweater's construction to see if there were any changes I'd like to make right away, and a few things did catch my eye. 

Mainly, it has a long neckband (maybe 3 or 4 inches?) that kind of sticks up around the neck, like a mock turtleneck. It looks absolutely beautiful, but is not something that I think I could wear without feeling like I'm being strangled. 

With that in mind, I took a look at the construction and how the directions were written. This is a top down, circular yoked sweater, and the designer has you cast on right at the top edge of the neckline, work the collar, work the short rows and then start the colourwork. 

Because I knew that I most likely want to change the neckband to better suit me, that order of operations was not going to work. 

So, I changed it. 

Instead of following the written instructions, I checked the pattern directions to see how many stitches my size has at the very start of the colourwork yoke. Then, I used a provisional cast on to cast on that amount of stitches and start knitting the yoke first thing. 

Now, when I'm ready, I can pick up those stitches from my provisional cast on, and work the neckband from the bottom up instead. I can do the short rows, adjusting them if I need to, and knit the ribbing as long or short as I want. Or, maybe change it to a folded hem or use an icord bind off instead. 

The great thing is, now I don't have to worry about doing any sweater surgery to fix the neckband if I don't like it. 

Want to hear me talk more about the modifications I’m going to be making to this sweater? I’ve posted a new video on YouTube talking all about it!