Monday, January 7, 2013

4 skeins in 5 days

Yes. It's true. I have been knitting up a storm.
After finishing Vyvyan's dino sweater (What? I didn't post a finished object picture? Could it be because I didn't actually technically quite sew on the dinosaur yet and it's still sitting on the bathroom counter "blocking"?) I cast on for a project I've been wanting to make for more than a year: Elizabeth Zimmerman's Seamless Yoke Sweater. Vyvyan's adorable dino sweater was all just a ruse: It was really a swatch.

I knit 2 skeins (Patons Classic, of course) into the body, and then started a new ball for the first sleeve. The leftovers from that ball went straight back into the body, adding a few short rows and bringing the length to 19". I like long sweaters, personally. In the Fit to Flatter class I took I learned that I should really cut the sweater length down for a better look, but I just can't do it. I just imagine my sweater lifting up with the breeze and a cold shiver running directly up my spine. And so, I always knit long sweaters. They take longer and they look stupid half the time, but better to have a sweater that I'll actually WEAR.

Today I started a new ball (the fourth) for the second sleeve, and then had a very tough time picking through all my Patons Classic Worsted for the fair isle bit. I actually have a total of 13 colors to choose from, mostly full skeins floating around in my stash. I ended up going for semi-monochromatic: oatmeal as the main color of course, black, dark grey, light grey, and brown. That way I can throw it over pretty much anything and not worry about clashing colors.

I've only got about four inches left on the second sleeve before I can join all the pieces together and knit the yoke. I love seamless sweaters. I truly do. I watched this lovely series on finishing sweaters today, by the author of Sweater 101. It was mostly things I'd already learned though there were some nice new ideas that I tucked away for later use, but in the end I kept starting at her thinking things like, "Wait... decrease in purl? Why would you even do that?" and "Yeah I guess you could go through all that trouble, OR YOU COULD KNIT IT IN THE ROUND!" And at the end when she says, "Only two little seams to do before you can weave in the ends, knit the neckband, and then it's done!" I'm like, ".... little seams?!" So it's quite obvious where my feelings lie on sweaters with seams. Let's face it, I live in California. I rarely wear my sweaters and don't much care how they fit...I just like to knit.

Alright I'll go now, because I'm starting to get into the part where I divulge that knitting is actually only a ploy to keep me from going insane and maybe that's a secret. Kinda.

I didn't really plan this post and so the only picture I have is of the sweater eating me.


Sorry.

1 comment:

Thank you for commenting ♥