I'm making a sweater
This is the first time I have posted in #NeedleWorkMonday and, yeah, I know I'm early.
With our Covid lockdown, I have been looking for things to do at home and after knitting myself a few dishcloths, it wetted my appetite for more. I started knitting in my early teens but it's something I don't do often. Anyway, a new yarn company called Darn Yarn opened up in Eastern Canada and the Facebook ad for this beautiful wool caught my eye and I was smitten! I purchased 3 hanks of Sugarbush Motley in Speckled Scarlet before I even had a pattern in mind. And, by the way, my photos do not do it justice.
Maybe this one shows off the colour better.
Now I have to laugh. Above, is a screen shot of my wool travelling from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia to my home. I have been getting a kick out of watching things I order, get here. Am I living vicariously through its travel?
The doorbell rang, and there it was.
Gorgeous. It goes from scarlet to taupe brown to grey and back to scarlet. I decided to knit a swatch with it. That became two swatches as I switched needles to get the recommended gauge. And even though it had been lying on the couch beside me, and I had barely disturbed it, the gossamer light alpaca and merino wool turned into a tangled mess. I have never seen anything like it! I kept reminding myself how beautiful it was. I kept reminding myself how beautiful it was as I watched a movie (or three) and worked into daybreak trying to unravel it, stubbornly refusing to go to bed until it was done! The first ball took me 9 hours. This was completely my fault.
I hung the second hank from the back of this chair. This time the job went faster but when I was looking down, the wool would slip off the top and here I am near the end unravelling the last bit of mess. With another person's help, winding it into a ball might be a 15 minute job.
I thought I was getting smarter when I hung the third hank on the headphone holders of my microphone stand!
Meanwhile, I had been looking for a pattern and I discovered Amy Herzog's website and custom patterns, where you can choose a pattern, input your knitting gauge and body measurements, and purchase a pattern custom made for you and your wool. I bought and downloaded Pilot House Pullover, a fitted, low necked, 3/4 sleeve pullover. As this wool is textured and variegated, I deciding not to put a fancy design on the sweater front that wouldn't be seen easily.
And here is where I am, so far, almost at the shoulders on the back. You can only slightly make out the two lines of decreasing for the waist shaping. There was just one potential problem. While I had enough wool for the sweater, I hadn't considered trying to match a stripe pattern. I was kicking myself for not buying the fourth hank when I had the chance, but I contacted this wonderfully helpful yarn store and they still had it in the same dye lot, and I got to watch it travel here.
So... I'm thinking of turning a chair upside down and draping the hank over two chair legs this time...
Images
Photos from the iPad of @kansuze in Kanata (Ottawa), Canada.
Enjoy!
@kansuze
Hi @kansuze! Welcome to the NeedleWorkMonday Community!
That is beautiful yarn and those colors! 😍
I had purchased a beautiful yarn like that before and looked up the best way (or at least I thought it was the best) to wind it into a ball. Mine ended up becoming a tangled mess too and I got so frustrated I ended up throwing half of it away. The other half I was able to save but I feel like it’s being stretched out in the tight ball I made. 🤦🏽♀️
Your sweater is already looking fab! I look forward to you sharing the finished product :)
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Thank you ~
Thank you @crosheille for the info and welcome!
You're welcome ;)
It looks beautiful! Good luck with the winding. And matching those stripes, lol
I touched knitting needles for the first time in about 30 years during the very early part of lockdown as I tried teaching my neighbour's child to knit because she was bored. Can't say I felt any enthusiasm for knitting myself anything although looking at your work, I'm starting to reconsider
It may have been almost 30 years for me but this gorgeous wool hooked me, and I'm intrigued by the custom pattern.
I don't know much about knitting. The closest I've gotten to it is doing cross stitch. And although the final product looked passable, the back was a total maze of confusion and chaos that I just gave up. But your writing style makes this so very interesting that I just wanted to read on and on. Great post and I do hope you share the final work in another post.
I will do that. Thank you for dropping by!
I can't knit :-)
You can always learn. :-)