Friday, October 17, 2008

Finished (Again)















The Saddle shoulder sweater is truly finished now. I'm quite glad that I took the time to re-work the bottom of the body. It fits better than I had hoped it would.

The irony of the whole situation was that my original plan was to make this sweater from Barbara Walker's top down pattern. I changed my mind at the last minute. I think the knitting gods were having a bit of fun with me.

For all of you who gasped and got dizzy when you saw that I cut the sweater I want you to know how not horrifying it was. I only snipped 1 stitch and then carefully unraveled it around. Knitting doesn't naturally unravel this way. So, it actually took a bit of work, and as long as each unraveled stitch is secured on a needle as it is freed, there was no danger of the whole sweater coming apart. I never dropped a single stitch in this process, and now I have a sweater that fits, as opposed to one that needed to find a fitee.

The weather in New York is supposed to be quite cool tomorrow. I think this sweater will make it's public debut at Rhinebeck. In case it is very cool (and I'm thinking the night time, out door ravelry party may be) I have packed some complimentary accessories, including a grey scarf knit for me by Joansie (since I received that in April this will also be the scarf's public debut).

This week has been an extremely busy one, and for several days now I have barely had time to knit a stitch. However, during class, and my class reading I have been swatching for my next sweater with the Classic Elite Desert that I picked up at the Hub Mills Store recently.

This sweater will be a simple rolled edge raglan. Once again, I will be using the EPS. The swatch turned out to be the perfect size for a sleeve, so I went with that (ignoring recent advice to wash my swatches. I know I should!) The thick & thin yarn makes for a very bumpy swatch. If you look at it closely, it looks like the fabric has hives. I'm sure this will be tamed a bit with washing and blocking. I would know this for sure if I followed the advice of more experienced knitters.

I have to say that this is the first time I have used a Classic Elite yarn that I have not immediately fallen in love. Since it is a loosely spun, un-plied yarn it is easy to split a stitch -especially when you are reading instead of watching what you are doing. I do, however, love the way the yarn is striping, and the colour combination is one I would have chosen if I had dyed the yarn myself. So, over all, I am still quite pleased.













I hope everyone has a great weekend! I know I plan to. I'll see about getting some shots of the sweater in action at Rhinebeck to post on Monday.

5 comments:

Joansie said...

Kudos to you for frogging and making the sweater fit you and have a sense of satisfaction. After all that knitting time, it’s great that it is just the way you want it to be.

Have fun at Rhinebeck. I can’t wait to hear all about it. Make lots and lots of yarn purchases and of course, roving.

Love the colorway on your new Elite yarn.

Enjoy the scarf!

LDSVenus said...

The sweater turned out really nice. I'm not sure I would have wanted to take on adding to it like you did, I say kudos to you also!!!

I like the color the new sweater is coming out. I like the way the colors are kinda striping but not with definition. Will look forward to a picture of the finished sweater for this yarn as well. :)

Maureen said...

Sorry I'll miss you this year at Rhinebeck. I hope to make it next year. Hope you are having a lovely time!! Can't wait to see pictures.

Anonymous said...

It looks even better in person and fits you beautifully.

And the weather was perfect sweater weather for Rhinebeck too!

Crystal said...

It looks so nice. I bet it is nice and cozy. I like the colors of the socks too.