So I cast on Saturday, October 15th--
and here were are now, 2 days latter, with the better part of 2
skeins knit up!
This translates into 3.5 inches in
front, and through the miracle of short rows, a full inch more in
back (4.5 inches). There are 2 small button holes, too. I don't
think I will continue the button holes past the yoke—but there will be a third, and maybe a fourth one as well.
The sweater has a scoop neck—because
I really don't like things snug about my neck—I like scoop or V
necks best, and crew neck are OK—I can tolerate mock turtle necks
but I really dislike a real turtle neck. Since is it not a high
neck, I think 1 inch of extra length in the back is enough.
The yarn is Araucania
Atacama, is 100% alpaca –so this will be a warm sweater—warm
enough that a scoop neck, will still be plenty warm enough to ward
off any chill. There was, some years ago, a kerfuffle with Knitting
Fever Inc, (I forget most of the details except not their fault) but
a result was several yarn stores stopped dealing with KFI—and one
store, cleared it shelves (at a steep discount) of all of the yarns
KFI distributed. I bought this yarn back then.
Generally
speaking, I am not a big fan of pink—I have a rosy tone to my skin,
and I don't think pink is that flattering a color for me, most often. But I do
like this mottled pink. I had sorted the skeins, and I started with
the lightest of the skeins-with more pale pink and less deep rose.
As the sweater progresses, the skeins will get a bit darker (rosier)
but even the darkest skein still has a lot of the pale pink.
I
started with a single skein, but about half way through, I started to
alternate 2 skeins—I have just enough for 2 more rows of skein one,
and I am about half way through skein 2. I will continue to use 2
skeins at a time—just to keep things mixed up (and make each change
a little less obvious.
I
intend for the garter portion of the yoke to be about 7 inches
(un-stretched) The weight of the sweater will tend to pull the garter
stitch open. So 7 inches will over time, will grow to 9 inches.. (if
not more). Alpaca is pretty well known for stretching—it just
doesn't have the bounce of wool. I don't want the yoke to be too
big.
So
the design is a variation of the Lady's February sweater—but it
deals with all the things I dislike about the original design—Upper
body shaping (so it doesn't tend to ride to the front), A slightly
stretchy cast on edge (so the cast on doesn't totally stretch out as
it carries the full weight of the sweater), a rounded, not a square
yoke (so it doesn't look too boxy) and finally a finer, lighter fiber
to make it look more tailored.
There
will be some more changes at the underarm, (to reduce some of the
extra bulk). I love the February sweater for a baby—I think EZ was
totally spot on with her design. I just don't think the design
scales up to adult (and my case a extra large adult) size with out
some changes.
