Churning out Boring Sweaters

I guess it's the nature of working on a major project like a thesis. My brain is so taken up with work stuff that I don't have any intelligence left for things like knitting. Take the Cozy V-Neck Pullover from Fitted Knits. This is probably the simplest sweater I have ever knit. In fact, I wish it had been my first sweater. There is literally no shaping anywhere except for the neckline. The sleeves get their shape from ribbing that starts on the upper arm. This means that there are only a handful of things one can screw up. The first is the aforementioned neckline shaping. The second is grabbing the correct size needle from the collection and creating knit and purl stitches. So, what did I screw up? That's right - the neckline shaping and the needle size. On the day I began knitting the sweater, I had to rip out about two inches of progress because I hadn't done the neckline increases correctly. This is because I hadn't read the pattern closely enough. Hmmm. Secondly, on that very same day, I grabbed a size 10 needle thinking it was a 10 1/2 needle. The day I started this project was clearly an unusually stressful day. When my gauge swatch turned out too small, I figured it would all work out. Oddly enough, it did. The sweater turned out to be the size I chose to make, although it fits a bit more snugly than I'd intended. All in all, though, I think this project is a success, despite my errors. Here it is, blocking:



It should be dry in a day or two. It's really soft and snuggly so I'm looking forward to wearing it.

Back in the Saddle

It's been a while since my last post. In the last episode, I believe I was teetering on the edge of what was looking like a bad cold. Well, I have to say that it certainly was a bad one. The cold itself wasn't any big deal, but the bronchitis that came after kicked my butt pretty good. The worst part of it was the fact that it has been so difficult to sleep because I've felt like I had an elephant sitting on my chest. I'm finally coming out of it though, although I'm still sleeping a lot.

There has been knitting, though. I finished Julian, my self-designed sweater and it's been waiting to be blocked for over a week. We had a streak of fairly warm days, so I wasn't motivated to get it done. I heard that we're in for some chilly weather, though, so I washed and blocked it today. It is now drying and will hopefully be done in time to keep me toasty.



It has turned out to be one of those big and cozy sweaters, but it isn't really suitable to be worn to work or anything.

I've been meaning to talk about the yarn I used for this sweater, Rowanspun Aran. Lets just say I can see why Rowan discontinued this yarn. It's a very pretty yarn, definitely, but working with it is a challenge. It's a felted yarn, and I think that process must weaken the yarn. Also, it was spun with really thin spots throughout each hank. So between these two things, the yarn is pretty easy to snap. I just hope that since it's all knitted up, it will have enough strength. It also produced a fairly stiff fabric which I hope will become more fluid as it gets washed. I've had this difficulty with tweed yarns in the past. Finally, it bled like crazy in its bath, stained the towel I used to squeeze the water out and it stained the sweater I was wearing while I carried it folded over my arm while it was damp. Overall, not impressed.

I have moved on to my next project - the Cozy V-neck Pullover from Fitted Knits. I'm using Cascade Ecological Wool. This yarn is the complete opposite of Rowanspun. It's strong, soft and fluid. I'm knitting a bulky sweater but it has both the weight and drape of a worsted weight sweater. I'm in love. The color is a beautiful Crayola Burnt Siena.



I also gave a knitted baby sweater to my advisor whose wife had a baby in November. I don't think I ever showed a photo of the completed sweater on the blog, but now I can't find the one I took. I'll look around for it. Anyway, the recipients were very grateful for the gift and made me a thank you note that is just precious:



Yup, that's the baby wearing the sweater. Doesn't that just warm a knitter's heart? I think that's the best reception my knitting has ever had.