A New Sweater

I've been working on this sweater for a few weeks now, knitting almost every evening for a couple of hours.  The yarn is a fabulous blend of wool and silk.  At first, the randomly spaced little white nubs annoyed me, but now I like the way they look.

Against the advice of Roberta, good friend and owner of the local yarn shop, I followed the directions for a size XL.  It's huge.  I should have made it in size Large, as Roberta suggested.  The good news is that I like the way it looks with a cotton turtle neck underneath and I really don't even need a coat to go outside!

Now, I've started to knit my first pair of socks!

The Completed Sweater

I've worked on this sweater for months. I only knit in the evenings, and not every evening. That's why this sweater too so long to complete. I first blogged about it here. It was not a complete success. It's way too big. I tried to shrink it by washing it first in warm water, which is contrary to the instructions found on the yarn label. That didn't work. Then I washed it again and put it in the dryer on high. That didn't work. I got brave yesterday and washed in it hot water on the gentle cycle. That didn't work. The yarn is a cotton & wool blend. Why won't it shrink?

I decided to wear it today with a white turtleneck underneath. It's big and baggy. On the bright side, it's very comfy and it hides ... well, things that I might want to hide. Let's just leave it at that.

Color Match :: Three Items, One Color

I started knitting a new top-down sweater a few weeks ago. It's a v-neck pattern that I've done before. The yarn I chose is a beautiful periwinkle color. It's made by Cascade and it is 80% pima cotton, 20% wool. It's a delight to knit with and I think the sweater will be wearable -- much more so than the last one I made.

I've just reached the point where I will divide for the sleeves and continue to work on the body of the sweater. This next photo gives you an idea of how much more I have to knit. These balls of yarn are two deep in the bag!


Knitting this sweater made me think of the wild geraniums that grow along the road and throughout the woods near my house. Their color is similar. This is my kind of flower -- it grows all by itself, with no human intervention. The rain is the only water it gets, yet it blooms for several weeks. Note to self: dig a few of these up and plant them in my perennial garden.


The third item in this color journey is from my etsy shop. This necklace starts with a briolette of gray/blue quartz. Looking up the chain, you can see that I've included some small beads of mystic topaz, which are the exact color of the yarn in my sweater and the flowers that adorn my street.


It feels like a circle has been completed.

The Green Sweater Nears Completion

Remember this post? Well, the sweater has been progressing at a slow but steady pace. It's almost complete. All I have left is the placket.

This yarn has been super easy to work with. it is a blend of 50% Pima wool and 50% tencel. It feels silky and smooth, but it knits into a fabric without much firm structure. I'm hoping it "tightens up" a bit when I block it. It wouldn't hurt if it shrunk a bit too, as it is quite loose on me.

I thought I was having a serious problem with the second sleeve but I took the project into The Tangled Skein - a wonderful yarn shop in Eagle River, Alaska - and Roberta helped me see that there was no problem. I had been out of town for 10 days in between sleeve #1 and sleeve #2. That was the source of the imagined problem.

Knitted Sweater Project

So, I started to knit a sweater a few days ago. I've only made one sweater since I learned to knit 2 years ago, and it's actually wearable! Now I'm at it again.

It's a similar "top down" pattern as my first sweater and I do believe it's a good pattern for a beginning knitter. I'm still working on the shaping of the top, so it hasn't been joined in "the round" yet.
The yarn I selected is simply yummy. It's an emerald green color. The fiber content is 50% pima cotton and 50% tencel. It's silky soft and very easy to work with.

I estimate this project will take at least 2 months!