The swirl sweater.
First, I will just say this: If you decide to make any of these sweaters, I HEARTILY recommend skipping the cuff section and just picking up and knitting cuffs afterwards.
The reason it took me so long to get to this point is that I was doing intarsia with three balls of yarn (cuff 1, middle of sweater, cuff 2, and back again), and I started this part in mid-october. I stopped knitting this part after 4 rows (of about 50) made me so angry I couldn't fathom doing it ever again. I picked it back up over the Christmas holiday break and sat down determinidely to finish it. It didn't make me any less angry this time, but (stubborn as I am) I wasn't going to be defeated.
What I have been temporarily defeated by is a lack of yarn.
The pattern called for 806 yards. I purchased 800 b/c the yarn came in 400 yard skeins and it never fails that I use 100-200 less yarn than a pattern calls for. I don't know why, but it's pretty average, I NEVER underpurchase, but 6 yards short didn't seem like underpurchasing.
See where my needle is? One side is finished, the other side is soooooo close.
Honestly I don't think 6 yards would have finished this up, but 400 certainly would have.
Of course, this isn't just any yarn you can buy off the street (or from an LYS), this is Lisa Souza yarn, yarn that was dyed just for me.
I can hear you groaning all the way over hear. I KNOW!
The good news is that Lisa Souza is fantastically awesome and I sent a yard or two back to her and she is going to try to match the color for me. The OTHER good news is that this is TOTALLY on the bottom of the sleeve and if it's off a little bit it shouldn't be noticable.
Here's the big picture:
Can you see all those ends? (Oy Vey!) I am not sure when this is going to get seamed up, but I am not looking forward to the weaving.
Also, can you believe this is actually going to be a sweater that I will wear out in public? It's a little hard to believe looking at it right now, but it looks just like the diagram in the book, so I guess I'm doing it right.
I will say this: the next one of these I do, because seriously, all of that aside, it was totally fun to knit, I am using cascade 220 and I am TOTALLY spit splicing the ends in between ridges so I don't have to seam in the ends. Totally.
great to see the Swirl in progress. sorry about the yarn shortage-I tend to wa-a-ay over-buy b/c I've been bitten by the same problem. I want to make a Swirl, but have too many things on the needles now, and too many in the queue ahead of it. I'll live through yours!
Posted by: pattie | January 14, 2012 at 10:46 AM