Just a month ago, my knitting heart had been splintered to pieces by this project. It was the latest addition to my “commendable list of goof-ups” and here I had been dreaming about adding items to that tiny ” list of considerable achievements”.
Through the house painting exercise, while shifting furniture and cleaning up spattered paint, there was this quiet dialogue in the back of my head..
“Do I rip that sweater?….Oh yes! I cannot wear a pure wool tent next winter!”
” How much does one rip?…down to the base and start again.. NO, that’s too traumatic a thought. lets rip the extra lengths and keep the extra breadth. I can always use with some space for expansion.”
“Do I knit the stripes back?….BORING!! mind-crashingly boring. Lets add some zing! lets make a fair-isle yoke!”
A few hours of trawling Ravelry, peering at Knitty.com, reading a bit of brooklyn tweed advice, I found what I was looking for. A yoked sweater with just two colors. The green and the pink yarn do not give the best of contrast, but I went ahead anyway.
And here’s the finished sweater!!
It fits me perfectly, its soft and warm and its just what I wanted.
I have learnt some big lessons this time!
- Gauge is very important…very, very important! luckily, this time I had lots of knitted bits to measure the gauge and match it with the pattern.
- While doing fair-isle knitting, one yarn is held on the right hand and the other yarn stays on the left hand. The yarn on the left hand is the dominant color in the final product.
The pink yarn was on the left hand in the beginning, and then the green moved to the left hand, and left the pink to fade into the pattern…sorry, couldn’t resist that pun! I have to remember to keep the contrast color on the left hand, ALWAYS!!
- And finally, that big lesson–Fair isle needs circular needles. It keeps the knitting on the right side, it keeps yarn balls in their place, and it keeps your sanity intact…
Intact enough to start planning for Another Fair-Isle sweater!!
Man, knitting up a good sweater is so, so addictive…
Time to sign off. Time to open that Pandora’s cupboard of yarn and dream up another project!!
Can’t resist posting this last picture of my dream sweater, my dear readers!!