It’s so speedy! I did this much last night. Today, I added another ball to the torso, then frogged back up to the handspun when I tried it on and decided I wanted a trimmer fit. The pattern’s for a nice baggy sweater, but as much as big baggy sweaters appeal to me, I’m 5’2″ with big hips and little boobs, so I had to reconsider. So I went back and cast on 3st for each pit instead of the 10st that would have been right for the looser fit.
It should still be roomy, just not boyfriend-sweater roomy.
But it’s such a fast knit that I’m almost back to pre-frogging progress–only I’m actually ahead because the shorter rounds bought me some extra length. I’ll try it on again in a mo, and we’ll see.
I can’t seem to get true color on reds, annoyingly. The first picture is indoor with flash, the second one is no flash with natural light from the window. The truth is somewhere in between.
The handspun is my two own 2-ply, spun from Brown Sheep mill ends I dyed with the dyebath dregs from when I was dying all that grease wool for roving. There’s a pretty wide range of dye saturation, and I just spun it with the grab-bag method and my limited skills, but it plied into a sort of nice yarn. It hangs like it’s well balanced, but it feels a little overspun.
The main color is a bland tan TwoTwo I got in a Webs grab bag, kettle-dyed twice (not because I’m so precise, but because I threw a little black into the pot without stirring, and got some blue undertones I didn’t want) with russet, crimson, aztec gold and brown acid dye.
At the end of each ball, I’ve got a little blank spot from where the skeins were tied. I decided to leave them in, because I like the irregularity. Here and there, there’s a light stitch amid all the beet juice.
From the way I’m going, I’m guessing I’ll use about 9 balls of the dyed TwoTwo.
I’m so taken with the pattern that I’m already planning my next one:
The handspun is stoneleafmoon I bought in 2005, and the main color is a mere 4 balls of a bulky merino/nylon blend I’ve been avoiding because the color looks shit on me. However! With this pattern, there will be a nice barrier of mostly-black handspun cutting the sallowing effects of the green. Maybe I’ll make the collar black, or just one round of green to minimize the impact. Or I could just skip the collar…
Since I have so little main color, I’m going to start with a wider neckline and make it snugger all over, probably with half-sleeves and cropped, to be worn over a white fitted shirt.
I’m also making my Straitjacket Sweater (from Naughty Needles) with a double strand of Shulana Morbido from my stash. I got a question about the sleeves bindoff, so I figured I’d knit one up and put up more detailed photos than the book could hold.
Busy! Bee!
And I’m totally procrasti-knitting about the burlesque show, but I hereby vow to knock out at least 1 garment toward it tomorrow.