16 days, a knitter, the birth of a sweater!

She bathes in the glow of the light bulb.





I finished, it's true. My sweet sweater is drying as we speak. Preliminary modelling sessions have deemed her a success, with reservations. The final ruling has been held for the post-block runway show.

Initial Parting shots:

1 - Fabulous yarn (details to follow) well suited for this project. Knit on size 8 needles with a pre-blocking gauge of 21 sts / 4 in and 25.2 rows / 4 in. I used ~1100 yards (this is a VERY rough estimate.)

The yarn is a single ply yarn from Habu Textiles in NYC. I believe it is called "a-80 wool", is listed here on Habu's website. It was ~$26 for 17 oz or approximately 1752 yards. Otherwise known as dirt cheap. I have Elisa to thank for this yarn. She and Kellee tackled the wall o' yarn at Habu during our trip to NYC. I just glazed over and marvelled at the silk cocoons. Fortunately they found this fabulous deal.

A second note on this yarn: it is listed as a fingering weight. At first glance I might agree however, the swatch in the store was not knit on anything smaller than US6 needles. I swatched on US7's and US8's (a normal person's US8 and US9)- both produced a lovely fabric with beautiful drape. Blocking created a denser fabric. Honestly, I cannot imagine knitting this on the recommended US1-3 needles.

2 - I need to continue to knit for myself AND knit items that fit. This is the first sweater that I have knit for myself. I love it. Not to mention the realization/confirmation that negative ease is the way to go. I will continue to experiment with this as I choose more sweaters to tackle.

3 - When modifying a pattern to fit my gauge and my body Excel is way more fun than the 80 million scraps of paper I normally use. The infamous spreadsheet was easy to do and created a nice diversion. Knowing how many stitches I had to go was motivating rather than crippling. I loved tweaking it and plan to polish it up a bit for future use.

4 - I need challenge and motivation - the Knitting Olympics fit the bill.

5 - I cannot blog and knit and work successfully. Unfortunately or Fortunately the blog is the first to go.

6 - Team Boston is filled with warm, friendly, and encouraging people. During our closing ceremony fashion show yesterday a knitter (Lucia) was tackling her first sweater. A baby sweater that she choose to conquer her fear of the sweater and the dreaded seaming that is inevitably a part of many sweater patterns. Upon voicing her phobia the room echoed with people encouraging her and offering lessons right then and there to help her along. Truly a fabulous team.

The sweater will be photographed after it has dried.

We're busy here gearing up for a fun weekend in Vermont as I approach the official anniversary of my birth and the close of my 3rd decade on this Earth. T-minus 3 whole days to my 30th birthday.

Someone pass the tequila.