Thursday, November 06, 2008

NaKniSweMo

You know NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)? Yeah, I'm not doing that. It amazes me that people can have an entire novel inside them. I definitely don't. No, I have a sweater inside me. Yes, that's right, it's also NaKniSweMo (National Knit a Sweater Month)! I'm planning on knitting (even though I should be finishing sweaters instead of starting more) a top-down raglan for the barn. I have a barn sweater already but I think this winter will call for something warmer than a store-bought cotton sweater.

My NaKniSweMo sweater is based off of the. . . OK, ignore that. I started on a raglan sweater pattern where you do the measurements, gague swatch and the math to get a customized sweater. I even had someone else check that my math was right (it wasn't). Once everything was correct, I merrily started my sweater. I knit on it a little the night before the election and all through waiting in line (one hour). Of course, I should have taken into account that I apparently can't measure while ill. I came down with a head cold on Monday night and had to take Tuesday off of work. Standing in line for an hour to vote wasn't any kind of picnic and, once we got home, I took a nap (later in the evening I went to bed at 7:30 and got up at 7:15 the next morning). Then I knit while snuggled in a blanket, surrounded by mugs of tea and tissues. I knit a lot. 7 inches worth (it was a stockinette pattern from the top down). I didn't at any point think, however, "Hey, that neck looks a little big." On Wednesday, I put it on a piece of waste yarn and tried it on because things just didn't look right. Let's just say, 3 of me could have fit in that neck. The math was correct. The measurements were not.


So I've started on another pattern. Rather than me trying to do more math fun (though I am going to be modifying this pattern, too. This should be interesting), I'm going to knit a pattern that lots of people have already made. I'm going to use the same yarn (Eco wool in a very nice dark brown) but go up one size (to US 10s) and knit a Cobblestone Pullover. A men's pattern you say? I'm going to modify it somewhat and can only hope I have recovered enough to make sense of every thing. We shall see. I frogged the raglan this morning, wound the yarn back up and cast on for the sweater this afternoon.


I'm headed to Pittsburgh this weekend to visit a friend and see a relative. I'll be taking some of the sheep fleece to show my relative how the process has been going. (Have I told you that I started spinning some of the fiber up? Well, I have though I haven't plied anything yet.) She was there when the fleece was handed over and saw it in its raw state. It should be a really fun time and a nice, short break from everything.

1 comment:

Jean said...

Your sweater account had me chuckling, I've done the same thing on a mindless knit (I am ashamed to admint a garter knit scarf!). I hadn't really paid attention, cast on and knitted about 3/4 of it when I realized it was way too wide for a man's scarf, frogged it and the results came out fine.