November = start lots of sweaters. . .

. . . and finish none of them.  I've failed miserably at the whole NaKniSweMo thing this month.  I ended up starting 2 different sweaters, digging 2 out of the WIP pile and finishing none of them.  I could have probably finished a couple of them if they were the only projects on which I was working but of course they weren't!  Sorry for no pictures of the various sweaters.  I've put my camera somewhere and haven't found it yet.  I give you pictures of yarn instead! 

First up is my Bohus-ish sweater that I started the last morning at SOAR.  The pattern's name is Bountiful Bohus.  I call this a Bohus-ish because it is knit using worsted weight yarn rather than fingering weight like the true Bohus sweaters.  If it were out of fingering, I probably never would finish it!  The body of the sweater is a dark brown with a reddish brown and white yoke. 

It is my first skeeked sweater so that should be fun/nerve wracking to do.  I should try to push through and finish it to the point where I cut down the middle so I can do that at knitting group.  Doesn't that seem like something you should do with morale support around you?  Right now, I've stalled out at the sleeves.  I'm doing 2 at a time so that isn't the problem.  The problem was a) I didn't like the sleeves in the pattern so I changed things and b) I needed a project during the holidays that I could just knit and not have to worry about doing increases.  So the Bohus-ish has been huddled in the corner for the last couple of weeks looking lonely. 

The next sweater I cast on was my own version of the Perfect Sweater.  Of course I had to change the pattern.  I had some DK weight yarn that has been marinating in the stash since I was in England in 2007.  I love the yarn but hadn't found the pattern for it. 

Well, I cast on for this sweater after doing a little bit of conversion for my yarn difference.  When I say conversion, I mean squinting at the pattern then my swatch and saying, "Eh, I'll just make a size or two larger."  As you can tell, it is a very scientific approach.  And it definitely won't ever come back to bite my in the butt.  Nope.  Never.  Anyway, I'm knitting the front and the back of the v-neck sweater at the same time.  Or will be knitting them together until the decreases for the front start.  I've done the decreasing for the waist and now need to start the increasing for the bust.  That means, however, that you have to pay attention.  That's a little hard to do with the bustle of the holidays and going out with friends to the bar.  So once again, I need another project that is simple. 

The third sweater graced by my knitter's ADD is the Soap Bubble Wrap(rav link) which has been lurking in my WIP basket/corner of shame for a while now.  I LOVED the sweater instantly when it was released by Knitting Daily.  I love it so much that I rushed over to KnitPicks and ordered some Cotlin in a very nice green color.  I got stalled, however, once the patterning began.  Now, those of you who have looked at the pattern will notice that starts on the 3rd row.  Yeah, that's right.  I got 3 rows into a sweater and stopped.  So I picked the project up again and took a look at why I stopped.  For some reason, I couldn't figure out the pattern and kept ending up with extra stitches and then fewer stitches.  What makes it even worse is that I made a wedding shawl for a friend in this pattern so I know how to do it.  Let's just say that the wrap is still in time out. 

The fourth and final sweater is one on which I am actually making progress.  (Of course, now that I've said that, I'll stall out!)  I started the Featherweight Cardigan(rav link) a while ago, too, and can't remember why I stopped working on it for the life of me.  It is a cardigan knit out of laceweight yarn (mmmm, malabrigo) from the top down using raglan increases.  I had finished the increases and started on the sleeves.  The pattern has you finish the body first but I wanted everything to be finished when I was done.  Does that make sense?  Well, I seem to have stopped because I was in the middle of the sleeve decreases for the second sleeve.  Again, I didn't want to keep track of rows or count so I put it down then.  Thank goodness I can read my knitting fairly well.  Anyway, I didn't want to mess with the decreases so I put the sleeve on a stitch holder and started on the body again. 

Can I just tell you how much I love this sweater?  The yarn is fabulously soft and I love the emerald green color.  It's such a nice and light sweater.  Since last Wednesday, I've knit 10 inches on the body.  The pattern calls for a 10 inch body but I didn't really want a cropped sweater.  I have plenty of yarn so I'm going to keep going.  Because the body is stockinette, I don't have to worry about paying attention to it at all in company.  And, because it is knit flat and not in the round, I've had a chance to practice my knitting backward a whole lot.  I'm to the point that I'm only a tiny bit slower knitting backwards than knitting normally.  Keep your fingers crossed that I don't stall out on this one!

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.