A pooling predicament

Yesterday I finished my socks (hooray) and picked up my Pavement Sweater for the first time in a few days. I inspected it, and realised that I was really close to the main section of the body being done. I always have to add extra length to the backs and sleeves of jumpers, so I decided to try the jumper on to assess how much more I had to knit. The jumper currently falls at about t-shirt length and the hem adds another 4 inches, so I was really not far off being done.

But one thing struck me as I glanced in the mirror: the yarn has pooled horribly. The jumper is knitted from Araucania Ranco, a hand-dyed 4-ply yarn, that probably falls into the category 'semi-solid' - a yarn with various shades of the same colour within it. The advice generally given when knitting with hand-dyed yarns is to alternate skeins while knitting to avoid pooling, and I did that throughout the jumper, so I really have been unlucky. I could almost live with the spiralled pooling round the torso, if it had happened for the whole jumper. For no apparent reason the pooling stops in the section nearest the bottom.

So, do I pull the pooled section out (probably the full 15 inches of body that I've knitted so far)? Or live with it? I really wanted to get this done in time to wear to Yarndale (next weekend), but I'm not sure I'm going to love it when it's finished. Answers on a postcard please.

Summer knitting sorted

You may remember that, last week, while reviewing my ideas for the Best Year Ever CKAL, I posted a photo of some cornflower blue yarn, thinking that it might become a Pavement Sweater. Well, on Wednesday, while at home with a poorly toddler and at a bit of a loose end (looking after an ill child is similar to looking after a new baby - they require a lot of attention, which takes all your mental energy), the idea got stuck in my head and I found myself knitting a swatch.

And when the gauge was a little out, I found myself knitting a second swatch.

Then winding the yarn. And before I knew it I had cast on a jumper.

The pattern is knitted top-down, and in many ways is similar to knitting a sock: the yarn (Araucania Ranco, long since discontinued) is fingering weight, and the vast majorly of the knitting is stocking stitch, with the odd more interesting section (mostly short rows) for variety. This is a perfect project for our and about (or it is until it gets too big to be portable).

The collar called for smaller needles, 3 mm vs. 4.5 mm, but as I had to go down to 3.25 mm needles to get gauge (normal for me!) I've plumped for 2.5 mm needles for that section. I'm hoping that works out, they felt very small while I was knitting it!

In any case, my summer knitting is go, go, go! The only problem is, the summer holidays don't start until the end of the next week, and there are other things I should be working on until then...