WIP Wednesday: 9th October 2019: Turns out I knitted a *really large* gauge swatch!

Before Edinburgh Yarn Festival, I shared the yoke for my Starfall sweater. Yes, I had planned to have a jumper knitted in time to wear to the festival, but a poor combination of yarn and pattern in the form of Bright Above Me, and therefore a late start on my EYF jumper meant that in the end I wasn't in any hurry as I knew I'd never have it finished in time.

I'd done some heavy modification of the pattern: I started with the yoke, casting on provisionally as I wanted to knit the coursework as-written, but knit the sleeves and body top-down to make it easier to adjust the lengths as I went. I'd done a bit of guesswork on which needles to use for the sweater: I had a gauge swatch from knitting Bright Above Me, but knew I needed the gauge to be a bit tighter, so I dropped a needle size and cast on the size I thought would fit.

I really enjoyed knitting the yoke. The colour work was engaging, with some rows using three colours, and I loved watching the pattern emerge. Once I'd completed the colourwork section, I picked up the stitches from the provisional cast-on, and knitted the yoke as far as the sleeve separation. I decided to make a modification to the sleeve placement, putting the sleeves further back to accommodate my bust (the pattern is written to have the sleeves placed such that the front and the back of the sweater are the same width, which doesn't work for everyone). As I wanted to check that the sleeves were in the right place before knitting the rest of the sweater, I put the whole thing onto waste yarn and blocked what I had knitted so far.

The blocking did the desired trick, evening out the colourwork and showing me how large the finished jumper would be. I put the jumper on, and could immediately tell that while my sleeve placement modification was perfect, the jumper was going to be too big, especially the sleeves. Boo.

I left the jumper alone for a few days (just in case it suddenly shrank, or I suddenly grew, and it would, by some miracle, fit), then sat down and measured the actual gauge of the knitting I'd done, and compared the final measurements at that gauge to my measurements. I needed to knit a size smaller.

When I first cast on the Starfall sweater, I had planned to omit the colourwork at the cuffs and hem, but, having looked at the completed yoke, I now know that I do want to do all that colour work too.

All in all, this means that I had to start again, and actually knit the pattern as written (from the bottom-up, with colourwork everywhere!), and that happening this weekend. I've really enjoyed picking this up again. I've switched the lighter shade of grey to a slightly different one as I didn't have enough for all the colourwork, and so far have most of a sleeve. I'll block that first sleeve while I'm knitting the second, so that I can check the length. Fingers crossed this attempt at the jumper is more successful than the first!

What's currently on your needles?

Project page for the Starfall sweater.

How not to finish a jumper (Yarn Along March 2019)

Last month I wrote excitedly about my Edinburgh Yarn Festival jumper - Bright Above Me. After I posted, I sat down and knitted a few more rounds, and with each stitch I fell more and more out of love with the project. I found the combination of increases and long floats really tiring, so I wasn’t picking the project up enough to make any significant progress. There was also the small issue that while I can knit colourwork with a baby on my knee, this colourwork was just too complicated. So I unravelled it, with precisely no regrets.

Once I had unravelled the star jumper, I looked through my Ravelry queue to choose something new to cast on. I knew I wanted to knit a colourwork sweater, ideally from the top-down (I have issues getting the length right when knitting from the bottom up). I had quite a lot of jumpers by Jennifer Steingass in my queue, but my favourite was Starfall, which has a beautiful colourwork yoke that makes me think of jewels. The pattern is written from the bottom-up, and I did briefly consider knitting the jumper as written, before having a revelation: I could cast on the yoke provisionally, then knit the whole yoke before picking up the held stitches and knitting the rest of the jumper from the top down.

A bit of knitting later, I have a completed yoke. It is glorious! I enjoyed the colourwork so much more than the stars, even with the three-colour rounds (those rounds had to wait for uninterrupted knitting time - I couldn’t do them while feeding the baby). I’ve also realised that I much prefer working decreases when knitting colourwork than increases - if I’m working increases I find my floats end up a little tight.

While I won’t be wearing my jumper at Edinburgh this weekend,* I hope to have the yoke back on the needles by then, ready to work the body and sleeves. If I’m really organised I might be on the body, ready for some mindless stocking stitch rounds on the train journey.

I’ve dedicated more time than usual to reading this month. Partly for a rest, and partly because I’ve really enjoyed the book I’ve just finished: Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton. This is a beautifully written autobiography, written by a self-confessed party girl, covering her years of partying, then her years recovering (she’s only 30 now), all within the framework of ‘love’. I don’t have a lot in common with Dolly (we’re both tall, and some aspects of her struggle with being seen as different as a child and teenager resonated), but I loved her writing style, and her depictions of non-romantic love were very emotive at times. Definitely worth a read.

Linking up with Ginny for Yarn Along, a monthly crafting and reading link-up.

*I’ll be there on Saturday. Say hello if you see me.