BIG knitting plans
Nov. 20th, 2019 08:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzSocks are out and big projects are INN. Of course I can't tell Eisirt that I'd rather work on his secret birthday project that will never be finished in time for his birthday... Lucky for me, I'm also working on the Daybreak Shawl, which counts as a big project. It's being knit with wonderful Malabrigo yarn, so it's a project that is wonderful to do, just loving the textures of the yarn with every stitch, and the beautiful colours appearing in stripes as I go along. I need to desperately take a new picture of the project, so I hope to get around to that next weekend.
I'm also still in need of warm cardigans, and one thing on my list for a few years was the Tempest cardigan. It's a striped, fitted cardigan in two colours, and I've had the yarn for a good while now. But the more I look at the cardigan itself, the less enthusiastic I am about it. So much so that I started looking around for other patterns with the same weight of yarn in two colours.
I ran across several other fun striped cardigans, but nothing that made me as happy to look at as the Solstice pattern. It has a little shoulder yoke in one colour, a big band of brioche until just above the bustline, and is mostly stockinette the rest of the way down. It's a boxy drop shoulder sweater, so it's quite loose and looks very comfortable to wear.
To be frank, I'm in love with it.
There are several reasons why I am not casting this on TODAY. Aside from the fact that I have several things still on the needles.
1. It's not a cardigan.
I clearly stated I need a new cardigan. My latest cardigan "Sprout" was a wool-blend and, haha, guess what? It itches. Of course. It's not a merino wool, it's just a wool blend from Zeeman. Joke's on me. The big collar is nice and warm and starts itchiness in my neck after wearing it for a day. Poo.
However, Kat gifted me the Pumpkin Ale cardigan pattern from my Wish List. That is a cardigan pattern with cables, so it's sure to be knit in a solid colour. I have been saving up so I can order a good quality merino from one of our loved Indie Dyers. Then I'd have a pretty cardigan I can combine with all sorts of wacky t-shirts. Do I even have wacky t-shirts? I can only remember solid coloured t-shirts.
2. The needle sizes listed for this sweater are 3 mm, 3.25 mm and 3.5 mm. I have just vowed not to knit any large projects on 3 mm anymore. However, I did finish the Bagtanker on 3mm needles. So it's not like I can't do it. I just need a good series to binge for those long swathes of stockinette.
I could also do my other trick: re-calculate everything to DK and hold my yarn double. My 4 skeins are all from different dyebaths already anyway, and I would need more of the main colour than of the contrast colour. On the other hand, these are 18 euro skeins, so if I were to need two extra skeins it will be one of the most expensive projects, right up there with the Bodemloos.
3. It wouldn't use up all my yarn and I'd run out of one colour.
I have two skeins of navy, and two skeins of purple for a total of 1600 meters. I think it would be most pretty with navy as the main colour, and purple being the subtle splash at the top. If I were to knit to the pattern gauge I would need only ~1500 meters of yarn of the main colour and 250 meters of the contrast colour. I'd need to splurge on an extra skein of blue and be left with a skein and a half of the purple.
But how horrible would it be, really? The Malabrigo is a wonderful yarn that hardly pills. It's a colour I'd always have a use for. And if I were to knit the Stripes gone crazy cardigan instead, I'd still run out of one colour and have leftovers from the other. And I'd probably end up with a cardigan that is too short for me - again - and too tightly fitted.
Writing this post has clearly helped me make up my mind. I can start on a swatch soon. Order an extra skein of navy blue. Buy the pattern and cast on the Solstice Boxy Sweater. And with that extra skein, I can make it as long as I want! Yay!
And now, let's kick the Tempest cardigan off my queue, where it has been hogging the top spot for more than a year. Off you go.
I'm also still in need of warm cardigans, and one thing on my list for a few years was the Tempest cardigan. It's a striped, fitted cardigan in two colours, and I've had the yarn for a good while now. But the more I look at the cardigan itself, the less enthusiastic I am about it. So much so that I started looking around for other patterns with the same weight of yarn in two colours.
I ran across several other fun striped cardigans, but nothing that made me as happy to look at as the Solstice pattern. It has a little shoulder yoke in one colour, a big band of brioche until just above the bustline, and is mostly stockinette the rest of the way down. It's a boxy drop shoulder sweater, so it's quite loose and looks very comfortable to wear.
To be frank, I'm in love with it.
There are several reasons why I am not casting this on TODAY. Aside from the fact that I have several things still on the needles.
1. It's not a cardigan.
I clearly stated I need a new cardigan. My latest cardigan "Sprout" was a wool-blend and, haha, guess what? It itches. Of course. It's not a merino wool, it's just a wool blend from Zeeman. Joke's on me. The big collar is nice and warm and starts itchiness in my neck after wearing it for a day. Poo.
However, Kat gifted me the Pumpkin Ale cardigan pattern from my Wish List. That is a cardigan pattern with cables, so it's sure to be knit in a solid colour. I have been saving up so I can order a good quality merino from one of our loved Indie Dyers. Then I'd have a pretty cardigan I can combine with all sorts of wacky t-shirts. Do I even have wacky t-shirts? I can only remember solid coloured t-shirts.
2. The needle sizes listed for this sweater are 3 mm, 3.25 mm and 3.5 mm. I have just vowed not to knit any large projects on 3 mm anymore. However, I did finish the Bagtanker on 3mm needles. So it's not like I can't do it. I just need a good series to binge for those long swathes of stockinette.
I could also do my other trick: re-calculate everything to DK and hold my yarn double. My 4 skeins are all from different dyebaths already anyway, and I would need more of the main colour than of the contrast colour. On the other hand, these are 18 euro skeins, so if I were to need two extra skeins it will be one of the most expensive projects, right up there with the Bodemloos.
3. It wouldn't use up all my yarn and I'd run out of one colour.
I have two skeins of navy, and two skeins of purple for a total of 1600 meters. I think it would be most pretty with navy as the main colour, and purple being the subtle splash at the top. If I were to knit to the pattern gauge I would need only ~1500 meters of yarn of the main colour and 250 meters of the contrast colour. I'd need to splurge on an extra skein of blue and be left with a skein and a half of the purple.
But how horrible would it be, really? The Malabrigo is a wonderful yarn that hardly pills. It's a colour I'd always have a use for. And if I were to knit the Stripes gone crazy cardigan instead, I'd still run out of one colour and have leftovers from the other. And I'd probably end up with a cardigan that is too short for me - again - and too tightly fitted.
Writing this post has clearly helped me make up my mind. I can start on a swatch soon. Order an extra skein of navy blue. Buy the pattern and cast on the Solstice Boxy Sweater. And with that extra skein, I can make it as long as I want! Yay!
And now, let's kick the Tempest cardigan off my queue, where it has been hogging the top spot for more than a year. Off you go.
