A few months ago, the SLC SnB decided to knit the EPS sweater starting the first few days of 2008. Well, Margene aka Zeneedle decided to knit the percentage sweater and asked if anyone wanted to join her and, you know, knit well fitting sweater. A large chunk of us said YES!!! Exclamation points and all. We’re spunky like that.
After much hemming and hawing, I decided that I would knit the seamless hybrid in Reynolds Whiskey. There are six nice yarn shops in the Greater Salt Lake area and only four are in the area I typically roam – the other two are just too far away for regular trips. Only one of the four shops I routinely visit carries Whiskey. The first shop I went to in search of the yarn, well, I don’t think they’d ever heard of it before and assumed I was asking for the tasty beverage, not the tasty yarn. Given her response, I don’t think the woman I asked considers whiskey to be a tasty beverage: No, thank you, goodbye. The Mr. was with me and wondered if we were being kicked out / asked to leave? I still don’t know.
As I searched around Ravelry and the general interwebs, I wondered if the seamless hybrid was a good idea – it’s so man-ish and I don’t want a man-ish boyfriend sweater. Then I found this sweater. While it’s not a seamless hybrid, it is the look I had in mind. Long, slim and not at all overly large boyfriend sized. No man-ish there. Game ON!
With my gauge swatch and Knitting Without Tears in hand, I started a spreadsheet that has all my measurements, all the percentages I need, the measurements of my best fitting sweater (Salina. I know! I’m in total shock that my best fitting sweater is one that I made!) and my all-important gauge. Like Felted Tweed, Whiskey can be knit on larger needles and it will fluff out to create a really nice fabric – on size US 7, I’m knitting at 5 spi, while the ball band recommends knitting 6 spi on size US 5 (an aside because I can’t tell a story without at least one – I love the Tangled Yoke Cardigan, but can’t imagine knitting Felted Tweed that tightly, I think Silky Wool is better at that tight gauge since it doesn’t fluff at all). I want this sweater to fit just a little more snugly like a sexy little ski sweater, rowar, so I took the ease down by ½ inch to, um, none. I wrote the spreadsheet so that I can use it again – all I’d have to do is change the gauge and I have a pattern ready to knit. Well, not exactly, I’d need to rethink ease if using anything slightly bulky, but that’s neither here nor there.
By New Years, I was ready to cast on and cast on I did, after the celebratory kiss with the Mr., of course. I must have skipped over the actually casting on 10% less for a hem part … but I did remember to reduce the hem by 10% - in the early hours of January 1, I cast on the total number of stitches with my main color. On the first round, I k2tog at regular intervals to decrease 10%, then I switched to the contrast color and knit to one row shy of my total helm length. Using my main color, I increased (lazy mans’ kf&b) at the same intervals until I had my total number of stitches again, then I purled the turning round and was off and knitting my EPS sweater. I did knit the hem closed later that day at SnB (how awesome is our group – a New Years Day knit session! With some of the most amazing knitters around! Seriously awesome!). Since I had cast on the total number of stitches, I didn’t really have to think too much about it. Good stitchin’ for bitchin’.
At regular intervals – say after each shaping of the waist – I moved the live stitches to waste yarn so I could try on my Whiskey-licious sweater. I wanted to make sure I was on the right track. The body is finished and I’m working on the first sleeve.
I’m trying really hard to be monogamous with this sweater. It’s difficult, but I really want this sweater to work out and given how often I forget to write down whatever I did (did I use the M1 where I knit through the front or the back? how many rows did I make that first heel flap?), I think it’s best to keep working on this while I can still remember what I was thinking.
When I’m all done with this sweater, it’s time to get organized and clean up my WIPs. They’re a little out of control right now. I’ve already cleaned and organized my Ravelry queue – now only four pages instead of five, sorted by socks, scarves and shawls, sweaters, and accessories with a few projects that I have yarn and itchy fingers for at the top of the list. Perhaps I need a KP-like WIP reduction program.
hey eliza - your knitting - it needs some cute. i can help.
