A New Sweater

When I received Betty T - my Ashford Traveller spinning wheel - as a Christmas present from hubby and the girls, I started to amass a stash of fibre (to accompany the stash of yarn I'd accumulated over the years).  World of Wool in the UK was recommended to me as an online supplier of fibre for spinning and, indeed, there is a lot of choose from.  Before I started spinning, I'd considered wool as -- well -- wool.  It was only as I started to look at the pretty braids of fibre being sold that I saw names such as BFL (Bluefaced Leicester); Jacob; Falkland; Corriedale, etc and the penny dropped that different breeds of sheep have different types of fleece.  So..... every time I bought something prettily dyed from World of Wool (quite a lot of merino-based fibres, it has to be said) I added into my shopping cart a 100g 'bump' of natural coloured prepared/combed top from a different breed of sheep.

To the point where I had at least 12 (it might be 14..... or 16...... something like that).

So, I decided that I needed to get on with spinning these single bumps of yarn, which would become skeins of yarn in the region of 90-100g.  My first thought was a blanket, so I started spinning each bump in turn into a worsted-style 3ply yarn.  So far, so good -- until I got realistic and remembered how difficult hand-washing a 100% wool, easily-feltable blanket would be.

My thoughts then turned to a sweater.  Aha! thought I; a colour-block sweater, much like that Agnes sweater from Brooklyn Tweed that I made two or three years ago.  So, I had a look on Ravelry.  I searched for colour block sweaters.  I searched for boxy sweaters, but nothing came up for aran-weight yarn.  I was disappointed for about a day, then had another look and still nothing.

I had a bit of a light-bulb moment though.  Brooklyn Tweed patterns are noted for their detail in both instructions, measurements and schematics.  Agnes is a boxy sweater.  It is a forgiving type of sweater when it comes to ease and shaping.  I could knit the smallest size with bigger needles than specified and it would be ok.

Actually no, it wouldn't (and I have no idea whatsoever why I thought it would).  I cast on and after a couple of hours, some garter stitch bottom edge and a couple of inches of stocking stitch later it became apparent that I'd end up with a chest size of around 56" which, when your full bust measurement is 40", is one heck of a lot of ease.  It got ripped!

I Can Do This I thought.  I *can* convert a pattern written for a 4ply/fingering-weight yarn to fit both me *and* my aran-weight yarn.

What I haven't admitted until now (although I might have mentioned it when I wrote about my first Agnes sweater) is how much I like the neckline on this sweater.  The double decrease is just so flipping clever, as well as stylish.  I think the neck shaping (plus the garter stitch and rolled stocking stitch/stockinette) might have been the reason for me discounting other patterns which were actually written for aran-weight yarn.

Anyway, to cut a very long story short, I spent a few hours doing some maths (there might, or might not have been head-scratching, swearing and a fair few mugs of tea drunk) and came up with this:

Front

Back

I think I mentioned the neckline?

I finished it on Thursday (spent most of the day watching the Parliament drama unfold whilst sewing seams) and this morning I steam-blocked it so I could wear it to knitting group.  It could do with a wet-block, but that might have to wait a couple of days until I can pin it out in the spare bedroom while hubby's at work (he uses the spare room as an office on the days he works at home).

Yarns used are:

Back: Brown Jacob; Oatmeal BFL; Manx Loaghtan
Front: Brown New Zealand; Zwartbles; Light Grey Swaledale
Sleeves: Manx Loaghtan and Grey Suffolk : Light Grey Swaledale and Grey Suffolk

Once it's been blocked and washed, I might sew some tape or ribbing around the the neckline.  As well as giving the neckline stability so it doesn't sag, it also covers up the picked up edges!

I spoke to DD1 this evening and she seems fine.  We hadn't heard from her since last Sunday, so were just checking all is ok as she's just over halfway through her first term and had phoned a few times a week for the previous couple of weeks so we were wondering if after the gloss and excitement of the first few weeks away at uni had been and gone, she was feeling a bit homesick, but she says she's just been busy.  She met up with Granny a couple of weeks ago (to go to the Chelsea match - my in-laws have season tickets so DD1 used Grandad's ticket) and I've suggested that she tries to find a time to meet up with her father every once in a while when he's working in London, especially as his office is about 30 mins by public transport from her Uni!!!

I took with me to knitting group this morning a big tote bag with my interchangeable needle case (one of those small, metal briefcase thingammies from Paperchase), a few balls of yarn and a couple of patterns as I wasn't sure what I wanted to knit next, but decided on a new scarf in some handspun yarn, so more about that next time.

Have a lovely weekend :)  I'm working my usual shifts tomorrow and Sunday, but new Smart-Tills were due to be installed this Wednesday just gone, so tomorrow could be fun (wish me luck!).