Not Knitting Socks!

I finished DD2's third pair of socks:

They didn't take long and there's plenty of yarn left.  I'm going to learn a different cast-on for the toe next time because my usual Judy's Magic Cast-On method means that to get the socks to match, I have to start the yarn at the same point in the repeat resulting in the little line of a different colour right at the toe.  I think a figure-of-eight or Turkish cast-on might eliminate that, so I'll give it a go.

Not that I'm going to be needing to use such a cast-on for a while as I've cast on a sweater!

I've had my eye on Granito by Joji Locatelli for a while now and decided to spin the yarn for it.  I chose a merino/silk blend from World of Wool called Libra:

Photo borrowed from the World of Wool website

This fibre is a blend of five colours of merino - Fuchsia, Jonquil, Clementine, Flo Pink and Citrus - plus bleached Tussah Silk.  Once I'd spun it into a 3ply yarn, the colours had blended into a gingery-orange with pink hints!

This photo isn't actually the completely finished yarn though as, after washing and drying it, I decided it needed a bit more twist, so ran the whole lot through my wheel again and then washed and dried it for a second time!

I knitted a swatch and washed and dried it:

and was pleased that I got the gauge that I wanted (or close enough) so I cast on my Granito sweater last week and, so far, I'm pleased with it.

It's an interesting construction.  It's seamless, but the construction is different to other top-down sweaters I've knit.  The back shoulders are each cast on and a few rows worked, before being joined and then short-rows are worked to shape the shoulder slope before the stitches are put on hold.  Each front shoulder is started by picking up stitches from the back shoulders, but with the wrong side of the back facing, which gives a decorative 'seam' across the shoulders and then each side of the front is worked, with more short rows before being joined up and then knitted down until the front is the same length as the back and then the front and back are joined and then knitted down until it's the correct length for the next stage, which is pockets!  As if all that wasn't enough, can you see the vertical 'seam' at either side of the front?  That's made by slipping stitches every other row.

I've had to stop and think about this on more than one occasion, but I'm loving it!

I'm just hoping I've got enough yarn (although I've got a Plan B) in cast I run out!