Friday, March 28, 2008

Now About That Sweater...

So I decided on a whim that I would start my handspun sweater. I had dyed up a particularly glorious batch of Blue Agate merino roving without a clear plan of what to do with it. Spin it? Sell it? Sell it spun or as roving? Keep it?

Then I noticed that a few other Etsy roving-dyers had posted what looked to me to be colours that would coordinate very well with my Blue Agate. I ordered them and started spinning. I saw a picture in my head of a basic cardigan that would stripe out in different, but coordinated colorways from similar rovings.

This is the front:



This part will really blow your mind. When I had spun enough of the three different rovings to get started, I looked at the yarn and thought, hmmm, maybe a size 9 needle. and then I looked through my copy of Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel, and thought, maybe something like this (looking at the short sleeved yellow cardi), but without that big panel thing.

And then I cast on. I made a guess about gauge (no swatch) and I made another guess about how much to start with, and I started knitting. Basic top-down raglan with open fronts. I'll add a band later. I knitted and worked increases, took note of the happy marriage of yarn with those size 9 (5.5mm) needles and carried on. I changed yarns, increased some more, knitted some more, put it all on a string, tried it on, put it back on the needles and kept on going.

This is the back:



In the spirit of making things up as I go along, I worked increases until the top part fit to where you divide off the sleeves. I knitted and tried it on again and decided where a bit of waist shaping should go. I'm working on that part now.

Here is a pic of two of the three spun yarns I'm using with some of that delectable Blue Agate roving. The spool has more yarn, cuz I was starting to run low on that colour.



Today, I'm working waist decreases, and I just put it down this second to take an up-to-date photo of where it's at. Stay tuned for more updates...



By the way, I'm having fun with this :)

9 comments:

Unknown said...

so excited to see you blogging again, you are such an inspiration!
Funny I am just at the point where I have enough handspun to start thinking project and I got out my Stephanie Japel book too! I love top down and being able to fit as you go, especially with handspun.
Did you get you plying head, does it help? I am still waiting for mine to come and I am struggling quite a bit to get the hang of plying, but I did try andean plying, since I only had one bobbin spun up and it was fun to learn.

Anonymous said...

It looks great, Jayne. I look forward to having a closer look at it when you've finished.

Marina

CatBookMom said...

This is looking terrific! I love the way the light orange/yellow is making the aquas pop. Great idea, this will be a lovely cardi!!

I am looking forward to seeing your handspun when I come up in June!!

Alpaca Granny said...

I am so impressed! Thanks for your thought process on knitting. I would be terrified to just START. I need pattern, sticky notes, and an assurance that someone can help when I get stuck.
Your sweater is beautiful.
♥ Maple

Unknown said...

Jayne,

Your colors are fantastic! I'm glad that you are having fun with the knitting again. Can't wait to see the finished cardi.

Libby

susan said...

Hi Jayne:
What beautiful colours. Glad you're blogging again. I missed your posts.

Anonymous said...

Hey, there you are! The cardigan looks great so far. Can't wait to see it finished.

TracyKM said...

I LOVE IT!!

Krysta H. said...

I just ran across your business card while trying to organize my stash and saw on the card that you have this blog. Wow! I love the colors in your handspun cardigan. Very inspiring. The stitch markers I bought from you a couple months ago were very pretty too. Thanks.

Krysta
Ravelry - fiberaddictedmom