Poly-, as in Many, Much, Excessive

I bet you're worried that I'm going to go all project-monogamous on you. "Oh, no," I can hear you muttering, "It's the mitered square thing all over again." Not so. The Barn-raising Quilt from Knitalong will certainly be making regular appearances here. Look at it like socks. Every sock knitter gets to post every new sock, at least the first one of the pair (the second seemingly not worthy of even a whisper until months or years later, the victim, as I understand it, of 2nd Sock Syndrome). You will have to endure similar progress reports as yarn accumulates and squares get completed.

Here's the first.

For those who are wondering, the yarn is Claudia Handpaints Fingering in Walk in the Woods. I am rather stunned to note that it blocks to 8 1/2 inches instead of the 7 1/2 inches the pattern called for. I knit this on the recommended size needles. The thought being that, however this one turned out, it could be the gauge swatch for the rest. I am, as noted many times before, a very tight knitter. I expected the swatch to come out at 6 1/2 to 7 inches. When I pinned it out smaller, though, the whole thing bubbled up like a parachute before it settles to the ground.

Let me take a moment to note the clever construction. While on the needles, the stitches are arranged so that the corners grow in the middle. Once bound off, they revert to their proper place. This means no wrestling with yo's at each needle switch, for which I wish to give Larissa Brown and Shelley Mackie my most heartfelt thanks.

What I'm itching to get my hands on, though, is the right blue for Marco's seamless sweater. A search through my local yarn stores has come up empty. My on-line attempts haven't fared so well, either. Ages and ages ago, we bought this yarn from (I think) Yarn Country, expressly for this project. It's lived happily in the stash, knowing it had a purpose. I cast on a few weeks ago and received a nasty shock. The heather in this blue is purple, but one that veers perilously close to what, in my old Crayola crayon box, was called magenta.

I did a guy check. My fears were confirmed. The verdict: "Marco doesn't need any more excuses for someone to make fun of him." I take that to mean the yarn is too girly. Maybe I'll make it into a sweater for Clare, in retaliation since she had the nerve to felt her Perfect Sweater.

The search continues. I've turned up yarn that is too pale, too grey, not heathered, too green. Meanwhile, however, my desire to knit a sweater needs immediate attention. The surprise benefit of this quest is the yarn I found for Marc's sweater, Cascade 220 in 9409, Australian Nights. Tricia at Nana's Knitting pulled out color cards for me. I was woefully indecisive about the blue for Marco's, but this was exactly what I wanted for my first cardigan.

I'm wound and ready to swatch. I really want to cast on. Do you think measuring one of his sport jackets will yield the right dimensions?