Real Knitting

I realize that posts have been rather thin on the ground these past few months. So sorry. I thought you all might be rather sick of how I go into mind-numbing detail as I work my way out of my various knitting quagmires; that not posting was preferable to droning on and on about how I get there from here. Truth be told, except for the 18 or 20 inches of green blanket, most of my knitting is still in my head. If you all want to see what that looks like, though, I can certainly give you swatches.

My brother's eventual sweater. Swatched in the round because he likes John's yoke-back Elizabeth Zimmermann sweater (which was, of course, knit in the round, and the only way to get an accurate gauge swatch for a sweater knit in the round is to - knit in the round). I'm dithering over a couple of cabled rib variations down there at the bottom. The very bottom is twisted every 4th row, the section above the garter stitch line is twisted every other row.

The yarn is Rowan Scottish Tweed Aran in Indigo (the yarn and color that Marc approved for his sweater and which is out of stock, special order only, or back-ordered every where I look) on US 8/5 mm Crystal Palace dpn's, 4.75 stitches per inch.

Family portrait of Marc's sweater.

Attempt #1 of Scottish Tweed Aran substitutes: Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed Chunky in Denim on US 8/5 MM needles, with a cable experiment. The combination chosen because the Bird's-Eye Cardigan from Knitting For Him is knit in Rowan Scottish Tweed Bulky (which does not come in Indigo) with US 8's. Above the ribbing is a 3-over-1 cable which was absolutely hideous to knit. The top cable is a standard 2-over-2, which wasn't much better. I absolutely and unequivocally refuse to knit this yarn with these needles. I don't care that I got gauge or how good it looks. Oh, and the cables are too far apart.

Attempt Number 2: Tahki Donegal Tweed, Aran weight, in Denim. Knit on US 9/5.5 mm Addi Turbo's, which are entirely too large for this yarn, even as tightly as I knit. Abandoned because I hoped Denim would again correspond to Indigo. It doesn't, unless your looking at that beloved 5 year old pair of jeans that you really can't wear in public anymore but are so comfortable that you can't bear to throw them out. That, and the cables are too close together.

Attempt number 3 (I'm starting to feel like Monty Hall on Let's Make A Deal, "What have we got behind Door Number 3, Carol?"): Plymouth Tweed, worsted weight in color #5317 on US 8/5 mm Addi Turbos (which explains why the Tahki got knit on US 9's, all my other hundreds of US 8's having apparently gone on retreat to some remote mountain hideaway). Chosen because by now I have bitten the bullet and accepted that I am not going to be able to use any extant pattern for the sweater Marc wants, anyway. Rejected because, while it doesn't show up in the photo (at least on my monitor), it is entirely too peacock-y for me. Marc kind of likes it and argued that from a distance no one would notice the purple and teal running through it. Since I have to actually knit the stuff, I vetoed it anyway, though I had to bring in the heavy artillery (a.k.a. The Princess) before I could beat him into submission wring acquiescence out of persuade him. The fact that Clare might have a project for the yarn had, I'm sure, no effect on her decision to support me, whatsoever.

You think this was bad? I've got another yarn option arriving by UPS today.

Just wait till I take you on the Grey Sweater Odyssey.