Friday, May 21, 2010

The Never Ending Sweater

I have a major case of the sads over one of the sweaters I knit recently. Remember this one:

I wanted this sweater for so long. The first time I wore it, I loved it. I wore it again and the yarn grew. I wore it again and it grew even more. And more. Pretty soon this sweater was so wide on me it looked ridiculous. I thought I could solve the problem by washing it again. I even threw it in the dryer. It didn't shrink one bit - superwash yarn. This sweater was so big on me I couldn't wear it any more. Luckily, it got a good home. I hope I am not embarrassing my mother by saying that she took it (gladly) and it fits her perfectly. She gave me money to buy more yarn to knit it again. I just really dislike knitting things twice, especially a sweater, but I really, really want it. So I went on the hunt for yarn. I wanted something chunkier than the original yarn I used. I found some Valley Yarn at Webs that I thought would fit the bill. When I got my order I was disappointed. The yarn was not at all what I wanted for this sweater. I swatched it anyway just to see if I would like it when it was knit up. I didn't like it any better and my gauge was off. The yarn is too chunky - and too scratchy.

Then I remembered that I had some chunky yarn stashed away somewhere. Why didn't I think of this in the first place? I was saving some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky for something I saw a couple of years back and never knit it. I went ahead and swatched that - and it is perfect! I got gauge, the yarn is soft, it is the right color, and I know from experience using Debbie Bliss yarn that it doesn't grow.

I just don't have enough for the sweater. I decided to order some more just to be on the safe side. Well, it is discontinued. Luckily, I found some at a yarn store online, oh about six pages into Google after finding out everyone else is sold out. They had 7 balls left and I took all of them. Phew! I am crossing my fingers that will be enough.

On a much happier note, I just got the new St. Denis Magazine for Spring/Summer 2010.

Love. Love. Love. There are some really beautiful pieces in here that I cannot wait to knit up!

3 comments:

Julie said...

ooh, I hope the yarn works out!! It's a gorgeous sweater. I got that St. Denis magazine- I love so many things in it!! I'm knitting Athyrie right now, actually.

Sue said...

I hope you have enough yarn too as the sweater is gorgeous. I am sure your mum loves her too. How sad that it grew so much when you washed it though.

Anonymous said...

Gah! Tragedy! What luck, though, that you have (most of) the perfect yarn in your stash. I'm so impressed that you are willing to knit the same tricky-looking sweater twice. That's devotion, eh? FIngers crossed that it works out beautifully...

Cheers!
Daisy