Getting ready for the first swatch measurements
Swatching is probably one of my least favourite parts of knitting, second only to weaving in ends. It feels tedious, doesn’t feel productive (even though I completely admit it is), and it’s time away from knitting the final product. Lately, however, I have been trying to embrace this process as practice, an introduction to the yarn I’ll be using, and a way to experiment.
Where on earth has August gone? I swear it only just started, and now it’s the last full week. I suppose that’s good in a way, because now we’re nearly to fall! This will be my first “real” fall in over a decade, with changing colours and everything.
The 30 Day Sweater Challenge is still going strong. There’s just over a week to go to the finish line. As the end gets closer, I’ve been daydreaming more and more about what sweater to work on next. That’s what drew me to Boyfriend Sweaters: 19 Designs For Him That You’ll Want to Wear by Bruce Weinstein, photography by Jared Flood from Potter Craft.
As part of the blog tour for the 30 Day Sweater, today we have a guest post. Ever wanted to know what it takes to succeed in knitting a great sweater? Me too. Well, the people behind the 30 Day Sweater and the upcoming massive KAL tell us more today.
That sounds strange right now, doesn’t it? Who could love a sweater as the temperatures rise to just below 100 around here? Well, I’ve mentioned it before, I’m sure. While outside meets summer, inside becomes winter. Our office is starting to get a chill to it, and I’m daydreaming about sweaters.
Recycled yarn from the sweater’s hood
I’ve been seeing this all over the blogosphere the past couple of years: recycling yarn. I think it’s phenomenal! You can go to a thrift store, find a sweater for cheap, and then you have a sweater’s worth of yarn. Easy! Well, no not really. Most of my attempts have been botched by my lack of understanding what kind of sweater to get. Now, though, I’ve finally figured it out.
I was listening to the Knit Picks Podcast on my way home from work yesterday and an interesting topic came up. Kelley and Kerin were discussing tips for reading patterns (I’m playing catch-up as I’m way behind). As I listened, my mind kept wandering off and comparing how I read patterns to what their suggestions were, which I found fascinating.
Coming along just fine!
I had an extremely productive weekend. That’s not to say I finished any of my WIPs, but I did get a lot of work done on a couple of them. Okay, mostly I got a lot done on my shawl, which I absolutely love.
Finally, progress on the sweater
I thought I was so clever on Tuesday! I said I had checked the sweater a couple of times and made sure it was not twisted. To be fair, I had. Problem being, I hadn’t checked that closely and I had checked it late at night. A few rows in Tuesday evening, I realized there was indeed a twist and that I would have to start again.
The making of a sweater
Last night I started Lesson Two of Nina’s Design Your Own Sweater Class from Knit Picks. It didn’t take long to figure out what to do at this point. I had to cast-on a LOT of stitches. Luckily, I have a very skinny husband, but one who also kind of likes baggy sweaters. The grand total came out to 240 stitches on size 6 circ needles.
For the Knit of It 