It starts! For me, at least.

I was awoken today by the mailman. He had a package for me! My yarn had arrived (3 days on standard shipping!? I like you, elann.com!).


So of course I had to open it and admire it for a moment. Look at those colours. Yum!


Then came the swatch... And a cat, who decided my lap is prime territory during that time. Unfortunately, on size 7's, my swatch came out almost an inch too short. Ouch. I'm going to try 8's next and see if those work any better. Either way, because all my Denise tubing (save the shortest) is in use for other things, I'll have to go out and purchase a circular.

A perilous start

Hey everyone, I'm being a bit of a rebel since I will be doing a stripeless Essential Stripe with cotton yarn. I'm using Rowan Calmer, deliciously soft in a chocolately brown. I really want to do the mid-length sleeves but I'm not sure if I'll have enough. Let me tell you when you start this knit it is lightning fast. I started last night and today I'm nearly done with the raglan increases. Probably about 4 hours of solid knitting. Even though my gauge is off the beauty of this knit is that it's easy to try on. Because this is cotton I'm going to try and get it as close fitting as it can handle, so I've made the raglan increases 7.5". Maybe even have some pictures tomorrow. This might very possibly be the fastest knit ever.

Swatch with Kit

I purchased my yarn through KnitPicks (yay!), though it hasn't arrived...or processed yet (boo!). In the hopes that the yarn will arrive soon, I decided to go ahead and swatch for the sweater. I still have a couple balls of Wool of the Andes from a previous project (even a ball in Avocado!), so I swatched out with the Avocado because it's the main color in my sweater. (The only reason I'm not starting yet is that I needed to buy a pair of size 7 / 24inch circulars.)

The colors for the project are:

Wool of the Andes in:

-Avocado
-Carrot
-Pumpkin
-Fern
-Spruce
-Mulled wine

It's a lot of stripes, I know. But I love all of these colors. Hopefully they'll go together decently well! The best part of the Wool of the Andes? $1.99/ball!!! Cheap and soft. I love it!

On to the swatching:

Take one ball of lovely Avocado Wool of the Andes.

Take one Kit cat.

Knit vigorously (though not too vigorously...otherwise Kit grabs at the yarn)

And

Ta Da!!!

Swatch! Now I just need my KnitPicks package to arrive!

Cheers.

I finally decided.

I didn't want to risk going to using DK weight like I'd have to for a wool/silk blend. This will be my first sweater and on smaller projects, I don't mind shifts in yarn weight and similar because, well. They're a bit easier to fix later on.

So I'm going to run the risk of wool. And not even superwash (the options I saw didn't have colors I liked).

I'm going with the Peruvian Highland Wool from Elann.com in the following colors:

• 2713 Aubergine
• 1440 Sherwood Forest
• 0744 Harvest Heather
• 0727 Spiced Wine
• 0741 Violet Heather

Just placed the order. Came out under $40, which makes me happy (I had these horrible fears of allowing myself to spend over $100, even though I can't afford it, on the yarn). I'm getting nervous!

KnitPicks

I've never used KnitPicks' free shipping before, but right now I'm poor as woe (shouldn't even be participating in this for that particular reason!) so I chose the standard, free shipping.

The transaction was made yesterday (Sept. 11, 2006) and my order is still being processed. Anyone used the KnitPicks free shipping before? How long does it usually take? I'm ready to get down to some hardcore knitting!

Cheers.

STRIPES... DOH!

Faeryl comment about whether she's going to go mostly solid or stripey brings up a good point.... it's HORIZONTAL stripes...

ack. what the flip was I thinking...

k, guess I have to think of this in terms of a gift... Added complexity: Tons

Wool vs. Cotton

Do I have to use wool? Heather how are you managing to use wool with your skin irritations?

I can't keep wool and angora on... Do any of you think using a cotton worsted weight would have any issue with the pattern?

Yarn Choices

The Great thing about this pattern is you can use pretty much any worsted or sport weight yarn. So go as cheap or luxurious as you want. The uber-thrifty/ budget conscious could even do this in Wool-Ease. Myself, I chose Wool of the Andes by knitpicks, because it's cheap and wool. Yay! (Although now I'm thinking I should have gone with Swish because I know I'll pull the 'if I wash it on delecate...')

Anyway, my yarn in all it's glory:



The colors are Chocolate as the main color, Fern, Snickerdoodle, and Winter Night. The yarn is a little rough, but will probably soften up and shipping seemed to take forever. But they're really pretty.

I have not done my gage swatch yet, and probably won't cast on until this weekend or early next week because my family and I are in the middle of packing and moving.

We've Begun!!!

I'm going to go get yarn today... come hell or high water!!!!


What kind of yarn are you using?