Good news. Bad news. The good news is that I have finished Rhinebeck sweater number one! I am so pleased with it. It has been a WIP since just before Stash Dash ended. I have been wanting to make this sweater since the first time I saw it. I loved it so much that I bumped it up in front of everything in my Ravelry Queue. The pattern is The Simpler Sinister Sweater by Marna Gilligan.
I knit it in Rauma Mitu on size 4 needles. I did knit the sweater with the modifications for a narrower neckline. I also added 2" to the waistband and the cuffs.
I knit it in Rauma Mitu on size 4 needles. I did knit the sweater with the modifications for a narrower neckline. I also added 2" to the waistband and the cuffs. Is really nice, but the ribbing is not quite as springy as I might like it to be. I do love the colors. I used Marine Blue (6416) and Light Blue Grey (7244) and a green for the cat eyes (There is a suggested modification in the pattern to make the cats extra sinsister by introducing a third eye color). Sorry. I do not have the color name. I chose green in honor of my late cat, Wolfgang. He was grey with green eyes, so this is now affectionately known as the "Wolfie Sweater". A fitting tribute, no?
So what is the bad news, you might ask? Well, last year at New York Sheep and Wool, I purchased a sweater quantity of yarn with the intent that I would then knit said yarn into The Cottonwood Coat by Annie Dempsy as one of my Rhinebeck sweaters. This is a printed pattern that I purchased 7-8 years ago on Cape Cod. I have been meaning to knit it up ever since, but I never got around to it. Part of the reason is that it is a very long coat. I probably would never finish it as designed. So, last year, I had the idea that I would by enough yarn to make a car coat version of the pattern.
Shortly before finishing the sleeves on the Wolfie Sweater, I swatched and cast on for Cottonwood. I am using Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky in the Wild Wisteria colorway. Things were moving along nicely. I had about seven inches of the back knit up. I had gone through the pattern, circled the size I was knitting, re-drawn the schematic, and changed the numbers according to my modifications. Smooth sailing. So prepared! Or so I thought. As I was knitting on it today, I checked the pattern for my next steps after the pocket openings. That is when I realized that I had cast on an extra 16 stitches. In bulky weight yarn. The gauge I am working with is 3.25 stitches per inch. That was going to be way too much positive ease. So here we are. There are two weeks of knitting time before I depart for the New York Sheep and Wool Festival, and I have just had to frog Rhinebeck sweater number two and cast on all over again. Can I knit a bulky sweater in two weeks while working on my current secret design knitting? Probably not. But at least I will have a large project to keep me busy while I am there.
And now, back to my regularly scheduled knitting.
Semper Knitting,
deb
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