14 January 2013

Sometimes Brown is Grey

Grey raglan with stripe
Grey raglan with stripes
Grey raglan with stripes

Sometimes you set out to knit a brown sweater with a blue stripe for a four-year-old and miraculously find yourself holding a grey sweater with a blue stripe for a three-year-old. The truth is out. But no matter, I still love this sweater, thoroughly enjoyed making it, am so pleased I got to gift it, and (as usual) learned a ton in the process.

This is the second sweater I've made following Elizabeth Zimmerman's raglan technique found in Knitting without Tears. The first one was a success. My main mistake here was trying to surprise Peanut at Christmas. That meant making it without having him try it on during the process. And here I shake my head at myself. What was I thinking?! Next time, no knitted sweater surprises! I'm not entirely happy with how I planned the stripes either (not much at all). Better planning would have probably put the color jogs under the arm instead of up front. Next time, I also think I'll start the cuff a bit larger than Elizabeth recommends. Styles have changed just a wee bit since 1973 and I think a slightly wider sleeve with a nice snug k2p2 cuff to keep it out of the jam would be just fine.

There were a lot of things to love about this project. The pattern itself - the seamless raglan - is so fun to make that it's addictive. Once you get the arms joined and start decreasing, it's just too exciting to go to bed at a decent hour. This was also my first project with Garnstudio's new Big Merino. I like Garnstudio because they make a reasonably priced yarn and it doesn't pill. While we were in Chicago, I tried a couple of more economical wool yarns from the US (Knitpicks varieties and Cascade 220) and found that they all pilled like crazy. Not cool. My Garstudio Merino projects (including my favorite Peanut hat and a cutie vest) haven't pilled at all. They are also super soft and have great stitch definition. There are two downsides. The yarn can split while knitting and there aren't enough colors in the Big Merino. It's new this year, though, so I'll wait until next season and see what they do!

Here's a link to my Ravelry project page for knitters.

So yes, sometimes brown is grey and large is small, but knitting is always one of my favorite things to do!

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