A few weeks ago, I was sitting in the office, in the wee hours before anyone else in my house was awake. I was smart enough to remember my headphones, charger and knitting, but not my robe. Our heater doesn’t start pulling its weight until around 0600, and I had hours to go before that happened. I was mildly (read: incredibly) cold. Luckily the Husband had left his Dude sweater draped over the big ugly armchair, so I put that on. I got quite comfy and snuggled in. I started to have visions of having my very own heavy and comfy sweater to wrap up in. I was dreaming/dreading of future camping trips and sitting as close to a campfire as I could safely get in a bulky and warm sweater of my own. In that moment, I decided that I am going to take on a full-blown colorwork sweater. By full blown I mean a FOR REAL colorwork sweater, with steeking and everything. The Switchback sweater, by Rachel Brockman. It is a men’s sweater, with the smallest size being a 42-inch chest. It has an all over colorwork design and a contrasting band. It has a button band and a shawl collar. I may try to get fancy and cut in some pockets too, just to be decadent.
- Materials:
Knitpicks Wool of the Andes- Moss, Cloud, Midnight Heather
- Modifications:
Pattern calls for size 7 and 8 needles. I intend to go down one needles size to 6 and 7.
Make the shawl collar smaller. I am not a fan of an aggressive shawl collar. I find them too fiddly to wear and they never lay right on me.
Possibly cutting pockets into the contrast band, if I can get them to fit correctly and not obscure the pattern.
- Challenges:
I have only knit one other all over colorwork sweater, Cobwebs by Megan-Anne Llama. I have also only steeked one project, the Dude Sweater by Andrea Rangel.
Several years ago, I bought a large quantity of Wool of the Andes in Moss, with intentions of knitting an old man style cabled cardigan. I changed my mind on the pattern and knit a very basic raglan sweater (only using half of the yarn!). To be completely blunt, the color sucked on me. It made me look weak and wimpy. I ended up frogging the entire sweater, and only using bits of the yarn for random things like the Setesdal Legwarmers by Skeindeer Knits. I still have a very healthy quantity of the yarn left. I don’t want to waste that yarn. I want to give it life and enjoy it. Once I realized that I wanted to knit a bulky, snuggly, luscious cardigan, I realized that it would be the perfect opportunity to use most of that yarn up. Problem: The body contrast color, Cloud, is cream/ natural. I am concerned that a weak and wimpy green won’t show enough to contrast against cream/ natural. If it doesn’t, I may have to try my hand at overdying. At the very least I will have to…. swatch… Oh, horror of horrors. Mind you, I am not going to do the correct thing and knit an actual 4×4 square swatch in the round, like a good knitter. I am going to cast on the sleeves and let them tell the story. I will know about 3 inches up if I like the contrast enough. If not, I can just rip them out and not too much time and effort are lost. The thought of overdying 100% wool yarn gives me palpitations. I have dyed exactly 1 yarn-y thing ever. It was the Puck top that I knit in Knitpicks Cottlin. Unfortunately, the yarn was meant to be skirt with a contrasting underskirt, so was a natural tan color. This color matched my skin tone so well that I looked naked when I put it on. I figured that I would never wear it, as it was, so I had nothing to lose. I bought some RIT dye in burgundy and went to town. It came out great, and I have no regrets. I followed the directions to the very letter. But… That was a top knit out of cotton and linen. They don’t felt. I have no idea how on earth I should handle dying wool. I have already started my extensive YouTube research, watching all videos that I can find, just in case.
So that’s where we start. I have 1 ½ sleeves to knit on another sweater (Calliope) before I will allow myself to start this. I should be done this week. I am very excited to get started on this new knitting adventure. Wish me luck, Universe!
Loves,
M
Mrs. Collins Makes Stuff 