elizabeth_mn

I finished my red cotton sweater's bottom band and ties, then I picked up a sleeve. I made the sleeve a little longer than the pattern's short sleeve, just so I could have a little more coverage from the cold. I'm about to start the ribbing, then I'll pick up the second sleeve. Someone on Ravelry led me to a lovely article on avoiding the jog at a circular bind-off edge which I plan to use when I get to the sleeve end.

The weekend weather was so nice and cool! Very autumnal. I baked an apple pie and offhandedly remarked to my husband that the weather really made me want to knit him a sweater. His response? "Maybe we should go buy that wool today, then." Yay!!

We went out to the Yarnery and got 3 skiens of Cascade Ecological Wool in a beautiful undyed brownish-grey color (#8025). It's a plain, honest wool: not super soft, but not scratchy either; it feels very minimally processed; it smells (in the best possible way!) like sheep and grass and outdoors. I like it a lot. The skiens are HUGE; 478 yards (for only $15 - a bargain) so 3 is more than enough for a sweater for my man, at least according to the pattern. They were so huge, though, that we had massive tangles trying to wind them up into balls, and the balls are about the size of a cantaloupe.

It got so annoying that I made up my mind to buy a swift the next day. I found a really simple one for only $20 on Etsy. I found similar styles for about $50 and collapsable ones for $70 and up, either of which are way too much for me right now, so I don't mind that the one I got has a sort of DIY/hardware store look to it. I'm not going to bother about getting a ball winder because I don't mind winding by hand (as long as things don't get too tangly), and I really prefer the look of a hand-wound ball. Besides, I'm not into the whole center-pull thing. Halfway through the ball just collapses and then you have another mess. But hopefully the swift will keep things tidier while I wind.

The pattern is Knitting Pure and Simple's Neckdown Pullover For Men #991. The plan is for me to knit it until the raglan shaping is completed, then my HB wants to knit the plain stockinette body. He's made a few hats and things but doesn't feel up to taking on the whole sweater himself, and I dreaded the idea of knitting a plain boring tube forever. I'm hoping that we don't knit so differently that gauge differences will be a problem.

We're doing the rolled collar/cuffs/hem variation instead of the ribbing. I got gauge on sz. 10 needles (which is nice, because I already have 29" circs, 16" circs, and dpns in sz 10) and started yesterday. Just knitted about 3" from the neck so far. I think this will make a nice mindless, in-between project.