Taking the leap

So ...

I decided to cast on a sleeve to see how I liked it, and here's what it looks like.

I want to thank all of you for giving me your advice for the High Neck Cable sweater. It gave me a lot to think about.

As you can see from my reaction, I'm a little skeptical, but what the hell, it's only a sweater.

And now for something completely different...

I have a good friend who is pregnant! So I knitted this from Elizabeth Zimmermann's "Knitter's Almanac."

Elizabeth refers to it as "Baby Sweater on Two Needles; Practically Seemless" but I used Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Wool and I'm going to modified the name to "Baby Sweater on Two Needles; Practically Seemless and Practically Done with One Skein of Yarn."

Doesn't that sound nice?

Anyway, I didn't knit the Gull Pattern stitch used in the original, because it wouldn't have shown up very well in this green tweed, and my friend is having a boy, so I thought the stockinette would be more appropriate.

I was going to put some white buttons on, but A.K. (in his most vocal opinion on my knitting EVER) said 'No' and so I found these coconut shell buttons.

What do you think?

[ Insert Jeopardy theme music here ]

Unfortunately, I don't know the answer.

I bought the Blue Sky Alpaca High Neck Cable pattern with the intention of making it using the Suri Merino yarn in the color shown above (listed in the pattern as no.421 Garden), but went to the yarn store to find, no Suri Merino. (I also went looking for this, and didn't find it either)

So instead, I found Louet Gems in Eggplant.

(Let me interject and declare my love for eggplant. In fact, I would admit that a very important reason I married A.K. is because he makes THE BEST EGGPLANT PARMESAN EVER.)

Needless to say I fell in love with the color, and Gems has this lovely pearly sheen. Also, it's machine washable AND dryable. So I gathered up 7 skeins and left. (and left to go to the grocery to pick up some eggplants so A.K. could make said eggplant parmesan for dinner)

The whole ride home, I started thinking maybe I made a mistake. Would the eggplant be too dark? Do I even look good in this color? Gems is fingering weight. Did I want to knit an entire sweater with such a fine gauge?

So I need your help. Should I use the Gems for the sweater, or will I just be disappointed?

 

Twisted Check

This stitch was paired with Swedish Check entry in "A Treasury of Knitting Patterns" because Barb felt both form a nice allover fabric for sports wear, coast and sweaters.
I separated my entries because I feel the Twisted Check creates a much denser fabric than the Swedish Check. I mean all the twisting of the knit and purl stitches (also paired with the fact I knit pretty tight) created something that would be most appropriate for cleaning dishes or used for a Swiffer.

Swedish Check

This is paired with the Twisted Check Pattern, but I decided to write about each swatch separately, mainly because I don't think they are very similar.

Barb says that both create a nice allover textured fabric for "tweedy" sports wear, coats and sweaters.
I think that is true with the Swedish check, but I beg to differ with the Twisted Check.

The Swedish check has a great nubly feel, and a decent drape, so it shouldn't have that heavy feeling that I associated with tweed from the 70s.

This swatch was knit with Cascade Yarn Pima Tencel, leftover from when I knitted Anouk for one of my nieces.

Block Stitch or Dice Pattern

This pattern has three variations, I just don't know where I placed the third one. When I find it, I'll update this post.

So, the top picture is the garter stitch variation and the bottom one is the seed stitch variation. (The one missing is the Knit-Purl Block variation.)

Barb says that this is the simplest form of knit-purl checks and that all three consists of knit stitches, with the variations being either of garter or seed stitches. The one that I left out, the knit-purl variation, Barb claims it looks the same on both sides, which hasn't made it any easier to find among my pile of swatches.

Oh, a little side note, the color isn't messed up, I used two different yarns for the swatches. The first one is a made of Cascade Yarns Pima Tencel, leftover from when I knitted this. And the second is Tahki Classic Cotton.
I forgot how totally enjoyable it is to knit the pima tencel. Great summer yarn to work with, very cool to the touch. I would dare to say even refreshing to knit with on a hot summer day.
And the cotton is a really stable. I hate it when cotton yarn is so loosely spun that it unravels as you are knitting it. Not to mention pretty affordable, with a great range of colors.

Update



I found it! Above is the knit-purl variation of the Block Stitch or Dice pattern. It is knitted with the Cascade Yarn's Pima Tencel.

For all you Seattle-ites

Hilltop Yarns on the top of Queen Anne is closed for a while because of a fire in the basement. Bummer.