A Tale of Two Sweaters

First, there was the yarn.  It's a rough texture, bulky weight wool brought back from the british isles by my good friend Chris.  She brought it back at least five years ago and I couldn't decide what to do with it.  She asked me if I was ever going to do anything with it, and so I decided I should and I did.

I found the Shalom pattern and decided to make it with sleeves - the way the top was knit lent itself perfectly to this yarn - not enough of either color to make a whole sweater and the brown went so well with the off white.  Well, I didn't think there was enough for a whole sweater, but I was wrong.

After the yarn and the pattern were picked, it was just a matter of figuring out if this yarn would give gauge and what size needle to use.  I also had to decide if I wanted to knit it in the gauge the pattern called for because it's one of those patterns that only has one size and it's too small for most human beings.  I decided to make it at a slightly larger gauge and add a couple of stitches as well.

The knitting went fast and wasn't difficult.  My sweater was finished fairly quickly considering how much other knitting I was doing at the same time (half a dozen stuffed animals and more than a few helmet liners).

I was surprised to find that I had tons of yarn left over.  I had calculated how many yards I had by measuring the hank and counting wraps . . . should have been pretty accurate.  I knew how much the pattern wanted and I knew that mine would take more because it was to be bigger.  Regardless of all that, I had only used a little more than half the brown and about half the white.  What to do now?

Knit another, of course.  The girl who was moving to cold country said she'd like a nice warm outer sweater and didn't mind that her's matched mine (of course she would say that, she's now 3 states away).  So here we go on the second sweater . . . almost done, just needs sleeves.  Hers will close down the front, mine just has the one button at the neck and isn't designed to close anywhere but there.  I almost followed the pattern on mine, hers isn't even close, but it does use the same stitch pattern and construction.

Love my two Shaloms!


And look what came in the mail today:

Hand Dyed Thread from Lady Shuttlemaker (Sherry Pence) of Tatting Tales Blog fame.  From Left to Right -  Copper Patina, Undersea Garden both size 20 variegated cotton thread and Raspberry size 20 silk thread.  I've never tatted with silk and really wanted to try it.  Now I just have to convince myself that it's ok to try it and that I don't have to save this little luxury till I'm better or for the right project.

And, more!  A copy of Tatting with Visual Patterns for Miss S because she wants to tat so many patterns out of it.  And some lovely Sew Mate shuttles - a pink & green for Miss S and a purple and a pink for me or Miss M, whoever grabs them first.

And last, but not least a picture of the two tardis bookmarks I made because now Mom has hers.  I thought the lighter blue one was better made, but Miss S thought the darker one looked better and so that's the one Mom got.  I haven't a clue what happened to the other one.  Guess I have to make a third so I can have one!!!