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Dear Kay,

The pile of yarn doesn’t seem to be getting any smaller. I knit and knit and knit, yet the ecru yarn persists. It’s . . . spawning. There must be five miles of ecru yarn here.

It does not help that I am being offered skeins of ecru yarn. Kay, you may NOT offload your ecru yarn in my direction, for any purpose. I am not going to accept it! If I get out of this thing alive, it will be because I told the UPS guy to return any and all parcels suspected of containing ecru yarn.

Sleeves. I remember suddenly that sleeves are just not that much fun to make. Didn’t we write a book about not knitting sweaters? Weren’t we pretty vocal about the brilliance of a blanket? The sleeves prove to be a problem. There’s the counting, the increasing, the widening, the anxiety of potentially overshooting the exciting moment when you get to cast off five stitches for the next two rows, the measuring. The suspicion that the sleeve cap is the wrong size for the hole it’s supposed to fit.

I also develop a festering dread about how these set-in sleeves will actually set in, when the finishing begins. How much can we ask of a yarn? Can we ask it to join hands, forever, with another yarn of a different weight? IS THIS TURNING INTO A CHEESY METAPHOR FOR WORLD PEACE?

Sleeve Number 1 features two yarns.

Sleeve Number 2 features three yarns.

spinnakertwosleeves

A kind reader mentioned the utility of a kitchen scale in dividing a skein into two equal-sized balls of yarn. Tools? I’ve got a pair of 20/200 eyeballs built into my head, for pity’s sake! When my eyeballed estimate ended up being not all that accurate, it left me with a seriously unsymmetrical yarn situation. For all who crave symmetry, I am sorry you have to see this.

spinnakersleevedetail

The good news, if you’re looking for such, is that the gauge on all three yarns seems to be pretty solid. Despite the fact that there’s a sport-weight merino, a slightly heavier Rump-fed Ronyon, and almost-fingering weight Irish wool, it’s all working OK. I have no explanation for this. I take with gratitude all that comes my way.

The next act of this drama, the finishing of the back piece, weighs on me mightily. My notion that the back side should use the heaviest yarns now seems really poorly conceived. That semi-bulky mulespun merino is looking less and less like yarn, and more and more like a pile of dryer lint. Can it even be knitted?

Finally, I just want to assure you all that I’m no speed knitter. I’m blogging slower than I’m knitting, so this all has the fifth-dimension time-warp feel of Interstellar, which also gave me a great whackin’ headache.

Cheers! Remember: cold weather = glory days for knitters.

Love,

Ann

20 Comments

  • I used to have ecru yarn, was going to make a blanket. I wonder what happened to it all… I think some got given to young girls along with a few packets of Kool-Aid.

    I wonder what happened to the results of that little experiment.

    Your experiment is very exciting, I must say!

  • Go thou, intrepid knitter! I can’t believe you didn’t plan to have the same yarn at the sleeve caps. You are just wild. Looking forward to seeing how this all turns out!

  • This is enormously fun. Can’t wait for the next installment (complete with continued wacky yet believable wool names.)

  • Yes, as mentioned above, please carry on the great knitting! It is inspiring to look at through the inter webs. Don’t get any fancy ideas of calling out to all knitters with oddments of ecru yarn- the amount of that particular breed in my stash is, well! quite above a mere 8 different types. If it were loose into the knitting world, who knows what it would expect me to do with it. Maybe first I will let it battle the Noro for top stashy award.
    I will henceforth ignore all noise from the stash closet. It’s a sure thing that the ecrus are on revolt watch throughout the land….be mindful but not too trusting of yours! Until, that is, it’s got (ten onto) your back.

  • This is not for the faint of heart. Clearly, you’re cut from sturdy cloth, worthy of admiration. Forward! Can’t wait to see how it ends.

  • I am gobsmacked that you are able to pull this off. It seems contrary to all that we know. Almost like Pluto being a planet, then not, then back. What will happen when the grafting and setting-in begins?!! Aye, caramba. I need a fainting couch.

  • World Peace is *next* week. Pace yourself! 😉

  • I can always set the sleeves in if need be… just sayin’… getting nippy here.

  • It’s nothing but gorgous!
    You are knitting an ecru sweater that will not be lame. Very sophisticated.

  • Besides the fact that this will be so gorgeous – a great exercise to break the hold of expectations of perfect and symmetry. They have their place but it is good to break out sometimes and this does it beautifully!

  • The gauge report makes me really happy. I always have figured that we are missing something we are really supposed to be doing when we make a gauge swatch. Actually, this whole thing makes me happy. Throw what ya’ got together and keep moving and have fun!

  • This looks amazing! Can’t wait to see it finished!

  • Glory days indeed! I think the sweater looks grand, and you can have all the ecru wool sent this way (southern Ontario). Winter came early!!

  • It’s looking good! When I saw the pictures the other day (not the sleeves), I thought it had an “ombre” effect – getting just slightly lighter as it moved up to the top. So, one idea would be to continue that idea on the back. But maybe that’s just my symmetry gene expressing itself – this from the woman who cast on and knit about 8 rows of a second sock 4 times last night so the stripes would match the first sock exactly! Good luck!

  • I think you’re better off avoiding symmetry. You could spend quite a bit of time trying to makes parts of the project match. Better not to try and go for the freestyle look.

  • It’s so nice to have you back! Thank you both for the blog!!!

  • Dearest Ann,
    While I am enjoying the every-lovin’ heck out of the making of your dred ecru sweater, I am starting to worry about your mental state. Just remember when you go running out of your house screaming about the wonders of the WhiteHead Wackado yarn, be sure to wear pants.
    Concerned,
    – A

  • i see ‘ecru swamp,’ i think ‘ecru stomp.’
    yes those sleeves look like they’d be keeping me mighty warm… *shiver.*

  • The red lines in your photos are oddly fetching– what if you embellished the dividing lines between different yarns with a strong contrasty color? It could look like the sweater was assembled like a quilt. A crazy quilt. Hey! Feather stitch! Never mind, I’ve clearly had too much coffee this morning.

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