Cobblestoned

Cobblestone Pullover, designed by Jared Flood, from the Fall '05 Interweave Knits.

I used Harrisville Highland yarn, in the color charcoal, on size 6 and 7 (US) needles. It only took 5.75 skeins, including my swatch! The only major thing I changed was the sleeves. I knit the 2nd size (43.5"), which I think has you cast on for sleeves that are over 11" in circumference at the cuffs. I purposely knit them tighter than that, but even at 10", Alex and I both agreed that they were ridiculously loose. I cast on again, with 10 fewer stitches, for a circumference just over 8", knowing that I could block it a bit wider if necessary. I increased a bit more often than I otherwise would have for the rest of the sleeve, and all turned out well.

My biggest concern with this sweater was the garter stitch. Garter stitch likes to stretch vertically, and I didn't want the sweater to stretch out of shape -- especially since the garter is at the top, with the weight of the rest of the sweater pulling on it. As I was working the yoke, I tried to measure it while holding the sweater up, so it would be slightly stretched. It was tricky, but I think I made the right choice. Still, if I was going to change one thing about the sweater, I probably would have tightened up the yoke a bit more. Alex declares the sweater perfect, though, so I will leave it alone and be happy.

Some more photos:


All those outdoor poses, and one of my favorites is a silly one I snapped while he was taking his shoes off, after the fact.




short row detail

I'm again in love with this yarn. I put the sweater on to transport it to the basement for its first pre-blocking wash, and didn't want to take it off. It's got that perfect fuzzy, woolly feel to it, and is so warm and substantial. I'm pretty sure I'm going to use it for the next sweater I make for myself.


After the sweater was done, I spent a lot of time spinning. First I finished up the cream colored Shetland singles:


448 yards!

I couldn't choose which photo to use, so here's another:


Here are all four shades together:


I've since finished spinning the dark brown singles, too, and am waiting for some red BFL to arrive. So far the plan is a colorwork hat. I think that I'll use the 3 darker colors of the Shetland as the background, with the foreground design in cream. Then I'll line the hat with nice, soft BFL. This, of course, assumes that I will be able to successfully ply these singles and that they'll be about the right weight, and even enough for stranded colorwork that doesn't look like it was knit with my toes or earlobes. And if it all turns out nicely enough, I even know who's getting the hat. (I even chose red for the BFL especially for her.)

I do need to be careful with my spinning. I realized that I tend to lean towards the right when I spin, which was causing soreness in my back and right leg. The solution is to practice standing with my weight evenly distributed, feet shoulder width apart, and all those other things they taught you in middle school gym class that you thought you'd never use. Well, except I'm not doing squat-thrusts while spinning, no matter how humorous that sounds. I also won't have my last name written across my shirt, and will be in no danger of forgetting my locker combination.