Folks, don’t knit three adult-sized fingering weight sweaters at the same time. Not recommended. All that yardage, and those small needles, and so many rounds per inch…times three.
It probably didn’t take much for you to figure out that that’s exactly what I’m doing. It wasn’t planned (that should also be self-evident, since it would be a pretty insane plan) but there it is. But you know what? I’m actually having a marvelous time.
The first sweater isn’t really a sweater; it’s more of a tee with short sleeves, but it has lots of positive ease, so for all intents and purposes, it’s a sweater’s worth of knitting. This is a new design for this spring (April/May or thereabouts) and I’m absolutely chuffed with it. It’s a bit of a mess right now—waste yarn everywhere, only part of a body (nope, not a crop top) and the neckline is rolling like crazy because it doesn’t have ribbing yet, but it’s all going to work out. I promise!
Since there’s not much to talk about as yet, other than the mile or so of stockinette ahead of me, may I redirect here to these stunning colors from SweetGeorgia? The gold color on the shoulders is their Lichen colorway; it’s so complex and dimensional, and I love the epaulette effect it gives to the saddle shoulders on this piece. The dark blue is Marine, which is almost navy but slightly greener. It looks like a solid color in the skein, but knit up, it has a beautiful, subtle tonality.
I love making patterns from other indie designers when I get the chance; I always learn a lot, and it’s a good opportunity to pay forward all the support and encouragement other designers have sent my way. After finishing my Golden Fern test knit, I cast on the Fynbos Pullover by Teti Lutsak. Fynbos has been in my queue since last year; I even had the yarn for it, but I haven’t managed to get started on it until now. It’s such a unique design and will be perfect for spring and fall here. My main color is this cool cream color, and the contrast color is a warm grey with subtle red flecks. As you can see, it’s still early days here (partly because my hands suddenly forgot how to tension a long-tail cast-on properly) but I’m excited for it to come together. If possible I’d like this to be done in time for Easter.
And last but not least, I’m working on a Prismatic Sweater by Wool & Pine. One of my coworkers from SweetGeorgia is making one too, so we can do the matchy-matchy thing when I go visit her. These colors are from Huck & Rae Fiber Studio, one of my new favorite indie dyers. Megan dyes rich, layered colors with earthy undertones, and this BFL/nylon blend really makes the colors glow. I used all my Christmas yarn money at one go to get these skeins during her most recent shop update, which means no more yarn buying for quite a while; no regrets. The sweater was inspired by stained glass windows; in these colors, my little windows have a craftsman-style vibe. I’ve always loved craftsman architecture, so this makes me really, really happy. While this is working up to be more of an autumnal piece, I think I may be able to squeeze in one wearing before the cool weather dissipates.
So that’s my fingering weight sweater load. I have a general goal this year of not buying shirts and tops this year, and strategically making hand-knit garments to fill out my wardrobe instead. It’s going to keep me busy (not shown is the fingering weight shawl that I’ve been secretly working on for the last month—I’ve been keeping my newsletter subscribers up to date on that) but so far it’s been pretty fun. Considering all that stuff about skinny yarn and little needles, it could have been worse.
