Sweater Fever 101

Anyone who reads this blog must know that I obsess over which sweater to knit next. And any plotting and scheming usually comes along with colour planning.

Now I'm not normally one for swatches (but I think you should be). They are life savers, necessary and oh so practical if you want your finished sweater to, well, actually fit you! I do test my gauge once I get going, but usually by then I've put in so much work that it really isn't the best way! So if you learn anything from me today let it be that your simple swatch is worth it.

So I'm currently plodding along with my dark blue cabled Amanda Cardigan, which has almost taken me a year with my hiatus this summer, and dreaming of a sweater without cables. Something simple. Maybe something I've done before?

Oh, would I dare?

I think I would.

I have admired these colours since I started my own Maxfied Cardigan and actually spent $50 on the Lorna's Laces Mixed Berries alpaca wool I did not need while unemployed to make this sweater.  Now the grey I ordered online came a bit lighter than I wanted so I did an actual swatch and....

It just doesn't have the same Ooomph that hers does.  Which is unfortunate.  Also, the grey had acrylic content and I wasn't happy making another sweater out of yarn that's acrylic. So I kept swatching.

The black was too dark, making the colours look too childish and stark. I liked the blendy nature of her charcoal grey and the Mixed Berries. But the Lobster purple colour from Berroco's Ultra Alpaca (front centre) seemed the right shade and complemented the blues and pinks of the varegated Lorna's Laces yarn. It's also made of alpaca and I like to keep matching fibers in a sweater so that over time they wear in similar ways. 

 I have come to the conclusion that acrylic is okay for home decor items, like christmas ornaments and pillows, but anything that is to be worn should be of natural fibers. Any sweaters with acrylic that I've made have lost their shape and shrunk over time - which does not make me happy. What you save in cost of materials you pay for in life span of the item. And when it's a hand knit its just not worth it to save!

In other news...

So my blogging as taken a back seat to adjusting to downtown city life again. It makes it sound like I've been super busy and I haven't. I just haven't had too much knitting stuff going on.

My knitting pretty much stopped over the summer. Apparently Canadian summers don't inspire knitting in me the way British ones do! Might have something to do with the 30 degree heat.

Another thing that has actually affected by blog and I didn't think it would - I switched to an iPhone from a Samsung. This might not seem significant as I never actually write my blog on my phone, but I do use it to take pictures of my knitting. The iPhone camera is complete shit. Totally shit. I hate it. Where as the Samsung took decent pictures so that's really annoying.
But this winter I have been back at it! I joined a knit group at a local yarn store (and by local I just mean in the city as it's not that close to me). It's a great mix of people and very friendly. It's helped inspire me to keep at it and get things done!  This sweater is now too big to take along, but it is just about done. Then with a little blocking it will be ready to wear! I do need to find buttons so if you know of a cool place in Toronto to buy buttons lemme know!


I did manage to make 3 pairs of fingerless mittens and sell them to people at work for Christmas presents, so that was good.




And I knit a lot on the subway when I take it and tend to get into conversations with people about learning to knit so I have made some business cards to give to them offering lessons! Teaching definitely inspires me to keep knitting and learning myself.