Everything I make has its own story. Some stories just linger around in my head, but they are there. This sweater began a long, long time ago (?two years ago). A weaver in our guild died and her sisters put her things in an estate sale. Luckily for us, they brought a LOT of her yarns and tools to a sidewalk sale for our guild prior to a meeting a coupla years ago. I felt like I had fallen into a fantasy land and I couldn't imagine this much stuff. Then I realized all the others around me were grabbing things and holding onto things. Kick yourself into gear, girl!
Have you seen those videos of the brides that go crazy at the wedding dress sales in NYC? Well, it was like that. Grabbing, holding onto, and pushing aside others were just part of the action. I spotted something in one box I wanted. I started grabbing and pushing yarns aside. I wanted everything I could find of this yarn.
The red is much deeper in color-a dark red. First off I have to confess I don't like worsted weight yarns. These were. So I got them anyway. The color, you know.
So milling around in my head all this time is-what am I going to do with these yarns? I decided a sweater, perhaps. This is how my brain works. I put ideas in there, it mills around forever, and eventually an idea will shape itself. Sometimes it doesn't. I don't put a lot of faith in the system, but it works for me.
When it gets closer to making a decision-this is a coupla years later, mind you- I peruse Ravelry and other pattern sites. I look through books I have. I look at all kinds of things. The thing holding me back was the yardage I had. Of the blue there was only 875yards; the red had 346 yards. Not really enough to make a sweater. Combined there was 1221 yards, which is enough, but how to decide to combine the two colors. I thought of color-stranded. Discarded that idea. I thought of all kinds of things. I was just so afraid I would run out of blue. The blue yarn is Tahki Wools Windsor Tweed. It is a discontinued yarn. This was it for the blue. I was pretty sure I could get more of the red if I tried super-duper extra hard. Hmmm.
So here I am with my friend CJE at The Yarn Barn in Kansas. We are just like little kids in a candy store. I didn't have anything I HAD to have. Suddenly I was in the Tahki and tweedy yarn area. I saw some red that kinda looked like what I remembered mine looked like. I started picking up balls of yarn and laying them around. I was really thinking hard. It was like the puzzles were beginning to slide into place. I decided it would be a simple, top-down raglan cardigan. It would be simple to make. It would be plain ole sweater. I would make stripes with the red and this brown and this brown. I had my idea in place. So I bought the two browns-knowing fully that they were a different yarn and a lighter weight. They also had mohair in them-so I knew there would be a fuzz factor.
So now I have a rustic throw- around and throw- on type of cardigan. It should have been a fast knit. Stockinette is boring. I kept putting it in the pile and knitting on something else. I would pick it up and work some more. I would put it back in the pile and knit something else. I finished it despite all that.
What I learned to pay attention to is my process. It is best to not worry too much. The pieces will fall into place. It is the right sweater pattern for this yarn. A simple rustic sweater.
And...... I have two full skeins of the blue and a partial left over. I have one full skein of the red and a partial. And whatever is leftover of the two browns. Plenty!
Taking a deep sigh to know that I completed another sweater and it is pretty and it is worsted weight. All my others are either fingering weight or somewhere around a DK weight.
So right now I only have a pair of socks on my needles. What to do now?
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