A Knitter’s Blog

When we received our first shipment of Rhythm, I must admit that I was a little intimdated. Every skein in the same dye lot seems to be different.

Each colorway is so long that, in some cases, one repeat of the color uses up more than a half of the skein. If there are three or four colors in this worsted weight variegated yarn, then you may use a full skein and be well into another before the color with which you started is seen again.

I am truly attracted to the long striping, but the side seams did present an issue to me. I would need to use double the amount of yarn to produce a sweater with matching side seams, and in the process drive myself nuts trying to see the repeat sequence in any given ball.

My first solution was to design a vest from side to side. Being very conservative, I chose the neutral combination and designed the Basketweave Vest pictured at the left. This vest is started at the center front, knit in one piece to the second center front. The cast-on edge is the vertical center front.  There are no seams, therefore the striping runs from the bottom front to the bottom back.

I am a very ordered person. I had to make a pact with myself when I started the vest. I placed all the skeins of yarn in my knitting bag. I vowed that when it was time to add a skein, that I would reach into my bag without looking, and grab a ball. I would pull from the center and attach. I was not allowing myself to change one ball for another, or to try to find a ball that started with the shade that matched my last stitch.

On completion of the vest, I had a real confidence in the yarn and the fabric it produces. As I was knitting the vest, I realized that if I designed a sweater knit in the round, I would not have a side seam issue. One stripe would just flow into another.

I decided to use Sweater Wizard to generate a pattern for a set-in sleeve, funnel neck sweater, worked in the round.  I also decided to use a vertical 4 x 4 rib for the fabric. I thought that the vertical lines of the rib pattern would add extra dimension to the horizontal striping.

I chose the denim like blue combination for this sweater. I worked from the bottom to the underarm in the round.  The underarm to the top on the front and back were knit on straight needles as were the sleeves.

Whenever I look at this sweater, I am amazed at the way in which the sleeve caps blend with the bodice the sweater. Neither sleeve cap is the same shade as the striping in the bodice, but there is eye appeal. Rather than being jolted by the shade differences, you feel the synergy of the colors.

My simple pattern was made truly unique by the yarn.

Both patterns and yarn are available at knittingsoftware.com

Filed under: Knitting, Sweater Wizard by cwulster