March’s Sweater…in December!

So I did embark on a challenge to knit 12 sweaters in 2012.  Well, now that we are into the very last month of 2012 I can safely say there is no way that is going to happen!  It was a busy year with lots of great events that I didn’t know would take up so much time…and sweater knitting is VERY time consuming.  I do love it though, and can’t wait to cast on for my next one, maybe 2013 will be the year of 13 sweaters!  Ha, not likely but one can dream!

For the time being though, I’m going to catch up on posting the rest of the six sweaters that I did make this year. This one was completed in early April but it languished in my knitting basket for months.  I was unable to bring myself to knit in the ends…but finally they are done, the sweater is blocked and we got some pictures taken, phew!

So here’s March’s sweater: Platte River designed by Kirsten M. Jensen.

Her designs are bold, incorporating high contrast colorwork of a very geometric nature.  This sweater is no exception.  It caught my eye and it was long on my list to knit.  It’s just two colors, knit in an allover motif. I played around quite a bit with which colors to use and with the guage.  I even adapted the motif to fit into a hat, so I could practice my two color knitting before taking on the sweater.

In the end I stayed with a sock yarn that I had originally purchased for this project 2 years prior.  It’s Cascade Heritage sock yarn and contains 25% nylon in with the 75% superwash merino wool, I’m curious to see how it wears and how it holds up.  I think if I was casting on for this project now I would have chosen a harder wearing wool, that wasn’t superwash, I’d rather the stitches begin to felt together and form a nice solid fabric.  I think the stitches will remain very seperate on this garment but it also might keep the design looking quite crisp.  Live and learn, I guess…plus I think I’ve been highly influenced by the knitters I met at SquamItalia! and Shetland Wool Week.…they seemed to shun superwash in favor of good old fashioned rough wearing wool.  While I won’t be burning my superwash, I will think a little more carefully about yarn choices when doing colorwork projects.

Here’s a detail of the motif and the corrugated ribbing on the cuffs and trim.

The sweater is designed with quite a wide boat neck and originally I was swimming in it.  I had to rip back a few times and make some modifications to close it in a bit, it’s still wide but it will do.

There you have it, I”ll leave you with one last photo, Heath’s favorite and a reminder that the thermometer in the truck read -1 degree F when we took pictures this morning.  I think my goose bumps visible in that cuff shot!

For technical details you can find this project here, on Ravelry.

Happy Knitting Everyone!