1. Swifter and Yarn Winder
2. Interchangeable Knitting Needles
3. Exotic Yarn
4. Felting
5. Laura Bryant and Prism Yarn
6. Ravelry
7. Tilli Tomas Yarn (sparkley)
8. Entrelac
9. Valentina Devine
Only 41 more to go!
This was not only my first attempt at the hand dyed swirl, it was also my first sweater knit in the round on circular needles. Gage is everything. Without the right gage, the swirl disappears. It would be just a sweater made out of beautiful variegated blue/purple/green yarn. To get the colors to stack and swirl like you want, periodically you can either add stitches or K2T anywhere you want. It was so much fun to make. I really couldn't put it down. I finished the body and came to a devastating realization. I had to cut the knitted fabric for the sleeves and the neckline. I got out my scissors, stared at the body and my upper lip started sweating. It literally made me sick to my stomach to cut into my beautiful swirled body and risk the chance of it raveling out.
This went on for several months. Then months turned into a year. Then Christmas came. We were on our way to Lawrence, Kansas, Andi and the fabulous women at The Yarn Barn. I packed the body of my beautiful sweater, brought some yarn and knew deep inside that Andi would fix it for me. When I showed her my problem, she packed me into the car, we went to The Yarn Barn where she bought Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Without Tears. Thank goodness the wisdom of Elizabeth Zimmerman was around over 50 years ago and remains with us through her wonderful books and her daughter Meg Swenson. I bit the bullet, followed the directions and finished the sweater. I also learned the power of the steek.
Though I loved the swirl and how the yarn looked, I never really loved the sweater. I will say every time I wore it at least one person asked about it. I was very proud to say, "Yes, I knit it." and "No, it wasn't hard." I never mentioned the diabolical steek.
Now we only have 39 more 50 Things Knitters Didn't Have 50 Years Ago. I going to the Stash Studio to take pictures for my next post. Don't forget the article in Homestyle this Friday. I talked to Jocelynn Brown 6 times Friday while she was writing the article. I guess this is really going to happen.