Yikes -- Stripes!

As promised, and thanks to the rain moving out and the sun coming back yesterday, I have a finished sweater to share with you today!

My bruises and cuts have healed, but my tooth isn't fixed yet, hence the tooth-less smile.

Pattern: STRIPES! by Andrea Mowry, size 2/37" bust

Yarn: Fibernymph Dye Works Ridgetop Fingering (80% Romney/20% Falkland) in Robin's Egg Blue, Peacock Blue, Wisp, and Soot (my best guesses of the colorways); 2.45 skeins/980 yards used
Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)
Started/Completed: January 31/February 27

Despite the amount of work required in a pattern that changes colors every eight rounds, this knit was a delight. I think after the heavy patterning and slow growth of the last sweater, I got a lot of gratification from seeing this one grow so quickly. I am quite thankful for deciding early on to weave in ends as I went; when I trimmed my yarn tails after blocking, I decided to count as I went and got up to 120 ends woven in. Facing that many at the end surely would have done me in! But doing it two or four at a time took only a few extra minutes every once in a while and wasn't particularly onerous.

As you can see, the fit on this sweater is just about perfect. I've found in the last several years that I really like to wear fingering weight sweaters with minimal positive ease. I always wear my sweaters with a tee underneath, so the thin layer of wool is just perfect for around the house. This is now my third sweater in this yarn, and it will be my last, as the base is now discontinued. I bought the four skeins that went into this sweater last spring at the Fayette County Fiber Festival as a total impulse purchase. Lisa told me that her custom-milled Ridgetop bases were being discontinued and what was in her booth was the last of it, so I snapped up a bag that had these four shades in it. I knew they were colors I gravitate toward in general and that I like the yarn, so even without a plan in mind I didn't feel too guilty about the purchase. They ended up being just perfect for this sweater. The yarn itself is on the more rustic, "toothy" side, but in my experience, it softens up quite a bit with wash and wear. And I know it does wear well.

If you look closely at this photo, you'll probably be able to see the beginning-of-round jog on the stripes. I didn't bother trying to hide it because I don't think anyone is really going to be looking that closely at my back. There's some general wonkiness in some of the stitches anyway because of the slight stiffness of the yarn, so I think it all kinds of blends in.

My only modification to the pattern, if you can even call it that, was to work a provisional long-tail cast-on for the underarm stitches. I held a piece of waste yarn (which formed the thumb strand) alongside my working yarn, and this meant that when I was ready to start the sleeves, I had live stitches rather than having to pick them up from a cast-on edge. I'm not sure it really makes a difference, but I thought I'd try it and was quite happy with how well it worked.

I mentioned on Wednesday that Mo has asked me to knit her one (though hers will be a cropped length), and once I've had a little break from weaving in all those ends, I will. I plan to use these two skeins of fingering from Stranded Dyeworks that I picked up at SSK last summer -- and I'm glad I did, because Jude just closed up shop. 

I'm still working on her bright socks and have a spin in progress, but I'm pondering what to start next because I feel a bit off without a bigger project going. I really feel like 2024 is going to be a year of sweaters, and I have several possibilities, so I'll likely spend some time this weekend pulling out yarn and deciding.

Hope you have a great end to your week -- especially Vera, who as of today is officially retired! And a high five to anyone for whom the title of this post reminds you of advertising from the '90s!