Tuesday, November 28, 2006

This is all April's fault.



She insisted on sending me a yarn gift certificate in return for the blocking I'm doing for her. (After she explained that by keeping me happy, she is keeping the husbeast - who is in the military - happy, and therefore she is helping protect the United States and supporting the troops, and by purchasing the gift certificate from Elann she is supporting the economy of her own country, well, how could I say no?)

So, I went on over to Elann this morning with my shade card in my grubby little hand. And I realized almost every color was in stock. Then I had a very dangerous thought:

Why not kick off the Year of Me by knitting the sweater I've wanted to knit since 1987?

That's right. "Geometric Star" from "Glorious Knitting" by Kaffe Fassett.

I've been running patterns, photos, and shade cards through the copier to get the right color intensities, in an attempt to figure out what colors I need. (There will, hopefully, be an article in the next Knitty on how to do that.) I half think I'm crazy, but hell, I've got the skill to do it, and how much LONGER am I going to wait? The pattern will be twenty years old next year. Seems like it's about time.

The lace pullover and the mitered pullover, both out of cotton (both that I already have the yarn for), are getting pushed back to summer. Or closer to summer. Or 2008. Whatever.



Oh, and I'm also soaking more yarn for a tie-dye job:

13 comments:

Netter said...

I like April's way of thinking. The sweater is going to be gorgeous!

Bells said...

The girl's got a point, you know.

And anything that still makes you want to knit it after nearly 20 years is to go automatically on the 'must do it now' list, I reckon.

Go for it!

April said...

Just doing my part in the war against terrorism. I'm already writing my speech for when I accept the Nobel Peace Prize.

"With just two sticks and some string ... "

Sheepish Annie said...

April is truly a patriot. I'm pretty sure that there will be an anthem of some sort composed to honor her sacrifice for husbeast and country. ::sniff::

You did do a nice job with the blocking, though... And I'm loving the idea of the sweater. Can't wait to see what materializes.

Anonymous said...

The sweater--Wow! Knit it!
How is that even constructed? Is it stranded color with half a dozen colors per round, or something else?

debsnm said...

You are truely insane, and my hero! I hope you make that sweater, in spite of cat and kid. Me? I'm gonna go try and knit a sock.

Julie said...

The construction is a combination of intarsia and stranded color. The stars are done in intarsia, and the hexagons are stranded color patterns that are treated like intarsia at the edges - you twist the two yarns you're stranding around the other color of the adjoining block, like you would intarsia.

I'll probably do different patterns within the hexagons, too. If you look closely, some of them are really screwy. Kaffe Fassett is not a detail guy. But I'm definitely keeping the colors.

Julie said...

Oh, and I'm gonna set in the sleeves and hem the bottom and make the sleeves more flattering, too.

Terby said...

This I want to see in person. After the holidays, maybe? Hint hint. :)

Amy Lane said...

Gods...I can't wait to see it pan out!

Pearls Mother said...

April has such great logic!!
I love that kaffe fassett sweater,
it will be a fabulous knit.
Lindy

Alwen said...

Wa-hooo! Dive in!

Sounds like a much more fun way to support the troops than putting a ribbon magnet on the van.

Does that count as modular knitting?

Julie said...

It's not modular, which is a shame 'cause I think it would be easier that way. It's just the usual intarsia-with-sixty-colors.