Maybe another entry on the "You Knit What" blog

I don't know. Perhaps I'll let YOU decide. I've been working on this sweater for a "Hurricane Sweater" knit-a-long. This whole group of ladies who live nearby and knit at my favorite coffee shop InFusion are all knitting versions of this sweater. The pattern is for the sweater on the cover of the Fall issue of Vogue Knitting (I posted a picture of it here).

Of course, none of us are using the expensive yarn suggested for the pattern and none of us are doing the twisted stitches (the pattern calls for knitting alternate stitches with two colors of yarn, and twisting them together on the right side.) I was the only member of the KAL who was fully committed to the twisted stitch pattern. I was going to do it. I even started the sweater and followed the pattern completely, using the alternate yarns I chose, but found that the twisted stitches hardly showed and the pattern looked like a big ol' bullseye. And who wants a bullseye radiating from the center of one's back? Not me, not in a society that still allows just about anybody to own a gun.

So I'm knitting this circular sweater using pretty rusty-brown and mustard yellow cotton yarns, alternating the colors pretty randomly, using more brown than yellow because I have more brown than yellow. And I think its going to look pretty dramatic, but I'm not sure. It might be another awful knit item. Hmmmm...

In this picture it looks a little bit like a big knot in the wooden coffee table. So to give you a different perspective, I took a picture of the sweater in a more foresty kind of setting,


My dining room rug. Eh. I think the circle part is going to get real drapey once the sleeves are on and its worn but I don't know. Maybe it'll be real nifty and original looking. Or maybe it won't.

I keep remembering Claudia's hilarious list of top-ten-tips which states very clearly that "If you even half-suspect for one moment that the thing you’ve just made is hinky, it IS hinky." Is this sweater hinky? Is the fact that I am wondering whether its hinky enough to confirm that it really is hinky? Oh dear. Claudia says that I must then rip it out. But I can't bear to. Perhaps this is why I continue to knit questionable items, instead of the drop-dead gorgeous things Claudia makes.

I am bored with this sweater--the only reason why I keep working on it is because of the KAL. Must. Push. On. I bought a new needle--an Inox 40 in. circular (sz. 8)--to replace the icky plastic needle I was using in the hopes that the needle would inspire me to keep knitting.

The project I yearn to be working on instead is the cabled scarf I am making out of some Malabrigo merino wool I bought at Water Street Yarns in Waterville ME this summer. If you havn't tried this yarn yet you really should. It is perfectly delicious. Sooo soft, so delightful. I probably wouldn't have bought either of these colors on their own, but the lovely Libby who owns Water Street Yarns handed me them both, saying, "these need to be a scarf." And my heart melted, and I longed to adopt them.

I tried to take some pictures but they all came out unfocused. Here is the best:

2x2 ribs down each side, a cherry-colored cable down the center. Oh, and its my first cable ever! People have been telling me for a long time that cables are easy. I never believed them. But its the truth! Cables aren't hard! Now I just have to figure out how to read a chart...but I believe I can do it. I am feeling empowered. When it comes to cables, anyway. Perhaps I should have skipped the Vogue hurricane sweater and done one of the cabled sweaters in the same issue instead?