Ah, the moment is finally here. The unveiling of my first handknit sweater. A sweater that I love so much, it hurts a little bit when I take it off. So without further ado, I give you my Seamless Hybrid.
Pattern: Seamless Hybrid from Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitting Without Tears
Yarn: Cascade 220 in Cordovan (5 skeins) and Olive Heather (1 skein)
Needles: US #7 - 24″ Circular, 8″ Circular, DPNs
Price: $30 for 6 skeins at WEBS
Knitting Time: Sept. 1, 2007 - Nov. 21, 2007
Inspired by so many others before me, I used EZ’s recipe to create a comfortable sweater with a few personal touches.
I chose Cascade 220 because it was inexpensive, and because it’s a true workhorse. Perfect stitch definition, beautiful colors and a dream to knit with, it’s really a great sweater yarn. I shamelessly copied Fricknits color choices, originally planning to only use the olive color for hems on the sleeves and body. But once I worked the brown and olive yarns together, I fell in love with the combo and knew that I had to include some green in the body. So the idea of stripes was born. (More on this in a bit…)
Once the striping was decided upon, all that was left to do was knit, knit and knit. I actually switched between English and Continental a few times, since a few tests showed that my gauge was the same in both, even though I was fairly new at Continental. It was the first time I’ve ever really thrown caution to the wind with my knitting technique, and thankfully it worked out fine. Not to mention that I got some good speed with my left hand on the body, which helped out a lot. Then once all the pieces were done, I joined them up and worked the yoke, finishing in time to wear the sweater for Thanksgiving.
The neck was the only part that gave me a bit of grief, since there were a few holes after picking up all the stitches, but I was able to use a bit of darning needle magic to close them up at the end.
All in all, I’m pleased as punch with this sweater, and I’ve already worn it 4 times since its completion. It was quite effective at staving off the cold lake air in Chicago. I’m definitely going to have to get a new sweater on the needles, because I think I’ve spoiled myself for store bought sweaters. It’s just such an amazing feeling to wear something you made with your very own hands…I get a bit of a high everytime I put the sweater on :)
Now that the sweater is unveiled, we get to have a fun little contest. See, the stripes might look a bit random, but they actually spell out a hidden message. What could it be? That’s your job to figure out. So get out your Little Orphan Annie decoder rings and get ready, because here’s the rules:
- The picture shown below is the exact stripe sequence on the body of the sweater, and the entire message is hidden in those stripes.
- The message starts at row 1 and ends at row 80 as shown in the picture. I’ve split it up into two pictures to save space, but don’t assume that the location of the split tells you anything about the message.
- Anyone is allowed to make a guess at what the message is, but you must back that guess up with reasoning; i.e. “I think that the message is X, because Y and Z.”
- Guesses without proof will not be eligible, i.e. you can’t guess “Emma and Dallas!” on a gut feeling. This is like when your math teacher would mark you down for writing down the answer without showing supporting work ;)
- You don’t have to make a guess to comment, so if you aren’t the puzzle type, and just want to say hi, please feel free to chime in with other comments!
- The first person to make a correct guess will win a lovely Yarn Nerd prize package, guaranteed to have 3-4 skeins of yarn and maybe a few other goodies.
Got all that? Good. Now here’s your clue. Happy decoding everyone! (And don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about my last contest…I’ll announce the winners of that one when I get a winner for this one, promise!)
Oh, and if you’re keeping track, I will be 23 tomorrow. Man I’m getting old! ;) I highly doubt I will post tomorrow, so I’m going to wish myself Happy Birthday a day early!
