The Hourglass sweater, day 5, sleeve 2.

This is one fast-knitting sweater. I estimate that if I do nothing but knit between now and Saturday afternoon, it will be ready to wear out Saturday night*. Oh wait, forgot to include blocking. oh. Hmmmm.

The original recipe, from , calls for Noro's cash iroha. This is a fab yarn, but I am not using it.

Instead, I am knitting with coned Harrisville Highland yarn, in a discountinued color called "black forest". Its black with little brown and white flecks. Now, Harrisville is one of my favorite yarns. I love that you find little pieces of hay in it while knitting. However, *coned* Harrisville is a bit like twine. It is compressed and coated with something. It also makes my fingers black. which is not so cool. Never fear, I will knit on. We'll see about Saturday.

*Note: I live in NYC, and handknit sweaters are generally not up to spec for going out purposes, but I think this one can work. Its pretty tight-fitting, with a low neckline.

The Hourglass today looks nearly the same as it did on Friday. Except now it has two attached sleeves, and is entirely unsuited to subway knitting.

Its house-bound until completion.

The above photo, ten seconds later..

Today at lunch, without even really meaning to, I bought 5 skiens of Kid Soft to make the Rebecca Wrap Cardigan. The weather in NYC was a welcome teaser of spring. The sun shone. Temperatures reached 60 degrees. I felt like a spring project was in order.

My color choice here will shock noone who knows me: slate grey/blue. its one of my favorites, very calm feeling.

The Hourglass Sweater is done!

I really love this sweater. I can't say enough good things about it. The fit is perfect, the best of the three sweaters I've made thus far. The wide neckline is *just* small enough that it doesn't fall off my shoulders. The pattern is super fast to knit up; it took less than 2 weeks. Super introduction to knitting a sweater in the round from the bottom up.

Yarn: Harrisville Highland in Black Forest Tweed (coned)
Gauge: 18sts to 4" on size 6 needles.
Finished Size: 34" bust, 31" waist
Pattern Modifications: Followed pattern as written for size small, knit the sleeves to 20" to accomodate my long arms.

Other Technical Notes:

1. Hems. The bottom hem flared out prior to blocking. I thought this was because I sewed it too soon and did not take care to keep the fabric flat. So, at the end, I took the hem out and redid it. It still flared. When washed and blocked, however, it relaxed and was fine.

2. Dye. This yarn made my hands black while knitting it. I've heard similar things happen when working with dark colors of Denim yarn. When I washed the sweater, the excess dye released and the whole sink of water turned dark brown.

3. Coned Yarn. I knit this straight off the cones, but measured my gauge from washed swatches. The gauge turned out fine, though next time I might wash the yarn first. It would be more pleasant to knit with fluffy, clean yarn (rather than compressed, twiney cone yarn). ALTHOUGH one benefit is that there were barely any joins, because the cones were 500yds each. I think I made one yarn join in the body of the sweater. and that was it.

4. 12-inch circular. I used the recommended 12-inch circular needle for the sleeves. At first, I thought DPNs would work just as well, but the circ made all the difference in terms of speed. I got mine on ebay from Wolf Creek Street.