As you know, I find the One Skein Wonder irresistable. It defies the logic of traditional sweater proportions. It uses up stash yarn. Quite difficult to mess up while knitting. Its like a sock, except for your shoulders. (just go with me on this one..)

When I decided to make a dark brown one, it seemed like a golden opportunity to use up this worsted stash yarn:

Here we have nearly two skeins of Harrisville Highland in Cocoa.

They are left over from an Entrelac pillow I knit last May, using a pattern in Debbie Bliss' How to Knit book.

Since I have nearly 2 skeins of yarn to use up, a slightly larger small sweater is in order. Enter Glampyre's Minisweater. Could it be as cute + stashbusting as the OSW? Only time will tell.

But first, a little yarn tweaking.

Harrisville Highland is one of my favorite yarns, but its not the softest yarn ever. This 100% wool is not ideal for next-to-skin wearing. Perhaps carrying along a strand of mohair will help..

I swatched the Harrisville + mohair, and it *is* softer, but fuzzy. Too fuzzy for a summer Minisweater?

Instead of the mohair, I am considering carrying along a strand of Habu Textiles Tsumugi Silk, if they have a nice dark brown. Ideally, it would clarify stitch definition and add shine. Two good qualities for summer knits. I think I'll check Habu's selection at lunch.

Hmmmmm. This stash yarn miniature sweater is so far requiring multiple yarn purchases...

Actually, only say no to laceweight silk.

Really, just say no to the idea of winding your own center-pull ball from 840 yards of the above without the help of machines.

Most importantly, just say to no knitting from both ends of said center-pull ball. Logic suggests that this would be a great way to knit with two strands, but its wrong. very wrong.

I know. Because I tried, and here's what happened:

A huge tangled mess! ack! This silk nearly cost me my sanity.

After a great deal of time spent untangling, a fair amount of cutting, and some sacrifices to the silk gods, I now own two non-center-pull skeins of indeterminate length.

Is there still enough left? Who knows! I will knit with it, and if I run out, I will return to Habu Textiles, purchase more, and absolutely request that they wind it into a ball.

The good news is that I like the way it works with the worsted wool.

The swatch below shows, from the top down: Worsted+Silk(two strands), Worsted alone, and Worsted+Mohair.

The silk is barely noticeable, but adds a little bit of shine, and changes the feel of the wool. On the reverse stockinette side, the two strands of silk end up right on the purl bump. Which means that it should be nicer next to skin! yesssss. Mission accomplished.

phew. all this, and I haven't even started knitting yet.

The minisweater moves onward. It is just past the point where you separate the sleeves from the body of the sweater.

I opted not to do the puffy sleeves, a decision that seems to have resulted in many more increase rounds. The sweater is worked from the top down, and the pattern specifies increasing every other row until the sleeves meet under the arms. It suggests that this happen around 17 rounds. Mine was 22 rounds.. and I have skinny arms! But maybe this makes sense, as I have a smaller gauge and skipped those extra sleeve increases.

The wool+silk combo is coming out nicely! Initially, I was concerned that the two fibers might not blend in together in the final garment. But overall, its looking good! The silk gives it a little depth and shine.

The only thing is, the newly-started front increases are leaving holes!

They are M1 increases on the purl side. They are done every other row at the front edges until the sweater meets in the middle. Obviously a different increase is in order. Anyone know a good one?

I am thinking about using knit front+back increases on the right side, one stitch in from the garter stitch border. This is the same increase used for the raglans, so perhaps it will match. Plus I somehow feel more comfortable increasing on the right side.

I've recently been finishing up items in order to get ready to start new and exciting fall projects.

That includes the long-neglected minisweater. Here it is after 10 increases. (One increase per side each RS row after separating the sleeves that is)

It seems to be *almost* the correct length. Actually, its probably already there, but I am inspired by Laura's wrap version, so am thinking of making it longer and wrap-around. Also, there's a distinct possibility of a yarn shortage, and knitting extra rows means thats even more likely, which enhances the overall thrill of knitting this. Will there be enough yarn? Will I run out? oh, the suspense.

I'm planning on 2 more increase rows, for a total of 12. I was going to do 13, but that's unlucky, and I am superstitious, so no.

This project really moved along once I figured out how to do nice increases. I don't know what my problem was before, when holes kept showing up. Previously, I placed the increases right next to the garter border, which may have resulted in looser stitches. This time, I just did M1 increases on either side, one stitch into the stockinette section. Amazingly, it worked.

And look how pretty they are!

The minisweater is done! I took so long to knit this, it might as well have been a full sweater :-)

The Specs:

Yarn: Harrisville Highland in Cocoa (2 skeins) held together with 2 strands of Habu Textiles laceweight silk (1 skein)

Pattern: Minisweater by Glampyre

Gauge: about 18sts/4" on size 7 Addi Turbos. This gauge was on the tight side. If I did it again, I'd move up to size 8 or 9 needles.

Opted for a button closure.. one button on the outside and one on the inside.

Lately I am totally about finishing things. and I am not jumping into starting new things. Then I realized why: the next 4-6 weeks are serious marathon training weeks. This is when the milage gets serious, with an 18-20 miler every other weekend. Its not that I won't have *time* to knit, but its the additional mindweight of an unfinished project. I need to be able to concentrate on training fully, and not feel pulled away.

So, I am a one-project-at-a-time girl until mid-October! Those projects that are halfway done right now, namely Raspy...ummm, lets pretend like they don't really exist.

Updated to add:
Here's a photo of the two yarns together. I like the combination in the finished knit fabric.. the silk *does* make it softer. While knitting though, I wouldn't say that the silk enhanced the knitting experience... it doesn't have as much stretch as the wool. If you decide to try a wool+silk combo, I suggest going up a needle size.

The lighter, shiny bits are the silk.