Shopping Required

Yesterday, my husband was running late from work, and he told me - TOLD ME - to "go shopping or something". So I headed right to Stitch DC in Georgetown. After chatting with N for a while and marveling over all the 80's songs on the radio (and how scary it was that we knew all the words), she got the buttons sewn on her new purple sweater, and I finally actually bought something. To wit, The Twisted Sisters Knit Sweaters: A Knit-to-Fit Workshop by Lynne Vogel.


This is a really cool book. First, because it has the Knitter Fitter System - all the stuff you actually should measure and figure out when you're about to make a sweater anyway, and in convenient chart form so all the info, once you have it, is Right There. Second, because of the Sweater Map, and how the information from the Knitter Fitter works so you know just what you're going to knit. (Having decided to "wing it" on several sweaters, I can say that I'm probably far luckier in getting things that actually fit than I should be. And I've had a couple of things that just haven't worked at all.)

Now, I was able to get a bunch of lovely royal blue aran-weight sale yarn, enough to make an aran-style sweater, or maybe a belted jackety sort of thing, with a hood (sort of a cross between the Central Park Hoodie and Starsky). Actually getting it to both fit and be flattering, though, had me stymied.

So, I was flipping through Lynne's book, and found Specifically, Gail's Red Aran.


It's not a cardigan, but the sleeves were right, and the front/back could be the back, and a placket wouldn't be that hard, and a modification of the hood from Rogue, the pattern for which I bought ages ago and haven't knit yet, would work and look pretty... and the ideas started to form. So, I'll be having lots of fun with gauge swatches, measuring things, planning for drape, and otherwise giggling happily at myself and my yarn for the better part of the weekend. And maybe in a year or two, I'll have a finished sweater!! Yay!!