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August 29, 2003
I'm in love
I set aside the itchy tweed yarn and the goofy IK pattern and instead picked up my new wool/alpaca yarn and an Alice Starmore gansey pattern and I'm in love. This wool is so soft and pleasing to work with. And the pattern ("Lochinver" from Fishermen's Sweaters) seems to be very well-written and clear.
This is my first gansey and this seems like a really smart way to knit a sweater. I hate trying to seam together sweater pieces anyway (my finishing skills are poor) so I love the idea of knitting everything all in one piece and then sewing on a couple of buttons.
I started out knitting a size medium, but my gauge is a little loose (unusual for me) so it seemed like the finished product was going to be way too big. So I ripped out to start over again on a size small. And I'm glad I did because the second go-round, I used the cable-edge cast-on as recommended in the back of the book. I've never done this cast-on before, and I am very pleased with it.
We are headed up to my parents' cabin for the holiday weekend. The weather looks like it's going to be kind of marginal so I'll have LOTS of time to knit. YEA!