29-12-2015

The fabric this stitch pattern makes is insanely dense and heavy. Not surprising given that purling 2 down, every 4th row draws more yarn into the fabric than regular rib would. It’s also a very structured fabric - something that will hold its shape (or even seem stiff) if knit with yarn that isn’t known for being drapey.

I’m writing about this process in detail on my blog as I’ve decided to give the bodice waist shaping. It remains to be seen how this will turn out.

Also, I’m going to give this pattern a moderate difficulty rating on the basis that tubular cast on is a total bitch when you’re achieving it with almost 200 stitches. Furthermore, the stitch pattern is very tedious - rib is boring and can be tough on the hands (also requires slightly more attention than stitch patterns that don’t go between K and P on every stitch). Then, when you get to the purl into the stitches below row, it goes stupidly slowly (and it’s tough on the hands as the fabric gets longer and heavier). Can’t see myself doing something in this stitch pattern again for these reasons, though I do hope the end result is as pretty as the fabric shown in the marketing photo. Since I think that tedious is akin to difficult, it raised my difficulty rating in the sidebar.

02-01-2016

So. freakin’. tedious. I am not finding this to be a fun knit. I expected something fairly straight forward but going off road increased complexity somewhat. And then it’s endless rib followed (with 25 per cent of the rows being extra effortful). I can’t say I’m happy with the preblocked look of the decrease/increase at the side seam. It’s not a sweater that shows it’s stuff before blocking. I suspect the fabric’s going to be very different after blocking than before. (The swatch bears this out.)

13-01-2016

OK, I’m done. I have no appetite to complete something that’s a) horrible to knit, b) very heavy, c) not very wearable and d) customized (and this is on me) with shaping that’s ugly.

I’ve never ripped back a sweater 70% complete but I guess there’s a first time for everything.

Got another 1000 yards of yarn in my stash now.