Blogged with detailed mods and pics here!

Facebook album for sharing

9July2013: This is a GREAT men’s pattern. Flattering AND fun to make, which is a rare combo, let me tell you.

As you may know, I love modifying patterns. I changed 4 major things.

First, I really didn’t like the very long sleeve ribbing… I understand the fashion concept, but in a handknit, it ends up looking like you mis-calculated the sleeve and just tried to rib until it was long enough. I cut it down from 4 inches, to 2 1/2 inches. This meant more stripes.

Second, there is a silly blip in the middle of the X. Each stripe is 6 rows. But it is physically impossible to get a single center stitch of an X in an even number of rows! Annoying! You can see here that there ends up being more on the top of the X in the center stripe than the bottom, and that messes with my symmetrical sensibilities. This could have been fixed by having 7 rows only in the center stripe, or 5/7 rows in every stripe. It was too late when I realized this blip. Maybe I can prevent it in other people’s versions!

The third thing was really big for me, but because I also realized the problem too late, I was only able to half fix it. Do you see this side seam in the original? Yeah, I really didn’t like that the stripes switched there… why? The flow of the design, to me, implies that it is the X that causes the beautiful shift, so the side seam shouldn’t take away that glory! The seam is now perfectly aligned between back and front, which I love. BUT because I didn’t think about this until the back was done, you can see that I had to start with a stripe that was the same color as the ribbing in the front. Now, this messed with my aesthetic sensibilities. So, if you would like to do this right, make sure to start with the same color stripe on the BACK, and then you can have everything work out perfectly in the front. :)

Lastly, I didn’t like where the collar was placed. It was installed in a contrast color stripe instead of the same color, and only after one row of the collar. It seemed sloppy, but I should note that the collar starts differently for every size, so this was probably bad luck. So, I started the X one stripe early, shifting the X down (it was too high anyway) and making it so that the right color ended up at the collar placement. Love the result!

The photoshoot was at the Veuve Cliquot themed courtyard of New City Gas in Griffintown, Montreal. Astroturf and shipping cars advertising champagne? Priceless.

22Apr2013: I finished the back on the beach during a 4-day bachelorette party weekend in FL. And… it looks ok! Fine, fine, it’s filled with sand and smells like coconuts, but that’s just to prove I’m awesome when drunk. =)

12Apr2013: I couldn’t resist stashing up when Jannette’s Rare Yarns had a free shipping sale.

My husband is always on the look-out for his next sweater-to-be, and a while ago, he picked Vidal. I like it because while it looks simple, the entire front is actually knit using intarsia. Anyone who knows me, knows that I love making things difficult for myself.

Lucky me, as a recently chosen Rowan Ambassador for Rowan Yarns, I received the magazine AND a shade book of all the current Rowan yarns.

HOLD ON: I need to emphasize how earth-shattering a shade card is for ladies who knit regularly for men:

1. No longer do you pick colors you think he likes, only to find out he doesn’t like them!
2. No longer do you wait for the planets to align for a chance to drag him to the yarn store!
3. No longer do you order the beautiful skeins shown in red on your computer screen, only to find a pile of hot pink skeins in your mailbox, just in time to knit his new gansey!

Oh, no no no. What you do now is sit leisurely over a Saturday lunch of delicious oven-baked cherry tomato risotto, and pleasantly discuss the color choices. Ahhhhh.

I even tore pieces of yarn right out of the shad card so we could truly compare each color together. I’m debating whether to glue them back. Other people have been scandalized by this. My friend Linda said it was like ‘tearing whiskers out of a kitten’. HAHA!

I’m really pleased he picked a dark purple as the main color (Eggplant), that is so damn awesome.

It’s the first time I’ve ever seen Rowan yarn wound into a skein. Beware -- they only tie them once, unlike 3 or 4 times for all other skeins I’ve wound. Each of 2 I wound had some tough tangled parts at the beginning and end. So, be patient.

Perhaps you can see the occasional firm, wiry linen fibers in the close-up. There is definite vegetable matter in there, which I respect. They’re, like, “Hi, we’re linen!” And I’m, like, “Why yes, yes you are!” The yarn is firm but soft and very cool to the touch. I really think this color combo will highlight the organic feel of the stuff.

As expected, it has quite a bit of weight. I will have to be careful to knit the sleeves on the short side, as I’m sure the sweater will grow.

First post with photo illustrations of picking yarns and ideas

IntSweMoDo2013#6