There is an old Russian expression that translates roughly as “You can’t step into the same water twice.” That’s so true and I’ve recently realized that you simply can’t knit the same thing twice either. Either your hands, your yarn, or the humidity in your house will change and something will be just a little different.
Three years ago, I bought Blue Moon Fiber Arts Woobu in a beautiful blue hue to make my husband a sport weight sweater. It took me two years to make the sweater and I had to improvise the pattern as I went along, even though I started with Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Brooks Sweater, which was just the sort of thing my husband wears exclusively. The trouble started around the shoulders where her suggested shaping was creating curves along the arms/shoulders, rather than a straight vertical line up.
Having knit many a sweaters in the contiguous method, I realized that this shaping was simply the inverse of the arm shaping in the contiguous pattern and after about 5 tries to get the proportion and placement right, I was able to create a beautiful shoulder curve.
My husband, to give him credit, wears the sweater almost every day, especially as we’ve been pummeled with snow and arctic temperatures all winter. So, you can imagine my surprise when he said that he wants a new Brooks Sweater. He’s timing it ahead so if it takes me another 2 years to make him the next sweater he’ll be ready for it because this one will develop holes. And so, I’ve started my NYS Sheep and Wool list:
– 2 skeins Blue Moon Fiber Arts Woobu
I can’t wait!