Choosing the yarn.

I meant to post this between the two weekends of Stitches@Home, and then got distracted by a number of other activities.  [About which, see earlier posts from this month.]

Unless you walk into a project knowing the yarn you will use, it can be problematic to choose a yarn, especially on the fly.  It can really be a problem if you've cherished a yarn for some years and aren't sure about whether to use it, especially for a class project that might not turn out quite right.

My first choice for the class was a bag of Classic Elite Avalon, but I decided that the solid red needed some stitch patterning and I wasn't ready to figure out two elements - the pattern/technique, and a stitch pattern.  I decided to do a plainer knit, which means to me a more decorative yarn.

My second choice was some yarn I'd dyed during a makerspace open house:

I don't have enough of yarn overall, so it would end up as a short-sleeved pullover, which is fine to me.  However, I didn't like the solid gold with the tonal and multi.  I wasn't sure I could dye more of the gold to coordinate with the others, because if I had notes of what was done in the dyepot, I cannot find them.

Dilemma!

So I did another stash-dive into a bin of Ancient and Honorable Cherry Tree Hill yarns.  The dyer retired a long time ago, so what I have is all I have.  And I found four skeins of a silk-merino blend that I thought would work well, and is the kind of bright colours I love to wear:

If you are attentive you have noticed that One Of These Is Not Like The Others.  Yes, the leftmost one is a different dyelot.  My original decision was to work every fourth row (should be easy, once this goes into the round - my current plan is to do a slightly dropped front neck) in dyelot #1101, and work the skeins of dyelot #1019 in sequence.  Hopefully it will blend enough to appear an intentional variation in the colourway.  If not, then it's definitely going to be a short-sleeved top.

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That's where the post ended, and I meant to finish and post it midweek, between the two weekends of classes, but struggled to get the sweater started.  There was doing the math for the top, and starting it, and not liking it, and restarting it.......  I managed to make progress in time for the third class, which happened on the following weekend:

It's hard to see,  but I did a small piece first, then began the yoke, so the back neck will be a bit higher.  This is about halfway where it needed to be before the final session.  The odd skein was used for swatching and sampling, and I may use it for trim.  I thought of integrating it by using the odd skein for every third or fourth row, but may be able to make a short-sleeved top with just the three matching skeins, so that is what I am trying first.  More reports as it grows.

These are some of the in-class samples of fancy increases.  I plan to use at least one of them in my next top-down knitted raglan top - which I promised myself I won't start until this one is finished:

And now photos to see if I have the yoke working correctly, and the underarms, with two rows done on the body after joining (sleeves are on strings):

Not great photos, but they tell me what I need to know.  The size is OK, the fit is acceptable.  I could probably continue at this point.  It's hard to see, but there are vertical darts in the front because my front is wider than my back.  However, they are closer to center than I wanted.  I may frog this and move them an inch closer to the sides, so they are more hidden.

After this point, I will do some short-rowing on the front, another adaptation to deal with the additional frontal acreage.  And no, this is not properly washed and blocked, which would give me a better idea of how it will fit.  Lily recommended trying it, but if I am going to frog anyway, I don't want to do it.

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I meant to post the above during the past week, but forgot to do so before traveling.  Off to see family for a bit.  Since the sweater is a bit fiddly, it stays home, and I have simpler knitting with me: the Falling Leaves shawl (on Leaf #9); a Knit Your Bit scarf using the Rick Mondragon's Odds/Evens plotting that he lectured about during the Stitches@Home; and another Knit Your Bit scarf that's just plain garter stitch of Red Heart Classic in the Americana colourway, wonderfully mindless stuff for knitting on aeroplanes.  Or at the dentist - I had my six-months cleaning (all well, for once!) and my dentist was fascinated at how the yarn automatically changes colours.  (Yes, I use knitting to calm me when I am there.)  He finally gave up trying to figure it out, saying "I understand teeth, not that!"