Thursday, August 23, 2007

A yarn about a yarn...

Several weeks back, I came across some delightful Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Chunky in the Pecan colourway and it was love at first sight ;0) I had no idea what I would make with it but it was a deal and even though I dug deep and found the discipline to navigate away from it's page more than once, I kept coming back to admire it. Then one sleepless night, I couldn't resist it anymore and had to have it!


It was as gorgeous in person as I had hoped and I was really eager to knit it up, but what does one knit with 10 balls of chunky tweed anyway? I had it sitting on the top shelf of the yarn closet and my heart fluttered every time I went in there, but I just didn't know what to knit from it. A few weeks went by and I received an order of knitting design books and as I perused them for inspiration for a future annypurls original, I came across the most delightful Norwegian seamless yoked sweater in Ann Budd's The Knitters Handy Book of Sweaters.


Well I just had to knit the copycat version for Julian and couldn't believe my luck when I got to the requirements section and found that it required Rowan Yorkshire Chunky Tweed in the Pecan colourway! That's my yarn!!! That's my yarn ;0)

I needed a few more colours for the fair isle pattern though and really felt some kind of cosmic knitting intervention when I found "flaming" available as a single ball from Jannette's and both "olive oil" and "stout" available from Urban Yarns. And all happened to be on sale - 50% off! Can you say meant to be?

Julian eating corn pops off the sweater.
He poured them there while I was tending to Lolo.
Definately naughty. No eating off the handknits!


I cast on for it at once and was delighted by how quickly it was working up. The gauge was a whopping 3 stitches to the inch! I had the front and back done to the armpits in an evening! The next day it had a sleeve. And before I knew it...


It was all done! Now as soon as I can unknit the neckband, get rid of some decreases and reknit it large enough to fit over my toddlers huge noggin I'll give you a closer look.

Yay knitting karma!!!

PS - Since this whole sweater sized for a 2 year old only used up 3 balls in the main colour and not much of the fair isle colours, I have enough leftover to divvy up as one or two 'kits' if anyone out there is interested in getting the yarn for this sweater... e-mail me at annypurls {at} hotmail {dot} com if you are interested - ALL GONE!

PPS - About my Noro striped scarf from the last post. Debbie and Leslie asked about the yarn I used. It is Noro Kureyon in colours 172, 195 and 213 (2 balls). Jared used Silk Garden in his but I couldn't find any manly-man colours I liked in the Silk Garden (my hubby wouldn't wear anything with purple in it and they all seem to have some purple in them!) so went for the Kureyon instead. In retrospect, I should have looked harder for Silk Garden colours because the Kureyon is a little scratchy.

21 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:43 a.m.

    That looks great. Are those Kix? What a brave woman.

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  2. Kureyon Scratchiness - some knitters told me to try adding washing them with hair conditioner..

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  3. Ooh, ooh, ooh! First I saw this in your flickr - loved it. Then I saw it on ravelry - loved it more and started hunting people's stashes for the tweed yarn. Now here, and you have enough to share - love it and love you! Off to send you an email.

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  4. I thought it was a woman's sweater and was amazed that you finished up to the armpits in a single evening! :)

    The sweater is so pretty...love the color and how generous of you to share you love of its tweedy goodness!

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  5. i've been meaning to get to your blog ever since i saw these pics on flickr. the sweater looks great. love fair isle and love the colors. i saw the cereal picture and did a big breath intake for you. isn't it funny how we take pictures first and then say "no, don't do that!" love it! love it! love it!

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  6. Anonymous4:01 p.m.

    Very cute sweater and quick! My sort of knit!

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  7. Ha ha, that's definitely knitting karma! Three stitches to the inch, too? Wow, that'd make a nice comfy sweater, and so fast! Glad it's working out so well for you!

    Oh, I'm having a contest over at my blog, so feel free to participate if you'd like!

    http://alohaknitter.blogspot.com

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  8. Wow, it was kismet, having the exact right wool in your stash. Turned out just lovely.

    As mentioned, soaking Kureyon in water with some hair conditioner and not rinsing out really does make the yarn much softer.

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  9. Anonymous6:01 p.m.

    Sometimes it is just meant to be. It looks great!

    The corn pops would have been a bigger issue if they had been squished up and ground in, or if they were Cheezies.

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  10. Great sweater! I have that book and use it all the time when doing my own knits, since it gives convenient, generic measurements, increases, and decreases for things like armholes, necklines, and sleeves, broken down by gauge.

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  11. I love Julian's sweater and the colors are just fantastic. I love how Julian is testing out the crumb factor for his sweater, how cute. I cannot believe how quickly you knit it up! It must be the fastest children's pattern in that yarn.

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  12. I was just looking at that same sweater! I love, love how it looks and you did a fantastic job.

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  13. Anonymous7:36 p.m.

    Wonderful! looks great! Just sold to a friend some Silk Garden in earthy tones.... I think the color was 47; dont know if you husband would like...
    those are the balls...
    http://bp3.blogger.com/_P_NGzjs65Ng/RnbdV5xoWgI/AAAAAAAAAe4/YzQror6t1ys/s1600-h/DSC05038.JPG
    this is the scarf my friend is knitting
    http://bp2.blogger.com/_P_NGzjs65Ng/Rnbd_pxoWiI/AAAAAAAAAfI/xBAh4lxncjc/s1600-h/DSC05053.JPG

    happy knitting
    paty ballarin fontes
    paty_ballarin at hotmail dot com
    sao paulo brazil

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  14. Oh what mischievous glee in your son's eye! He obviously knows exactly what he is doing!

    Oh yeah- beautiful sweater and very nice yarn as well!

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  15. How lovely - Isn't this just the best - when things grow so fast! A real sense of accomplishment for an evenings work! Love it!

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  16. It's great when a yarn purchase just falls into the right pattern. love the sweater ... without the cereal of course. :)

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  17. Anonymous6:53 p.m.

    I can't believe I lost out on such a great sweater kit! Probably just as well since I have had several "incidents" involving my credit card and yarn over the last couple months.

    Glad to see there are so many others that share my love of orange!

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  18. Love the new sweater!

    I've knit with both Kureyon and Silk Garden, and after a little soak in hair conditioner infused water, the Kureyon ended up softer than the Silk G.

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  19. Anonymous8:24 p.m.

    Oh, I love the Pecan colorway. I have since it came out a few years ago. The sweater is so beautiful, and it WAS definitely meant to be.
    Thanks for the info about the NORO colors!
    "KIX are for kids."

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  20. That pecan color is just so lovely.

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  21. That is totally *gorgeous*!

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