Football Season!

The husband and I met at LSU thirty years ago.

I do not know anyone who went to LSU and is not a college football fan.

College football, particularly LSU and SEC football, is a past time we share. In fact, I joined his weekly pick 'em games this year. I had a decent showing the first week of the season, but this past weekend, it was brutal.

The NFL is far less my jam; however, with his unbridled passion for the game, I do have a particular affinity for Chuckie.

I do not actually religiously watch any of the games, but I do like to listen to them while I knit, which is exactly what I did this past weekend.

In fact, I decided I needed a sweater, it was raining, after all.

Thea Coleman of Baby Cocktails is one of my favorite sweater designers.

Over the years, I have knitted several of her designs, I think the last one was Beekman Tavern, which appears to have been FIVE YEARS AGO! Although, I also have the Armagnac shawl on the needles. 

Her designs are straight forward and easy to follow. I appreciate the no-fuss approach to her creations and how she drafts her patterns.

The Oaxacan has been in my queue for a while.


(The photo is from the designer's pattern page.)

The relaxed nature of the design with the textured stitches, which work exceptionally well with variegated yarns, appealed to me, AND I had the perfect yarn at the correct weight to make this.


Madelinetosh Vintage in Lowland.

I pulled it out and began swatching...

Of course, I did not get far when I began to realize that while I had perfect gauge, the sweater would be far too heavy and warm for me to actually wear and enjoy in South Texas.

Perusing the stash, I remembered one of my all time favorites: Curious Creek's Wasonga in Old Kinsale.


I LOVE this yarn!

It is a two-ply, lighter fingering that knits up springy and bouncing, especially if doubled. Kristine Brooks is Curious Creek Fibers. Nearly ten years ago, she and I entered into a collaboration to showcase her amazing silk and merino lace yarn called Meru in her Spectrum colors. 

Out of that collaboration (along with two superior test knitters - Alana and Theresa), Jambo, Rafiki, and Ahsante were born.











In any event, I am pleased to call Kristine friend and continue to love her knack for color, as well as her yarns.

Kristine sent me several skeins of the Old Kinsale, and I initially began knitting it up for the Cassidy sweater. I actually had two complete sleeves done before I decided the tonal color changes were not well suited for the stitch design; however, I adored the weight and bounciness of the yarn knit doubled.

Thus, it was with glee I decided to swatch with it for this sweater.


The Madelinetosh Vintage was bang on for gauge of 4 stitches/inch with US 8 needles. 

I knew the two strands of light fingering were not going to give me the same gauge. The fabric it made was also too loose for what I had in mind. I was not sure how many needle sizes I would have to go down, but with US 7 needles, I achieved 4.5 stitches/inch, which was 89% of the original.

This meant I would have to go up two pattern sizes to achieve the sweater I wanted and a lot more stitches, but a light and airier sweater would get significantly more wear for me.

As an aside, I realize I lost some of the stitch definition with my choice, but the feel of this fabric is so incredible, it was worth it. 

So, about 5:30 in the early evening on Saturday, I cast on for the front, knitting from one of the sleeves I had knit years ago for the Cassidy sweater.

Sunday morning, it continued to rain. This is how I began the day:


By late afternoon, I was ready to separate the neckline and for the sleeves:


After work yesterday, the left hand side of the neckline was complete, and I was ready to get going on the right:


Just before I reached the point where I needed to separate for the vee and the sleeves, I finished knitting from the first sleeve. On the left of the above photo about two inches or so down from the sleeve decreases are the ends from where I joined the fresh yarn. I noticed knitting from two fresh skeins resulted in much nicer and flatter stitches, than from the kinky yarn from the sleeve. 

This may have been a mistake on my part. Perhaps, I should have used the existing sleeves to knit new sleeves, but it is done, and I am not redoing it. 

This is a casual sweater I intend to wear around the house and to the grocery store. In fact, I am hoping this one I end up living in when the weather permits. 

With another weekend of rain in the forecast and a slate of games before me, I have high hopes of moving right along with this one.

Anyone else looking forward to fall?!

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