In an attempt to pare down the stash, which is nothing but partial balls of this and that, I did some sorting and discovered that over the years I have acquired a bunch of acrylic yarn. Some of it was given to me, some was leftovers from making toys or afghans. Anyway, I decided it was time to either use it or give it away.
I decided to knit myself a cozy cardigan for wearing around the house using some of the partial balls of acrylic -- not so fondly nicknamed by some, "ACKrylic". This is the "Penguono" pattern by Stephen West.
It actually fits quite well and, with it's raised neckline, is super comfy. I chose the pattern size based on the measurements of a favorite sweatshirt.
Unfortunately I still have a significant amount of ACKrylic left to either use up or give away. Although I'm not a complete yarn snob, acrylic certainly isn't my favorite yarn to knit with. I may knit a few toys or charity items with it, but lately I'd rather spend my time with nicer, natural yarns. Which brings me to my next cast on ---- the Mmmmm of this post.
I have begun knitting "Plan B", a cardigan pattern by Hinterm Stein. The name of this pattern is very fitting since I'll be ripping out this almost completed handknit, handspun pullover I had begun way back in April of last year ---
---and I will be reusing the yarn for Plan B instead. The first version was looking good, but was more form fitting than I was comfortable with, and I finally had to admit I'd much prefer a cardigan that I can put on and take off easily as the temperature changes.
The cannibalized yarn is my own handspun, fingering weight, 3ply from a Merino/Silk/Kid Mohair blend and it really deserved to be used in something I will love. This time I'll be holding a strand of Sandnes Garn Silk Mohair along with it to plump the gauge up to the DK required for the Plan B pattern and to add a lovely soft halo to the cardigan.
Swatching with the two has gone very well. I tried 3 different needles sizes and then wet blocked the swatch. It's a good thing I did that final step! It bloomed quite a bit and the gauge changed rather significantly. Pre-wash I got perfect gauge on a 4mm needle. Post-wash I got perfect gauge from the section knit with a 3.75mm needle.
3 comments:
Marlene, your Penguono is gorgeous. It fits perfect. And you made it so fast. I'm still on the 2nd set of welts. Ha!! I love your neutral colors.
That's chelle comment above
Thanks Chelle. I'm happy with it. I think the reason I was able to knit it as fast as I did was because I was knitting a size that required a gauge that I get with worsted weight yarn. Pretty much all of my acrylic yarn is worsted weight. It's my "good" yarns and my handspun that is significantly finer. Because I was using ALL worsted weight and not combinations of finer yarns I only had to do the one gauge swatch.
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