Change of direction

Sometimes things don't quite work out as planned. I blocked the sweater to the desired measurements. I put the sts on two sets of cables from a Knitpicks interchangeable set and washed and blocked the body of the sweater. You can see it being blocked below. Interim blocking is a great way to verify that blocking will result in the desired effect/size. You can put the sts on a piece of scrap yarn also. I use this to see if puckering will vanish, if lace needs bigger or smaller needles, etc.

Here is a close-up of the body sts. So far so good. I really like the way this is looking.

This is the yoke in close-up. Doesn't that look amazing? I am very pleased.

After blocking, I finished it and tried it on. At that point, the entire plan went down the drain. Yes, it fits. Yes, the lace looks amazing. However, it is very form-fitting and that is not me. I don't like form fitting sweaters. So I am going to rip out the body and do a different lace pattern on smaller needles. A pattern that won't pull in like this one. More on that later. I will also be able to use up the last skein of yarn this way. I hate having a whole skein left over.

In the meantime, I started a Clapotis with two cashmere based sock yarns that my friend Bettina sent me. I was going to make socks but I realized that socks are not a good use of cashmere yarn. The two handpainted yarns looked as if they'd work together so I decided to make a scarf by alternating them in 2 row stripes. I am very pleased with the result. I was able to make good progress on this because I was in the car a lot over the holidays and this is great travel knitting. I am more than half done as you can see below.

I call this my Neapolitan scarf because it looks just like Neapolitan icecream!

Thank you for the lovely compliments on my long overdue FO.