Thursday, January 25, 2007

Let's reveal the mystery project:Jana guessed the closest, it is indeed a stuffed animal...Sheldon the turtle. I knew I had to make this because my friend is decorating the baby's room with a turtle theme (her favorite animal). He's looking a bit sad here as he still doesn't have legs or a shell, but those are coming along quickly. I am using Plymouth Dreambaby DK yarn and it's awesome. It's extremely soft, machine wash/dry, and reasonably priced. I'm not sure how well it would hold up to repeated washing, but if that isn't a problem it would be a great yarn for baby garments. However, it wasn't a very close match in gauge to the recommended yarn for this pattern, so alterated it by making the body a bit wider and longer.

I am also getting ready for the kick-off of Project Spectrum. For February and March, the colors we are focusing on are blue, gray, and white. I just recently bought this yarn that I'm really excited about:
This is locally produced yarn, from a farm only about 20 minutes from us. I had seen their sheep grazing all summer and (of course) I wondered if they sold the wool. Lo and behold, they do! They also sell eggs from their chickens so we bought some of those too. The yarn comes only in the natural colors but there were a bunch of different pretty shades of gray, white and black. I am going to attempt to use it to make this sweater, from the VK fall/winter 2004-2005 issue:The only problem is that the homespun yarn has a somewhat different gauge that what's called for. I spent what seemed like a couple hours on Saturday trying to calculate the numbers to customize the pattern. In the course of things, I found what may to be a minor error in the pattern...for the increases prior to beginning chart #2, the instructions for two of the sizes (34.5 and 43) seems to have you increase to a number of stitches that is different than what is required for working Chart #2 per the instructions. Nothing that would be difficult to work around, but if you are thinking about this pattern see if you find a problem too (maybe I'm missing something?).

Here's a gauge swatch for a portion of the fair-isle chart:
I'm very happy with the colors and pattern, I think they go very well together. I am curious to see if my calculations were right and I can get it to come out to the size I want, though! Will it be success or disaster?? ;)

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10 Comments:

At January 25, 2007 11:50 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow, I wish the locally produced yarn in my area looked as nice and soft. It's slightly coarse and has bits of matter in it. It looks nice!

 
At January 26, 2007 8:39 AM, Blogger Kelly said...

That sweater is going to be so special! Local yarn and a beautiful pattern. What a great combo! i love that you can buy yarn so close to you!

 
At January 26, 2007 3:57 PM, Blogger C+SK said...

Ohhhhh I love it! What is that yarn? What farm?

 
At January 26, 2007 11:15 PM, Blogger Sheepish Annie said...

Awwww...Sheldon is such a cutie even without his shell!

Love the yarn. I think it will make an awfully pretty sweater. Can't wait to see how it all comes together!

 
At January 28, 2007 5:22 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

My, little Sheldon is such a cutie! And that yarn that you got, awww, heaven... the sweater you're going to make will be a real piece of art, I really adore that pattern!

 
At January 28, 2007 10:21 AM, Blogger Jana said...

Cool! That Sheldon pattern is really neat, I think it's so innovative that he can take his shell off too!

The gauge swatch and wool looks great. If you've done that many calculations already you're probably in the clear. And if you finish it and it doesn't fit just pretend it's a gift for someone else right?

 
At January 28, 2007 1:19 PM, Blogger Brahdelt said...

I love this sweater, it would be perfect for me in red, but your toned shades of yarn would also make a beautiful version. It reminds me of the similar one I thrifted some years ago, must find it in my wardrobe! ^^

 
At January 29, 2007 7:38 PM, Blogger Opal said...

Sheldon is coming out great! He looks so vulnerable without his shell, but so cute!

I love the colours you chose for your sweater. Very elegant.

 
At January 29, 2007 9:07 PM, Blogger BrownPants said...

It's awesome you can use locally produced yarn! I can't wait to see how it goes!

 
At February 03, 2007 8:40 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

ooh I've been wanting to knit sheldon too!! :D

Oh, and i started that sweater awhile back, but couldn't find a color combo I liked in my stash. Yours looks great!

 

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