Fork in the Road
How many swatches will it take to realise
that this alpaca yarn really sucks? (with apologies to dylan)
Thanks for all the suggestions, folks! As of now, there are three possibilities, as seen in this photo.
1) The bottom portion: cartridge rib in size 3. snug, alas not snug enough. Idea of enormous man’s sweater in this overall pattern not appealing, given looming deadline.
2) The left fork swatch, which looks like a bee stung the first one and it swelled up, is on size 5s with the yarn doubled. Will take a lot less time, fabric snug, but unattractive and stiff to the touch. Plus, will weigh sweater down, thus defeating the anti-stretch movement.
3) Right fork swatch, stockinette, but with a twist. Literally. Every knit stitch in it is twisted, making it slightly Hamletesque: it zigs a little, then zags a little. If you look carefully, one band in the middle makes it bias to the left. That was with both knit and purl rows twisted and it produces a really snug fabric, but I think too much zig without compensating zag will be problematic. Here’s a closer look:
Llinn on the Knittersreview forum gave me the twisted stitches idea, the logic being that the twist works to mitigate the loosely plied yarn, thereby shortening row gauge, and thus the stretch factor. I like how it looks, and am going with it. Unless something else goes wrong a week later, in which case you’ll hear about it then.
But instead of the usual “What I Learned While Making This” para at the end of a project, there is ample material right here at the beginning of this one.
1) Cheap 100% alpaca, esp. if loosely plied, will bring you gauge grief. Twisted stitches can help.
2) Swatching alpaca yarn is apparently nothing compared to blocking a garment made from it.
3) Meeting a recipient’s exact specs for a project is tough.
4) The online knitting community rocks.
Spud, isn’t your alpaca laceweight or fingering? Using it for lace or smaller garments might be a good idea, depending on how much it is.
Trying to finish this in a month and four days is going to be like my own little knitting olympics. Law & Order DVDs, here I come.