I don’t think I’ve been this excited to work on a sweater in a long time.
My yarn came Saturday afternoon and I quickly wrapped up my cousin’s Carbeth sweater so I could start on my Tecumseh sweater that night. A lot of knitters will tell you that there are some things that you feel like you have to make in order to call yourself a legit knitter. Some people will say they don’t feel like they’re a legit knitter until they make a sweater (example, Gaye from GGmadeit thought a pullover made her legit but she knits tons of things!), some say socks or a fingering weight shawl. I have always felt like I needed to do real colorwork to say I was doing something with my knitting. Crazy I know. I’ve knit a bajillion sweaters, tackled making socks (although not in fingering weight) and I’ve done multiple shawls and more. But colorwork…that was going to push my boundaries and I was itching to finally tackle my fears.
Look at those floats! GAH!! I’m so excited. Now I still don’t hold my yarn probably the correct way and the finger guards seemed to get in my way so I’m just doing what feels comfortable to me and sticking with it. I find that consistency is key. I’m also paying attention to my tension and trying to ensure that my stitches aren’t too tight or pulling. This is a cotton blend yarn but I’ve found that this Berroco Weekend DK doesn’t stretch as much as the Berroco Modern Cotton that I use for summer garments. I think this might be just right for a summer weight sweater.
I’m also super happy with my bright color palette. It’s making me so excited for spring. Now if you’re also considering knitting this right along with me, just know there are a ton of stitches. LOL I have not even separated for sleeves yet and I’m at 380+ stitches on my needle. This sweater is meant to be roomy so consider that when picking your size. I’ve been thinking of it as a fun, casual piece to throw on with jeans on the weekend but I could totally see wearing it with a slim pencil skirt too. But before I style it up in my head, I need to finish it. But I’m happy to plug away at this baby and I’ll be sharing my progress and taking pics along with the way.
So is anyone else joining me and casting on the Tecumseh too?!
Yards of Happiness 
I am not quite that brave to cast this on but you are doing great…. it looks so pretty!! so you go girl, you got this!!!!
You are tooo funny!! I’ve never known anyone to get excited about their floats! Hahahahahaha!! The sweater is coming along sooooo nicely, I’m superEXCITED for you DWJ!!! And SUPERproud of you for finally doing more colorwork . . . p.s. great job with the double knit on the inside of your Mom’s (her royal and lime sweater) AND your Cousin’s Carbeth! I’ve been meaning to give you props on your DK-ing, but kept forgetting to mention it when I saw you! 😉 2018 is becoming your year for tackling your ‘fears’ 😉
You’re giving me too much credit, those weren’t double knit LOL
Well, welcome to the legit knitters’ society. We used to give new members a toaster or a blender, but our budget has been cut. If you want a card, you’ll have to pay, because the budget is hurting. A few pointers: a) there really isn’t a “correct” way to hold the yarn in color work. Hold it the way you feel like it works well for you and is comfortable. You can look up and try different approaches, but don’t look at any suggestions as rules and by all means ignore anyone’s comments about how you’re holding the yarn if they say something like, “you’re doing it wrong.” If it gets the job done right you’re doing it right. b) you are knitting color work with COTTON YARN holy moly! That is actually hard to pull off and here you are just zipping along successfully because nobody ever told you it was difficult to get it right with cotton and it’s so much easier with wool.
1. I’m upset I didn’t get my toaster. LOL 2. I had a feeling people don’t do color work with cotton yarn since I rarely see it but I’m never one to go with the standard HA! I knit with cotton blends so much because the climate here doesn’t always require heavy wool so i guess I was just determined to make it work. And so far so good!
So funny! This makes me remember the first time I “ran in” when playing jump rope in grade school. Everyone was astounded because I did it “backdoors” — with the rope twirling away from me. I didn’t know it was supposed to be hard… LOVE the sweater. And trying to get up courage to order yarn. I’ll be a bit behind you, but hoping to KAL.
Well let me know what you decide to do!
Fabulous, fabulous color AS ALWAYS!! Thanks for the info about Berroco Weekend DK too! One thing that always bothers me about cotton sweaters is the crazy stretch. I will have to try this.
Looking great!
Checking the yarn floats on the wrong side of my colourwork sweater was one of the main joys while knitting it, I was so happy when the floats finally started looking well (similar length and tension) 🙂
I’m happy to know I’m not the only person who loves to look at the floats. My friend thought I was nuts HAHAHHA
Then we are both nuts 😉 I love looking at the wrong side of any of my projects, and the floats make it even better 🙂
Glad that you are enjoying it, I too stepped out and tried color work on a pile of hats and LOVED it! So very fun! I especially enjoy seeing the photo of the floats, they are beautiful! Great job! You are the most prolific kniiter!