Stopover the Madness

Or as someone on Ravelry called it, the Stop and Start Over Stopover.  Color changes, yarn shortages, gauge issues, not paying attention and having to rip back –the Stopover is a gorgeous simple-to-knit sweater that I managed to mess up a few times.

I have never participated in a Knit-A-Long. I never even had the urge to participate in one.  But Kay and Ann at Mason Dixon Knitting caught me at a weak moment. After tossing a couple of old, ratty pullovers in my fall declutter-a-thon, I wanted a new one to wear around the house, which we keep pretty chilly as a rule.  I was browsing my stash and pondering possibilities when Kirsten at Through the Loops posted a picture of hers and then the BangOutASweater movement got started.  Why not?

I have to say, it was really fun.  I am a fast knitter, and could have done this in less than a week if I had not had quite so much on my plate.  Part of the fun was handling a project just for fun, not work.  There was no secret stash of the Lett Lopi, the Yarnery (where I teach) doesn’t carry it, so I had to track it down, choose from the colors available and get started.

And, like all other knitters, I had the fun of following Mary Jane Mucklestone’s excellent Stopover pattern.  There was no calculation, writing down, trying to figure out how to explain what I just did, just reading the instructions and following them.

Well, sort of.  All along I did dumb things.  First of all, I didn’t get a safety skein.  I always get a safety skein, but I just didn’t.  Then I went on my merry way, adding length to the body and the arms with never a thought for tomorrow.  Or tomorrow’s yarn.  (I’m tall and long waisted, so I added 3 inches to the body and almost 2 inches to the sleeves.) I found a place online that had my main color, Lapis Blue, and ordered a couple to reduce the feeling of panic.  On the day the yarn was due to arrive, an email arrived instead, saying the yarn was back ordered.  Grrrrrr.  On a whim, I called Lila and Claudine’s, a yarn shop that is sort of on the way to the barn.  They weren’t listed on Istex as a stockist, but you never know. This shop is Tardis yarn shop – much bigger on the inside.

Eureka!  Safety skein found.  Now I could throw caution to the winds, adding  a few short rows, leaving long ends, just going crazy!  That was Saturday and after ripping out the initial color rounds several times (I blame bad lighting) I got things going and finished it Sunday morning.

 

My ‘pop’ color, however, wasn’t popping.  The talented colorist Jani at Starcroft said the pop should be an unexpected color. The rust was unexpected. Unexpectedly dull.  More digging and I tried out a double strand of Nash Island Fog in Lobster Bake. Perfect!  I duplicate stitched it right over the rust, which helped it pop even more.  Lobstah pop!

Ta dah!  I have no idea how it will wear, if it will be too warm, too itchy, too blue, but I think I like it.

This was a very quick selfie at 7 degrees F.