My oldest son is overdue for a sweater, especially after his younger brother got the Ryuu-ko sweater earlier in the season. Hm, do I detect some jealousy here?
That’s when I happened to bump into a new Ravelry group called “Project Yarnway” which is a year-long design competition with monthly design challenges a la famous Project Runway on tv. Just what the doctor prescribed to get me out of the starting block and finish a sweater before Spring arrives.
Using only yarn, hooks, needles, notions, and materials that you already own, create a design that expresses who you are as a designer.
Since I was sitting on a stash of Wool Ease that urgently needed to slim down to make room for new yarns coming out soon it was easy to pick the colors for a sweater design. And any clothing for an active young boy needs to be easy care. Perfect. One down.
Hm, what expresses who I am as a designer? I have used so many different techniques and enjoy them all for the right type of project… but I have to say I just love color work. Thinking back, I must have been knitting stranded color work since I can remember, and I started to knit in elementary school!
But now I had to hurry as it was already half way through February and I had only two weeks left to get this done. Yikes!
To make things quicker, I decided to make it a seamless, bottom-up, raglan design worked in Fair Isle technique and Stockinette stitch. After drawing lots of different skylines and mountains, swatching, and some math I was finally able to start with the actual sweater. But that leg work up front is worth it as I was able to zip along without any redos. Invaluable if you are under time pressure.
Then came the weather forecast: snow for the next 2 days! Yikes, I still needed to get some pictures taken and natural light would make it so much nicer. We grabbed the scooter and headed for the closest neighborhood playground… and acutally never made it all the way as my test shots on the road already made for nice photos!
And there you have it, my Februrary challenge entry over at the “Project Yarnway” group in Ravelry. The voting will start tomorrow, March 1, and will last for 2 dyas. I hope to see you there and vote for my Winter Skyline Sweater! 🙂
Scrapnqueen
Just found this post from Ravelry. This is a beautiful design–wonderfully original and perfect for boys. I love that the yarn gauge would make it such a quick project. (Well, quick for someone following the pattern, not inventing it!)
Great job!