Deadlines are never something I’ve worked well with. I mean…I do in the sense that things are always finished by the time they’re supposed to be. When it comes to planning things out, taking baby steps, and working on a deadline slowly, it’s not really my strong suit. I’m more of a ‘produce under pressure’ kind of writer or a ‘read the first quarter of the book and the whole Wikipedia article for the book report’ kind of person. This isn’t a new trait by any means, so I should have known taking on the challenge of test knitting might not be the best decision.
Here’s the thing with sweaters, you can’t really fake it if they’re not done. Sure, your essay could miss major themes or have a crappy conclusion, but if you don’t have a sleeve on that sweater, you won’t be wearing it anywhere. I know all of this. I’ve found myself stuck on sleeve island before, I’ve given up on colorwork before because it requires too much concentration, and I’ve ripped out hundreds of yards of sweaters before because I wasn’t happy with how they fit. But because I have no self-control, I instantly signed up to test knit Tamy Gore’s Riverwind Sweater. How could I resist?
I had some Ring of Fire by Rachel at On The Round left over from when I knit the No Frills Sweater by Petite Knit and knew I wanted this to be my contrast color. Since I have no self control, I decided to buy some more yarn for the main color and Mae at Le Frances Handmade had just released her Linen colorway. I knew it was going to be a match made in heaven. Finally, I scooped up some natural colored mohair from Lang Lace
The colorwork in this sweater is unique, which some might find daunting. Initially, I struggled with the colorwork section until I inverted the chart. Once I did that, it was smooth sailing. Until I got past the second section and realized that holding the contrast yarn double was producing a ‘bubbling’ in the pattern. Since the main color is held with a strand of mohair, I ripped it back and held the mohair throughout the colorwork section. It worked much better the second time around and being more familiar with the pattern stopped me from looking at Chart Minder every ten seconds.
I was excited to be past the colorwork yoke (I’m a lover of boring stockinette stitch) but I was a week away from the original deadline and hadn’t even separated the sleeves yet. I did what any good knitter does: I procrastinated big time by ordering new yarn, dreaming of new projects, and snuggling with my dogs. Thankfully, once I got my butt into gear, I could scoot right along and finish the body because it’s a cropped sweater.
That left me with two trips to sleeve island and about twenty minutes to wrap it up. Tamy was kind enough to bump back the deadline, and I powered through one and a half sleeves.
My first “finished object” photos are clearly hiding my right arm because I the second sleeve was still in progress. I was itching to have this sweater wrapped up because I was already dreaming of other projects that I wanted to knit.
Sleeve two moved quickly and before I knew it, I was giving this a final steam block!
I’ll be honest—styling cropped sweaters is not my strong suit yet, but I’m excited to use this sweater to challenge myself and incorporate it more often! This sweater might not be the best first sweater attempt. If you’re comfortable knitting in the round, increasing, decreasing, and knitting colorwork, this sweater is a fun knit that’s worth adding to your handmade wardrobe!