Success, with reservations

Well, I finished the Nurgake. There were some issues, and I think I need to re-measure myself because the sweater came out the size I expected but doesn’t fit me as expected. Which is not to say that it’s not lovely, just not what I expected.

Comfy and cool.

The biggest issue I had (after I did all the previously noted mathy adjustments) was that I ran out of yarn about three inches short of where I wanted to be, and since I was using well-marinated stash I knew I wouldn’t be finding any more any time soon.

I actually already knew at that point that it wasn’t fitting as closely as I expected, and I considered just ripping it out and starting over. Then I came to my senses and looked around my studio for a coordinating yarn. I settled on some Elsbeth Lavold Silky Tweed in a dark green. I stuck with the same needle, but the Silky Tweed a little bit thinner so it made a drapier fabric. The gauge is actually slightly tighter, too, and I think if I was going to do it again I’d switch to a larger needle, which would of course give me an even lacier fabric but I think it’d be fine since it’s so far down on the sweater.

See the eyelets? Nice detail, right?

Because of the difference in texture, I decided to do an eyelet row when joining, and then another a few rows before binding off. To tie it all together I picked up and worked a few rows around the neckline with the Silky Tweed as well. I don’t absolutely love how it turned out, but I’m pretty pleased with it. It’s comfy and moderately flattering, and I’m pretty proud of being this successful considering how many moderations I ended up making to the pattern. I got quite a few compliments at work, and considering where I work that’s a pretty good indicator of project success.

Look! I'm fuzzy! I somehow managed to not get a single in-focus full shot. It's a gift.

Great tracts of land

I am so going to love this skirt. When it's not, you know, 90 degrees.

I picked up my Intolerable Cruelty the other day to work on it (red, see? for May’s Project Spectrum! And I didn’t even know I was doing PS at the time! My brain eeez soooo beeeg!) and put it back down after about two stitches. Waaaaay to hot and sticky to work with wool. So, after some time spent surfing on Ravelry, I grabbed a bag of beautiful green* Rowan Tweed that’s been sort of hanging out in my stash for awhile and cast on a Nurgake (Ravelry link).

As it turns out, it's actually pretty easy being green.

Unfortunately, I’m a little more, shall we say, bountiful in some areas than the person the original pattern was written for, and it comes in only one size. What’s a girl to do? Math, that’s what! One thing about this pattern is that it’s a little sparse on the details. Not that it’s badly written, just that I wouldn’t recommend it to a beginner. There are definitely some areas where you need to be able to read between the lines to figure out what’s going on. Oddly, I find this makes it easier for me to alter a pattern, because there’s less I need to reinterpret…or perhaps rather because I’ve already done the interpreting for myself it’s easier to adjust that interpretation.

So I’ve done the math and changed the numbers and so far, it seems to be coming along well. I did make one teeny mistake when changing the numbers, but that was an easy (one stitch) tweak, so no worries. I’ve just started the collar decreases and am excited to get to the end of the front bodice so I can join up and try it on to see if my adjustments were correct. This is going so fast I won’t even mind terribly if they’re not (but I’m pretty sure they are…math is a wonderful and powerful tool when used correctly).

*Funny story…I just happened to check the PS website on my way to grabbing the Ravelry link for the sweater…June’s color is green! I didn’t even know! Clearly, I am just totally in tune with Project Spectrum this year.