Parsley, sage, rosemary and wine

Last December, I finally picked up my crochet hooks again after several months' absence. I've been meaning to make the Rosemary sweater from Interweave Crochet for some time, and I finally went in search of some fuzzy wool in that exact shade of variegated pumpkin and gold. Alas, it was not to be found. l did find this lovely variegated wine-coloured wool instead. It's Diamond Luxury Mulberry Linen, which is an alpaca/linen/mulberry silk blend and rather lovely to work with. Note: block this yarn with vinegar added because the colour runs and rubs off on light-coloured tees.



I was hoping to be finished the sweater in time for Christmas. That might have been doable if I had worked at it a bit each day, but I got partway through the back bodice and then... shall we say, paused... for a few weeks. I spent most of last fall trying to kick a cold and that plus hecticity (hecticness? hectictude?) at school just wiped me out. So it wasn't until the day before Christmas that I picked it up again. Got a lot done on the way to and at the DC's parents' house, and it wasn't until after we opened presents at my SIL's on Christmas day, when I got to the point where you're supposed to join the front pieces together under what the DC swears is called the gorge but the pattern calls the keyhole that I realised something was amiss.

So... oops. This is after I fixed the left side. The one on the right is still wrong, in case you can't tell. Both sides looked like that, and I don't know why it didn't occur to me that that was completely crazy *before* I got to the end.

I'm not sure where I went wrong -- I thought I missed a row on the back but now I think I may have added an extra row -- but I pulled out two days' worth of work and added a row to the neckline on each side. The keyhole dips a bit low because of this. And I'm not entirely sure how an added row wound up using less yarn than before...

Anyway, I got sorted that out and finished the rest of the bodice with only four days of my break wasted. You're supposed to block the bodice it before moving on to the next part, and I did so. Wonders will never cease.



Unfortunately, waiting for it to dry used up the rest of my break, so I had to work at it in small increments over the next month and a half. I always make my sweaters shorter than required because I don't really like tunic length sweaters, so I stopped after 15 rows and I crocheted only 22 rows on the sleeves because my family are descended from tyrannosaurs.



Sort of a random picture, but this is how I wind my wool. Is there a better, non-swift way to do this (that doesn't involve using my partner's hands, as domestic as that would seem)?

Working in dribs and drabs, I was hoping to be finished by my birthday, but it turns out that marking labs in dribs and drabs doesn't get them marked in time for report cards, so I had to make a choice. With that interruption behind me, I finished the sweater on Valentine's day, just in time to wear it (unblocked) to tea with my fiancé^* at Gibson House Museum, where we found a convenient spinning wheel to take this pictures.



I really like this sweater, but there are Issues. The ribbing is supposed to be an empire waist, but it wound up being really close to my actual waist. The keyhole is too wide and too deep. And the sleeves are a titch too short, unfortunately. When I make this again (which I will, as soon as I can find some variegated pumpkin & gold yarn), I'll shorten the bodice and narrow the keyhole. For this version, I'm either going to look for some thin leather straps to lace it up or attach some ties at the top.



The back neck is too low, obviously, I think because of that skipped or extra row. Also, you can see where my uneven gathering to the ribbing in the back is making it wonky. Blocking didn't quite sort these problems out (although it fixed the sleeve length, for the most part). But I do like this sweater and have worn it quite a lot so far.

Here's a link to my Ravelry notes, should you be interested.

As a quick project afterward, I made this aptly named Chunky Ribbed Twisted cowl from Little Monkeys Crochet to use up the leftover wool from Aunt R2's scarf and beret. I had just enough left from one skein to make 58 fdc (instead of 65 as per the pattern) and used up the second skein. I only got 7 rows out of 10, but I'm fine with that. It even stayed cold long enough for me to get some use out of it! How kind of the weather.^**



So wait, I hear you say. You made two new things. That must mean you've cleared the Bookcase of Shame, right? Right?

Ahem. Not really. I did do some work on the lining of my granddad pants (which I wore to tea), but I did a bad job and they need to be redone. Rather distressing.

^*Did I mention I'm getting married? And that's the first time I've blogged about my fiancé? Just checking.

^**Not really. I am ready to be done with winter.