The Easy Bulky One

Well that was interesting.

It turns out that the Harrisville Flax and Wool was not the right yarn for the Easy Bulky One.  In my head, Flax and Wool is bulky and thick.  In reality it is more of an Aran weight, perhaps not even as heavy as the Osprey I am working with right now.  

This time, I want this sweater, rather than any other more complicated garment, and I want this garment in large wool. So it gets done fast.  For Stash Dash. Which I realize is just the silliest thing in the world but I don't want to have to say in public again this year, that I couldn't do it.  That happened two years ago and it took me a lot longer than I care to admit to feel comfortable with myself again.  

There are lots of reasons for a big comfy sweater besides Stash Dash humiliation.  The Easy Bulky One appeared at just the right time in summer when I was trying to think of what I would like for winter wear.  It is the kind of sweater that goes over everything, that is casual and relaxed.  It is a Saturday morning sitting in your pjs sort of sweater.  

As I was sitting working on it yesterday, it came to me that it is exactly the same kind of sweater as my Icelandic Overblouse and I wear that so often even in summer, that it is going for its third wash of the season. It gets it weekly in winter.  If you click that link to the pattern page on Ravelry, you will see my version in photo number two.  I love this sweater.  

It's only shortcoming is that I have to wear a small scarf with it in winter.  It doesn't sit so high that the back of my neck stays warm. For the Easy Bulky One, I plan to fix this, with short rows on the back neck to raise it up and to have it sit close.  I am toying with the idea of making it a closer fitting neck than what the pattern shows.  We shall see when we get there. 

So, do you want to see where I am after the first day?

After realizing that the Harrisville was not the right yarn, I went digging in the stash.  I had a fair number of options too.  I started thinking about some Debbie Bliss Luxury Tweed Chunky.  I didn't end up using it though, because another yarn just kept getting in the way.  Literally.  What we have here is that yarn, Queensland Collections Kathmandu Chunky.  It is as if this yarn was meant for this sweater.  It made a fabric I like immediately in a gauge that is close enough that I can just knit a different size than I normally would start with.  The hand of the yarn feels just so perfectly right for this sweater.  Warm, comfy, snuggly, even before it is knit.  It feels thick and rich and a little bit decadent.  Surely that is what  yarn for a Saturday morning in your pjs sort of sweater ought to feel like?

Anyway, it is thick and wonderful and dense and warm feeling.  Probably not ideal for a hot weather speed knit, but you can't have everything.