The Way Back Machine

So here is the thing about Sun Dogs.  This is a really challenging sweater for me.  The way it fits demands that I put my trust into the pattern schematics and her ability to do math to make a pattern to fit an average body.  But, I am not an average body and I don't really accept that I cannot figure out how to adapt it to make it perfect for me.  The construction of the yoke makes sense to me and I know how I can adapt it to shorten it to fit me nicely, but I cannot really tell if I have enough depth to the yoke yet.  Or width.

Part of all this is that Sun Dogs has a lovely, slightly lower than average armscye and a really lovely sleeve.  They are one of the prime reasons that I love the design.  The hem and sleeve edges are very much part of it, but so it the sleeve construction and it is this part that I am just not sure about right now.  Don't get me wrong.  It isn't that the pattern is wrong or weird or poor.  It is how does my particular   body shape work inside this framework.  

This is really, really nice yarn and I want this sweater to me one of my nicest sweaters.  I want it to be something I can consider my old fashioned Sunday best.  I don't want to bugger it up.

Thankfully, I don't have to.

I am not sure if you recall it but last summer, I started knitting a little top using up four or five balls of Fleece Artist dyed sock yarns.  None of them match perfectly, but the are all green/blue greens and in my eyes are perfect to use as blend together gradient getting greener and slightly darker as the top progresses down.

This top is being made with Laura Aylor's pattern Breezeway.  Breezeway has very similar construction details and the knitting is just that much farther along that I am going to use it as a practise piece to test yoke depth for Sun Dogs.  

I don't mind so much with this yarn.  This top has been around the blocks a few times already as I sorted out what I wanted from it.  It isn't virgin yarn any longer.  It will make a great top and could be a sunny summer Sunday best top, but I don't think of it as a Sunday best.   

And that is what I knit on yesterday.  Breezeway is just where the sweater is separated for sleeves and body.  I want to knit an inch or two and give the top a real honest depth test to see if I have everything how I want it.  If I can make the fit here measurements here for the yoke depth, I will win for both tops.