The Perfect Day

It was a perfect day.  It was a sunny reasonably warm day with no wind.  The deep greens of the spruce and the pale old greens left among grasses and plants vied with the reds and golds of fields and underbrush and border plants as they decline for the season.  It looked and felt like hunting season which was part of my life for so long.  

Brian was most himself when he was out in this fall world. He understood the scent of leaves and branches fallen to the forest floor and the crunch each footstep made.  It was his spirit home.  I dream his soul is out there rustling through the trees and grasses and fields, playing with the deer and the elk, quietly becoming part of the world, watching the great and small creatures getting ready for winter.  It may be a fanciful thinking but I am comforted, dreaming of him out there somewhere, observing everything nature has to offer.

  I had my own day of play.  Not content with knowing what I was going to do for one sweater, I had to keep going sorting out what I wanted for Linger.  

I pulled out the two yarns I had chosen and started swatching.  I started with the marl, thinking this was probably going to be my best option.

I started with a 5.5 mm needle and then a 6 and finished off with an 8. You can see the subtle changes in gauge by noting the markers. I really like all three samples but I get the best gauge with the 5.5.  My favourite is with the 6 mm needle, but once it is washed, will be a bit too open. I decided to go with 5.5 mm needles.

I set the project up on Ravelry and found something amazing.  I have twenty seven balls of the blue Highland Wool.  That means that using the yarn double stranded, I will have about 1250 metres of yarn for the garment, which is soo so close, even for my yarn worrier self.  I just had to do a few test rows with just the plain blue.  

The marl was okay.  It was fine, but it just wasn't what I saw the sweater being. I loved the heathered look of the original and wanted that same sort of look.  But I could very much get behind the blue for the whole sweater.  And, with 1250 metres available, maybe that is the way to go.  

I do love the look of the solid blue.  And, if I don't have quite enough, I can extend the meterage using stripes of the heathered grey blue held double for all the ribbings.  I do like this sort of look from Deb Hoss's vest, Angels All Around Us.  

Which takes me right back to the start of it all.  If I use the plain blue held double for all the ribbings I will have lots to get the body and sleeves from the lovely heathered grey blues.  

So blue, marled, or heathered, which way do I go? I have some decisions to make.  Thankfully, I have tons of knitting on other projects to work on while I decide.