Wow. I love knitting my own handspun yarn. If you don’t have a wheel, and you are a knitter, I highly recommend learning so that you can knit with something you made! First off, it is so fulfilling to see yarn hanging and drying that is becoming plump and soft. Then, when you touch it, and roll it between your fingers, it is neat to say “I made this”, then when you knit the whole back of a sweater and hold it up poking your finger at the centre of it to check and see that it really is a solid piece of fabric, it is a little like giving birth (minus the pain). You say “I can’t believe you came from me!”
So the sweater. Retrofit is really simple, being stockinette stitch. It has given me a chance to listen to some great audiobooks, and speed up my knitting and thus has moved along quite quickly.
A couple of other recommendations:
Slip a stitch purl wise each time so that you have something smooth to seem when you are done. I didn’t do this on the Leo, and have since found upon close inspection that the seems are a little lumpier than I would like.- This is an easy pattern to modify with tapering the waist etc. I recommend it. Shows off the chest and shoulders better - men like to feel flattered by their clothes as much as women. I did not taper the back. I was worried I would get it wrong. So I will taper the front and just sew the back to the front so that it fits. (I dont’ know if that works, but I’ll letcha know)
I finished the back the other day, tried it next to Justin and realized that Justin is way bigger than Larry, so we will have to do another fitting. Somehow I think the shoulders are two small. I should have stuck to the pattern more. Honestly, I was thinking that this sweater (because of my guage) was going to be larger than the sizing in the chart. It seems to be right on now though.
I think it would be good to read about working with handspun. I know Spin-Off Magazine has some articles if you are looking. I tend to do things a little backwards and haven’t gotten their yet. The fact that it looks like a sweater, and the fabric is real, and solid and made by me is making me a little cocky. I imagine that will wear off after a while?
I can’t wait to get a sheep.
Check out my Ravelry Profile and my Flickr Account to see my secret projects on the needles (family members beware - christmas is coming.