Blackberry Ridge

I haven't posted in a while. Somehow life seems to be raging out of control again. I swear some of it is my favorite monthly visitor, but some of it isn't.

Work is beyond palatable. I have put in for a different job at work and I am praying to any diety that will listen that I get it. I do like what I am doing currently, but it just isn't the right position for me right now. It really requires more than 40 hours a week and I just can't do that.

I haven't done much knitting lately for some reason. When I helped with inventory at my LYS, I received 7 skeins of bulky weight yarn from Blackberry Ridge. They are a local spinery and produce some very nice yarns. The bulky that I have has a very interesting construction.

The yarn is technically a 4-ply, but it took me a while to figure this out. Instead of a traditional 4 ply when all of the plys are plyed together at once, this yarn consists of 2 2-ply strands that are then plyed together. I discovered this when I was joining a new ball with spit join and it wouldn't felt together well.

It is also very tightly spun. I am hoping that this will equate to great wearablity.

Because it is a bulky yarn, I've decided to knit it up into a weekend sweater. My personal preference for sweaters knit at a much finer gauge than the 15 st/4" than I am getting for this. So, it will never be one that I wear to work. I am using Ann Budd's The Knitters Handy Book of Sweater Patterns for this.

The first version is knit in the round and I divided front and back for inset sleeves. But, I had to reconsider. The thought of the seams in such a bulky yarn was daunting. I ripped it back and decided to go with a seamless yoke so I can eliminate the seams.

Out of sheer laziness, I didn't add any waist shaping, which I probably should have. But, I am letting this go. (Ignore the wonkiness of the picture. The body is still on a 24" circ and is a bit crowded at the top.) The color is a bit washed out in this picture, it is actually rich natural brown.