Welcome Spring!

First day of spring. It is a sunny 64 degrees here and the cul-de-sac was full of small children on a variety of wheeled objects. Mary, on the other hand, reported some snow this morning!

The sun was so bright that it really washed out the picture I took of the EZ EPS sweater.

I didn't want you to think I'd just abandoned this project. It is my car and visiting knitting. I still don't know if it will wind up as a sweater. At this point I think I will run out of yarn at an inconvenient spot.

But I think it will give me confidence to tackle another one and I will have learned something.

Too bad the bloom on the Christmas cactus didn't show up better. Please refer to yesterday's post to admire its loveliness. I think I'll call it the Equinox cactus.

Define crazy

Could you define crazy for me? 'Cause I think I have it.

The idea for the EPS seamless sweater was to start knitting the body with the first full ball of yarn and when it ran out to start a sleeve. E.Z. quite sanely suggests starting a sleeve (20% of the body's magic number) while you're still working on the body as it will be "quite a small piece of knitting, and can accompany you on trips, or live in its basket in the kitchen, waiting for any spare attention you can give it".

So I started the sleeve on dpns, worked a little garter for the cuff edge and came to a screeching halt. I'm to mark three stitches for the vertical underarm and will work increases [M1] on either side - every 4 rounds, I think.

About here is where the craziness ensues. I find this almost terrifying. See! Crazy!

Working an Estonian shawl full of nupps, with a separate sewn-on edging and only an illustration to go by? No sweat. Knit a sock with several different charts? So what. But increase? Up a sleeve? By directions that take about two sentences? I'm a puddle of nerves.

I've tried to examine this. Is it because there are no step-by-step instructions or because I can't see or feel my way ahead? I'm not sure. I think it's more that I don't have faith in the process. I don't believe I can do it. And, as I type this, I'm convinced it has much to do with not having a concrete chart. Without a chart I can get lost; go off course, forget to increase; lose track. And here's the clincher: not know what I did when the time comes to replicate for sleeve #2.

Well, that's what The Patented Hatch-Mark System is for. I will make a chart. It's still crazy, but in a planned, controlled way. (Don't tell E.Z., 'kay?)

Fact or Fiction?

For the longest time I was sure this book was FICTION.

Just like this one!


Joy? Seriously? I don't think so.
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Over the years I had tried numerous times to learn to knit and never seemed to succeed. It was too frustrating. Finally, one day, the time was right. Good thing, too, as knitting is the perfect needlework for me right now - extremely portable, quite varied, easy to pick up and put down, challenging and yet very soothing. Who could ask for more?
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But still I remained quite intimidated. It seemed Elizabeth thought I knew how to knit more than I thought I did. I wanted more hand-holding. It couldn't possibly be as simple as she tried to make me believe.
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Yet every time I saw one of her patterns pop up on blogs and Ravelry, the knitter was raving.
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So when I found the book on the sale table at Borders for only $3.99!!! I grabbed it. I read it. I was still intimidated.
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Sometime before Christmas a big, soft bag arrived in the mailbox from Mary. Inside was quite a bit of Galway Highland Heather yarn in my absolute FAVORITE color; a deep dark green. Mary thought I might could use it in some felting projects. I thought why not TRY a sweater. It wouldn't cost me anything but time.
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What you see above is the beginning of an EZ EPS - meaning I'm using Elizabeth Zimmermann's Elizabeth's Percentage System. According to this system, I take one measurement - the width I want the sweater to be - and using the gauge I get with the yarn I use, come up with the magic number for cast on. From there on all other numbers are a percentage of that magic number. (I don't think EZ actually calls it magic, but it must be, right?)
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So, as we here in the deep South begin to warm up and head into spring, I start a 100% wool sweater. TIMING is everything they say.