One of my sad personal failings is an inability to picture what something will look like if something is changed. So, I bought a pattern for a sweater, and now I want to know if this sweater would look good if knit with the fiber that I am spinning right now. So I loaded up Photoshop, pulled up a picture of the sweater, and changed the color to match the exact shade that I am spinning. Now if you all could just take a peek, and contemplate if a sweater made with blue bunny alpaca that followed this pattern would work, my work here would be done:
OK, so, what do you think? Please keep in mind that this yarn is half bunny, half alpaca. So it'll have that whole bunny "halo effect", and it will be drapey, thanks to the alpaca. So if you think I'll look like I'm wearing a big fluffy, drapey tent, you have to tell me.
This is a problem, that after some 40 years of fiber work, I am beginning to understand. Be ready with a stiff shot of something: espresso, tequila, chocolate. Something. It won't likely be what you want to hear.
ReplyDeleteYou have to check the gauge of the original pattern and then you have to see if you can knit or crochet with your yarn to that gauge. It is the only way.
I have met people, not very many, who can, when there is gauge is off, go through some kind of meandering mathematical journey that will give them additional information about what can be done, but those people are so few and far between. They are like a needle in a haystack or like an American physicist who can explain quantum mechanics to their girlfriends. They will just make you feel bad in the end.
Find the pattern, knit a sample, check gauge. Save yourself heartbreak.
love always,
As it turns out, I am down to the very last bit of this fiber as far as spinning goes. One more day, and then I can set the spin on what I've created. Sadly, though, I don't think I could knit anything with a consistent gauge. So I'm just going to have to find someone who can try this out for me. After this, I'm on to the caramel huacaya and suri alpaca! And then I will have to replenish my stash, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteBut I must point out, Denise, that you haven't answered my original question. Assuming I could find a knitting gauge expert, would this sweater pattern look good if made out of bunny/alpaca fiber? I can bring it along to guild if you'd like to evaluate it. I am not very good at guessing if the fiber I am working at will work well with a particular pattern. I wouldn't want to look like a fluffy blue snow monster, after all.
ReplyDeleteOk. 1) I am one of those mathematically inclined knitters, and I can't leave a pattern alone. (Look at http://www.ravelry.com/projects/shegeek5/97-24-jumper-in-double-thread-alpaca for a sample of my insanity.) So, if it comes down to not hitting gauge, holler.
ReplyDelete2) You may be able to put your swatch to good use as a mock-sweater. Knit it up, probably in the pattern at the bottom of this sweater, and then do whatever pinning and origami it take to make it look like the body (skip the sleeves) on a doll. Try to give it the proportions it would have on you. If the unwashed mock-sweater looks like the doll is turning into a rabbit, maybe it's too much. :) Washing will give it a bigger halo, but I don't know if it will be proportional.