How Did I End Up With So Many Green Sweaters?!

How do you choose the colors you want to knit a sweater from?

While I start choosing a shawl based on the colors of the yarn and how much I love the yarn, when I choose a sweater project I tend to start with a pattern I love and a yarn I think would work and choose a color of that specific yarn. This has lead to the following stats:

I've knit...

• 3 green sweaters
• 3 red sweaters
• 2 purple sweaters
• 1 1/2 white sweaters (I have one in progress)
• 1 blue sweater
• 1 brown sweater
• 1 gray sweater

I don't think I look particularly wonderful in yellow, so I don't mind that I've skipped that part of the color wheel. I have been thinking of what my next sweater should be. I'm thinking either Jean from Pom Pom Magazine. I have some orange DK weight from Ellen's Half Pint Farm I bought in 2007 at Rhinebeck. It might be nice to use it before it will have been in my stash for 10 years. And you'll notice that orange isn't a color featured on that list of colors!



I'm also contemplating a yoke sweater from Elizabeth Zimmerman that I've been thinking about for several years now. In my head, this sweater is navy blue and has a ring of white stars around the yoke. I think they'd be hand drawn stars, though, not perfect ones. I got this idea after seeing someone with an EZ Yoke sweater the first time I went to Rhinebeck. Hers had a yoke that had a kind of Greek wave pattern on it. At some point after that I started thinking about this kind of sweater (I feel like it was very close to having met that woman, actually, on the benches of the food court part of the fairgrounds). I've thought about this sweater quite often throughout the years, and I think this might be the year it becomes a reality.

At Rhinebeck in 2014 I bought some worsted weight blue yarn and white yarn from Green Mountain Spinnery. I'm just not sure if I actually have enough white to accomplish the stars as big as I'd want them. I might need another skein of the white, which due to dye lots, I'd probably have to buy two more and add the first to the PILE of white yarn I have on hand for whenever someone decides they need a bouquet of white pom-poms again.

All the talk this year seems to focus on Icelandic yoked sweaters, but that cabled sweater is so pretty and I already know I have yarn for it that would work. What do you think I should do first?

Also: How do you choose the colors you want to use to knit a sweater?

RHINEBECK Recap

I have quite a bit of work to do, don't I? God, what happened to October!? I think I'm so swept up in my BOSOX playing in the world series and RHINEBECK.

So I fixed the Berkshire pullover, but I don't have any new photos of it. I assure you it's done though. I started it three times in three different sizes. I did each sleeve twice - one because I cast on too few stitches the first time, and the other because my row gauge was a bit off. And I undid the neck and re-did it so it was in the middle of the sweater instead of off to the side.

The monkey socks are pretty much the same as they were when I showed them to you in the beginning of the month. I haven't done anything with them because I've been working on placemats for friends who got married in May. I realize I have a year after the wedding to get them done, but I'd really rather get them done sooner rather than later. My conscience was getting to me, so I started them.


I'm knitting four of them out of King Tut Cotton on size five Denises. One's done, one's almost done, and then I'll only have two more to knit. They're taking me about a week each to complete, which means I knit faster than I thought I did. :)

But what you really want is a RHINEBECK recap right?
Our NYC SNB gals holed up at Blogless Jill's parents' summer home for the weekend where we battled fruit flies, watched Hitchcock movies and knit our hearts out. THANKS TO JILL'S MOM FOR LETTING US STAY THERE!!!!

I did most of my buying the first day. I fought my way in and found some appropriate STR, then I stood in a line about three booths long to pay. This is what I came out with:


STR Medium weight yarn in Carbon Dating color-way.

After wandering around a bit, I also found some nice roving. I looked at it. I felt it. I coveted it. I bought it.


I'm not sure what it is, but I suspect it's some sort of silk/merino blend. It was way cheaper than buying yarn! I was surprised. After that, Michelle was kind enough to wander around with me a bit to find a nice drop spindle.

I met up with a lot of awesome bloggers and folks on Ravelry. Met a bunch of people I probably wouldn't have been able to if I hadn't done the Rhinebeck Blogger Bingo.

Later on that day, I found some fabulous wool to knit the Spiral Pullover in.


Doesn't look like much does it? It's only about 1500 yards of Falkland Wool I got from Ellen's 1/2 Pint farm!

That evening, Blogless Johanna taught some of us how to crochet!


I think I actually got it!

So we went to bed, and woke up the next day ready to head back to the Sheep and Wool Festival. This time, I decided I wanted to focus on the animals. After buying a few buttons from Briar Rose Fibers



I managed to find a bit more roving that struck my fancy


This stuff isn't as slippery as the other roving I bought, so I'm hoping it will be easier to learn with.

We went to the Alpaca and Llama jumping contest, then pet some of the sheep



And I saw a really elaborate Mohair Throw:


psst! That's a real mohair goat!

We wandered on over to the author tent to see if I could get the Yarn Harlot to sign Claudine's copy of her newest book. I had a moment of weakness. I don't have much more room for books on my Knitting shelf. In fact, I would say I have NO MORE room for books anywhere in my apartment. I still collect them though, and so, obviously, I had to buy Clara Parkes' new book The Knitter's Book of Yarn. I also had to have her sign this book.

All in all, I'd say it was a pretty successful trip. there was apple crisp and apple ceider consumed. Famous bloggers like Kate Gilbert and January One were noticed. People seemed to have a fun time, and I walked away with some awesome yarn. For a weekend in which i probably had about the the maturity of a six year old, I'd like to thank my fellow SNBers for letting me be the goofy comic relief of the weekend! <3 you gals!!!