Lo Tech Possibilities

The Sleeves of Dad'd LoTech Sweat

So now I've cleared the hurdle of the sleeves for Dad's sweater. Normally I would breathe a sigh of relief and be thinking about finishing. And then I remembered the hood. And the pockets. Now, the pockets are no big deal, knitting-wise. The hood, on the other hand, is another thing... it's a big stockinette square.

I just don't think I can bear to do any more large, stockinette only pieces of knitting for a while. But this is a gift sweater, and I want it to be good for the wearer. It's not really about whether or not I feel like knitting stockinette.

So I got to thinking about my dad and this sweater and what he might be doing in it. Originally, I had conceived of this sweater as a simple sweater that he could wear while out running, or in his workshop when he's working on a wood working project.

Now, on the surface, a hood would seem fine for both those purposes. But a hoodie only works well for running when it has a drawstring, and even then, it obscures your peripheral vision, which is not a good idea when you're running alongside country roads. And in the workshop, well, Dad makes a lot of sawdust happen. The workshop is heated, so he's not going to be wearing the hood up. Which means that it's going to be collecting saw dust...and he's going to bring that sawdust into the house and get in trouble with my mom. Doesn't seem like it would be very nice to make him a present that gets him into trouble by accident.

So the hood is gone.

If I get rid of the hood, I'm going to have to add a collar. I've decided that want it to be something that comes up around the neck and doesn't let too much warmth out. I'm thinking of a simple garterstitch band, doubled over to give it a little "stand up" quality.

Then I got to thinking about the button bands and the buttons. If dad wears this sweater out running, the buttons are going to flop around. If he wears it in the workshop, they could catch in his machinery since the sweater is not going to be extremely tight fitting. Even worse than getting him in trouble with mom would be having him get caught in a piece of euipment. At least from a health perspective.

So the buttons are gone. To be replaced by a zipper. This is a radical move for me, because I am pretty much completely afraid of zippers. But I think a zipper is much more practical for both running and the workshop. But this means I also need to narrow the button band because I don't want to add quite so much width to the sweater. I think perhaps I will make mine in K1P1 rib, but only 1/2 wide.

And what about the pockets? Well, I'm torn about the pockets. On one hand, they are sawdust collectors. On the other hand, they are a useful place to put keys, drill bits, sandpaper and other things that dad might want to keep with him when he's doing his thing. I'm also kind of a sucker for pockets in clothes (I hate it that so much women's clothing is pocketless), and have never made any for knitwear before. So the pockets will probably stay.

So now I have to create a hoodless zip up sweatshirt instead of a hooded button up model. I guess I'll just be "bossing my knitting around" a la Bonne Marie. I should mention that this pattern is an ideal one to work with. It's a very easy to follow template from which you can jump off in a lot of directions.

Just before I headed off to the KIP (which was great fun, as usual ) I found this in my mailbox...

What Could This Be?

Could my Phil'Onde have touched down on this side of the Atlantic? Could this Keyboard Biologist now have what can only be described as an obscenely wonderful abount of spring yarn? Only the postman knows...

P.S. Be sure to check out Mary's blog -- she's one of our KIP regulars dipping her toes into the blogging pool. It was her lovely Kidsilk Haze sweater that convinced me that I needed to get started on my lacy jacket. Welcome, Mary!