Hail! Hail! The gang's all here! John's Aspinwell sweater is now ready to roll.
In what strikes me as stunningly good timing that involved three different online yarn stores (Webs, Knitting Central and Yarn Country) to get all the colors all of the yarn for John's sweater arrived on Saturday and Monday. 18 skeins of Fiber Company Terra in Beet (for the body of the sweater) and 1 skein each of Medium Indigo, Yarrow, Iron and Olive Leaf. Since there was so much color variability across the interwebs with regards to all of these colors (to give you an idea, while the sweater in IK looks very blue, it's actually knit in the colorway called "Shale" which is very much grey)
I was a little worried about what to expect, especially with the Beet. A touch lighter or more pink and the husband would have rejected it completely, even though this yarn has the most divine hand I've come across in a long time. I mean, yowza -- fill up a bathtub with this stuff and let me dive it. It's against the skin soft if ever there was such a yarn. Even John seemed to enjoy feeling this yarn up a little bit. And then there was my concern about how the pattern colors would go with the main color. But seeing them altogether, I'm sure they're going to look great and I can't wait to get started. Clearly some swatching will have to happen soon.
One thing I should remark on for anyone considering this sweater... this yarn is pricey stuff. Not surprising, given it's luxury fiber content. And I've no regrets about it, given the rare opportunity I have to make John a sweater, I want it to be stuff that I know he's going to love -- soft and inviting. However, ordering it from Webs was great because in the amount I had to order it in, it was $4 per skein off the regular price. While that hardly makes it a budget sweater, since 19 of the 22 skeins came from Webs, it knocked $76 off the price, which is nothing to sneeze at!
With this project, my new loom and a whole whack of sock yarn, I think I'm going to be hard pressed to be bored this winter!
In what strikes me as stunningly good timing that involved three different online yarn stores (Webs, Knitting Central and Yarn Country) to get all the colors all of the yarn for John's sweater arrived on Saturday and Monday. 18 skeins of Fiber Company Terra in Beet (for the body of the sweater) and 1 skein each of Medium Indigo, Yarrow, Iron and Olive Leaf. Since there was so much color variability across the interwebs with regards to all of these colors (to give you an idea, while the sweater in IK looks very blue, it's actually knit in the colorway called "Shale" which is very much grey)
I was a little worried about what to expect, especially with the Beet. A touch lighter or more pink and the husband would have rejected it completely, even though this yarn has the most divine hand I've come across in a long time. I mean, yowza -- fill up a bathtub with this stuff and let me dive it. It's against the skin soft if ever there was such a yarn. Even John seemed to enjoy feeling this yarn up a little bit. And then there was my concern about how the pattern colors would go with the main color. But seeing them altogether, I'm sure they're going to look great and I can't wait to get started. Clearly some swatching will have to happen soon.
One thing I should remark on for anyone considering this sweater... this yarn is pricey stuff. Not surprising, given it's luxury fiber content. And I've no regrets about it, given the rare opportunity I have to make John a sweater, I want it to be stuff that I know he's going to love -- soft and inviting. However, ordering it from Webs was great because in the amount I had to order it in, it was $4 per skein off the regular price. While that hardly makes it a budget sweater, since 19 of the 22 skeins came from Webs, it knocked $76 off the price, which is nothing to sneeze at!
With this project, my new loom and a whole whack of sock yarn, I think I'm going to be hard pressed to be bored this winter!
Gorgeous color combo in a beautiful yarn! I can't find this pattern in Ravelry. Have you already posted a link and I missed it?
That Beet looks like a perfect sweater color...I can't wait to see how the swatches for the colorwork turn out!
I love the colors, too. It will be a beautiful sweater. I also had problems finding the pattern on Ravelry & discovered it's call "Aspinwall". Here's the link for anyone who's curious: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/aspinwall-pullover.
Yup, I made a mistake on the spelling of the design. It is in fact "Aspinwall" instead of "Aspinwell"
I love the complexity of sweaters (even though I'm abyssmal about finishing them), but my breaking point is often the price of yarn. I want to knit with all of these beautiful yarns, but the frugal New Englander wants to have to save more than a few pennies. I've slowly come to realize that some substitutions for cost just don't work and leave me wanting to either dump the project or never wear it once it is finished.
Now that I have this yarn in hand, I think that there are a pretty wide range of subs that would be okay. The Terra is delicious, but what makes it special is the fiber content, not how it's prepared.
It's basically a smooth, single ply worsted/aran weight yarn, not unlike Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride or Malabrigo. You might even be able to sub in something like Cottonease or Cascade 220 (although I suspect Cascade 220 might be just a little "narrow").
But I know what you mean when you mention that sometimes the substitutions leave you wanting. I have a couple of sweaters like that. I think that's part of the reason I decided to bite the bullet on this one and just go with the Terra. That, and the fact that I make so few sweaters for John, that when I do make one for him I want it to be an incredibly wonderful usable luxury... and he loves soft things against his skin, so I feel like I can justify it since there are so few other treats I can buy him.
You certainly do have lots to keep you busy! It will be a very nice sweater for your husband. I do like ordering from Webs - you can't beat there discounts.
It does look like an inviting color combination.
I treated myself to 3 skeins of Terra in a discontinued color for my birthday. It's really nice stuff. Lucky man to get a sweater out of it!