Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Seamless Hybrid

Dear Readers. I have officially lost my mind. These are the components of my insanity:

- one 2,5 mm circular needle
- an unknown number of skeins of Rowanspun 4 ply
- 250 cast on stitches
- an ocean of stockinette in the round using the above mentioned materials

Yes, I'm knitting Elizabeth Zimmermann's Seamless Hybrid for my significant other with 2,5 mm needles and a 4 ply yarn, which equals 250 stockinette stitches per round. I know, I know, many fair isle masterpieces have roughly the same gauge, but there you have the pattern to take your mind off the stockinette. This is just mind numbing madness.

Oh, the things you do for love! I've been wanting to knit my BF a sweater for a long time, but nothing has really caught his interest. Until I showed him this. You can always count on brooklyntweed for inspiration, can't you. The instructions for the sweater (which needs to be finished by Christmas, by the way) were the following:

- not too warm
- not too bulky, the fabric needs to be thin
- no fancy-pancy patterning
- a subtle color
- has to look good and fit perfectly

So I took out the 2,5 mm circulars (thank you Secret Pal!), dug out the Rowanspun 4 ply from my stash and started knitting. What you see in the photo is three days worth of stockinette. Surprisingly, I really like knitting it. It's the perfect tv-project. I don't even have to look at it while I knit.

And even more surprisingly, the sun came out today! Which means that I had a few minutes to photograph my sweater experiment. I finally managed to capture the real color of the yarn. The main body is almost done. Now I just need to decide if I'm going to knit the turtle neck or the sleeves next...

6 comments:

Macoco said...

That cable is so pretty. I hope all of that stockinette doesn't drive you too batty!

Anonymous said...

Hey Heidi,
pretty sweater, perfect for men!
I want to tell you that the last package went on its way today, so look out for the postman!
Greetz, your SP :)

Anonymous said...

It's sp time here :-) your BF has class! I guess mine would like the same sort of model.
The green is fabulous and the cable a real beauty.
And stockinette is perfect for watching tv!

Anonymous said...

I think the sun coming out is a sign that you're on the right path.

Knit on!

Phlel said...

This is absolutely my favorite color. Also love the cables. All in all looking pretty perfect.

Phlel said...

Another comment. About that BF sweater. I just looked at the link to the finished one. Ohmigosh. You may indeed have lost your mind. It's very pretty. And soooooo many stockinette stitches. A real classic. It is so similar to one I made for my BF in 1968 when I lost my mind. Mine was a v-neck but otherwise looked the same, saddle shoulders and all. It was on #4 US needles so had fewer stitches. I also thought I'd go mad before I finished it- the week after Christmas, as it turned out. That bf had the longest arms and decided he wanted turned back cuffs on the darned thing. He wore that sweater for more than 25 years.