Patrick

Patrick
click to wallow in cabley goodness
Finshed...uh, YAY!

Okay, this project was waaaay more work than it should've been. Talk about forcing a yarn to work with a pattern... this is it. I love the Beaverslide, but it's not an aran weight, but rather a bulky weight. I love how the pattern looks, but the directions were a little challenging (second time I've knit a Black Purl design... and both, while beautiful designs, aren't for the novice knitter... quite frankly they need a copy editor to proof read them).

So let's do a quick summery. Matt likes very neutral colored sweaters. Creams, grays, taupes, khaki. He'll wear t-shirts and polo style shirts in bright cheery colors, but he only wants drab colors for sweaters. So I bought him the Beaverslide yarn in Autumn Licorice (a truely stunning shade of orange) and gifted it to him as Christmas gift. I mean, who doesn't want a yummy box of yarn for Christmas? I know I do!!! Well, he wasn't as amused as I was. I promised him a sweater out of it (hey, no deadline if you give them the yarn as a gift, right?). I wanted to make Patrick for a while and even started it in an alpaca yarn, but never got past the ribbing. So I started it with the Beaverslide. Seemed fine... until I was well into the cabled sections. I realized how hard it was to work the cables and while my gauge was on, my fabric was a little stiff.

I suffered thru the hard to work cables, the poor directions and the tedious of not loving knitting it (I did however, love how it looked). Took me almost a year, but Matt has a super warm snuggly dog walking sweater (the yarn relaxed quite a bit with blocking). I have to say that I'm pleased... not only that's it's done, but the ending results. Let's do the project stats:

Pattern: Patrick by Black Purl Designs (their site has been "under construction" for a really really long time, and I understand they are not responding to email inquires, so no link)
Yarn: Beaverslide McTaggart Tweed in Autumn Licore (the 2 ply, not the new 3 ply)
Changes to the pattern: I did my own thing with the sleeves, as the increases didn't seem right.
Problems with the pattern: just not well written in some areas.
Overall impressions: don't use a bulky yarn for this! The ending result seems to have been worth it and I'll knit the pattern again in a different yarn for Matt. The pattern is gorgeous and I love the cables. I love the yarn, and I would use it again, but a more appropriate pattern for the weight.

So I have been working on other things here and there, including gloves/hat/scarf for Matt. I'll get photos of those up soon. With one more month left, I think I can get an other sweater done before the end of the year, right?