My Version of Black Friday

Black Friday Frog Pile

Instead of fighting hoards of crazed shoppers on this lovely Black Friday, I decided to have a little at home Black Friday... and not with shopping.

The pile of sweaters above will be torn apart and frogged today. Well, maybe one (frogging completed sweaters can be physically exhausting as well as mentally depressing). While all three projects had good intentions, they aren't wearable as is.

The top one is a gauge issue. I used a wool/alpaca gauge that knits between 18-16 stitches/4" for a pattern that required 14 sts/4". I thought this would make it lighter and drapier... and it did. Too much so. The alpaca content also sort of "sticks" to the turtlenecks that I like to wear. So while I love the pattern and the yarn, they were not a good match. I'll definitely knit the sweater again... but I'll use a more gauge appropriate yarn.

The middle green sweater is one of my favorite yarns (Elann's Adara). The slip stitch pattern looks fabulous in the yarn (the pattern is Radiate from knitty). However... the A line shape does not suit me at all. I'm going to look for a slip stitch pattern for the yarn, with a more tailored fit (more suited to my body type).

The bottom sweater is actually not a complete frog (yay!). However, the buttonbands and the sleeves will be frogged. The yarn shrunk up a bit when washed, so the buttonbands ended up wavy (a personal pet peeve) and the sleeves are too wide and now short. Should be a pretty straight forward frog/fix, and the yarn (Tatamy Tweed DK by Kraemer yarns) is a lovely cotton/acrylic blend that makes is an all season cardigan.

I'll try to get one done today, and maybe one tomorrow, then one on Sunday. Unless I have a complete mental breakdown and have to cast on something new!