The first time I ever used a self-patterning yarn, it was for a pair of Opal socks. The socks are special to me, because I finished both of them. The shop, you see, only needs one sock at a time. It only has one foot. I’m notorious for hanging a half-finished sock. But these self-striping Opal socks… while I finished both of them, they didn’t match up. The stripes and jacquards were so long in the yarn, and so seemingly non-repetitive that it was very tough to see any sort of pattern. I was also using US0s. Gulp. It was suggested that if I really had to have the pattern align, I should simply raise one foot about an inch off the ground. For someone who likes correlation, that was just so not helpful. Those socks were close, but close only counts in horseshoes and handgrenades.
I really like things to match. Socks come in pairs, they should look alike. Sleeves are two – they should be the same. But self-patterning yarns present a challenge to overcome! So when Inspire arrived yesterday, a surprisingly soft yarn from Wisdom via Universal – I took the yarn at its name and cast on to the challenge.
Inspire is a 75% acrylic / 25% wool blend, with 220 yards for 100 grams. It’s affordable, and everyone who’s felt it so far had trouble believing the fiber content. The pattern is called Christine, and is a pullover with a deep ballet-wrap-like vee front. It calls for Tapestry, which we also have in the shop. But the pattern arrived with Inspire – so it’s a happy coincidence. The back of the sweater just flew, what a fast yarn! Thank you, enthusiasm – and it got done around lunchtime today. The first front is where I had to pause… and consider the problem of matching. Or MISmatching. The ribbed band had to line up! So I pulled out some yarn and cast on in what I thought might be the same place. It sort of worked out…
Then I started the sloping edge and realized that the front won’t – can’t - match the back. Because the rows get shorter and shorter – resulting in wider and wider stripes. Since it’s beyond my control, I’ve resolved to simply not stand sideways. And since “One Size Fits Wall”, the Wall doesn’t much care. It never stands sideways.
The second front looms on the horizon. I’m trying to prepare myself for the non-matching of it to the first. They don’t match in the photo on the pattern, and it leans to the right – so it’s not like a pair of socks anyway. Mirror images aren’t identical, right? The sleeves, though. Yeah, the sleeves… I need help there. I usually knit both sleeves at the same time and can see this might be a problem. What sort of things do you tell yourself to overcome the discordance of mismatched sleeves? Should I just get over it (when, let me tell you, it’s very tough to let it go), or is there a trick you can share? Thanks in advance and I’ll keep you posted on the progress.
