This is the first sweater that I ever knit from my own handspun yarn. The gray is Corriedale/Rambouillet and the white is Rambouillet. I hadn't learned long draw yet and suffered terribly at the hands of the Rambouliet. It was an agony to spin from my pinched over-controlled inchworm technique. Still, the yarn is soft and the sweater comfortable. I have complained for years that I don't know why I knit sweaters because I never wear them. Until now.When we worked, we would come home, run the furnace to heat up the house and then maintain it with the woodstove. I was never cold. Now that we're home all the time, we only heat with wood and it can get pretty chilly in parts of the house. I wear my sweaters a lot!
It has been years since I wore this one, so when I was wearing it last week, I was mortified to discover that there were moth holds. I found this out when I reached around to scratch my back and my finger went right through, or I would probably never have known. I then brought down the stack of my sweaters from the top of the closet and checked them all. I was lucky to only have one victim. There's no more yarn from this project but I'll mend it and make due.
I have about a half dozen sweaters that are my favorites. The two on the left are from the Sonnet pattern on Knitty. I've sold sweaters at guild White Elephant sales before and had planned to donate the one on the left this year - until I got cold.
These are a couple more of my favorites, but the middle is my absolute most favorite of all. It was my second sweater from handspun and this time I plied the white Rambouillet with the gray Corriedale/Rambouillet. The small handspinners flock belonging to a friend that the gray wool came were killed by neighbor dogs, and I have always felt close to this sweater. I love the cables.I've been curious about temples in weaving and I've seen other questions lately on blogs. I was thrilled tonight to open Laura Frey's blog and find a discussion and video which you can see here. If you are interested in weaving, you really should follow her blog. She is a wonderful and generous teacher.
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7 comments:
What a lovely collection of sweaters. We too are having sweater weather and this year I've added camisoles (undershirts...whatever you want to call them) to my layers.
RE: temples - you might find this blog post interesting (and relatively inexpensive)
http://sandrarude.blogspot.com/2007/06/using-temple.html
I've been using Sandra's idea for the last few warps and am very happy with the results.
Lynnette at Dust Bunnies has a temple tutorial:
http://dustbunniesundermyloom.blogspot.com
The link is on the side bar.
Many good teachers out there, all freely sharing which is really nice.
There's a few at my blog too...
Merry Christmas
Susan
I have yet to knit a adult-size, full-length sweater - much less spun enough of one fleece for one; I hope I have enough years left to accomplish that feat!
That's a great sweater collection!! I have a lot of trouble knitting an entire sweater in a timely fashion, let alone how long it would take to spin the yarn first. I bow down!!
Sue
Yes, having an array of sweaters really pays off when the house is chilly! Good luck repairing the moth holes -- I love that sweater.
I am sorry to heard about that flock getting killed by neighborhood dogs. I am so sorry for the person who owned those sheep.
Now, I love my sweaters and prefer them over sweatshirts. We keep our house pretty cool in the winter (50 at night and 55 during the day unless the wind is blowing hard and then we'll bump it up to 60 for the daytime hours). Luckily both Scott and I are warm natured, and right now we both have extra, natural insulation. I'm hoping to shed most of that by the time winter is over though. Need more sweaters for next year!!!
I agree, a lovely collection. You've been busy over the years! My sweaters are really getting a workout these days too.
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