7.02.2008

Honeycomb

How much wool does it take to make a Honeycomb? (A fitted, scoop necked vest from Knitty Spring 2008 in a size 34? (I'm not that small - the pattern calls for quite a bit of negative ease.)

The pile pictured above is 1125 yards of Fibranatura Mermaid - part of my haul from the Purple Purl and 996 yards of which will be needed for the vest. Its a beautiful blend - 42%cotton/35%Superwash Merino/12% Silk/11% Seacell. One of the plies (I'm assuming the one with the silk) has a bit of silvery sheen to it.

The specified yarn for the pattern is a wool and silk blend with a slight tonal variation between the plies so I thought another blend with similar shading would be a good substitute. On my monitor the colour in the photos is very true. Its called "Red Hot" Col.#40602. but its more of a dark pink than a red. I already own a vest with similar lines and fit so I feel pretty confident about the design suiting me (One of my perennial issues). The colour looks wonderfully rich beside dark denim, chocolate brown, navy and grey so it should go with pretty much everything. I think it'll be a great addition to my fall and winter wardrobe.

I'm always angst ridden about things that don't look right but which my mathematical calculations say must be right. (My Grade 12 math teacher, asked me to please never "inflict" myself on another math teacher again. At the time I heartily agreed but his words always haunt me whenever I'm struggling to make practical sense out of numbers - I have a hard time believing I can ever be correct.) But one of the things I'm trying to do with my knitting these days is use and trust numbers more. Numbers seem to the be the magical key to success (The whole connection between gauge, size and fit) and I'm keen to get me some of that success with garments for myself after two disastrous failures in a row.
And why am I so concerned with fall and winter when summer has barely arrived here in southern Ontario? I'm not really, in fact the other vest for which I bought yarn at the Purple Purl last week is 100% cotton and I started that over the weekend (details tomorrow). It only calls for 7 much smaller balls - another reason I'm questioning this quantity but its knit in stockinette so probably doesn't equate at all. And all the calculations were double checked at the store so I'll just have to wait until I swatch to get some early insight into how in the world a "Honeycomb" can hide so much wool!

1 comment:

Sandra said...

any teacher that uses "inflict" in that way should not be teaching kids.
I have the same math issues - I know it SHOULD work, but it doesn't always...