Uh-Oh
What’s wrong with this picture?
I know, it sounds like a trick question, doesn’t it? Well, it might be, but the trick’s on me.
Two lovely little skeins of Elsebeth Lavold’s Silky Wool in color #23, Plum. Isn’t it pretty?
And, you know, little?
Because, imagine my surprise last night when I went into the closet to pull out the next two skeins of yarn for my sweater (you know, the one I’ve been working on since October) and realized they were the last two skeins.
Uh-oh.
Two more skeins? But I’ve still got both arms and half the hood–there’s no way on earth I’m going to make it. Not even if I forego the hood and make 3/4 sleeves (which, really, would look pretty silly on this, I think.)
So, um, let’s think. There’s pretty much no chance at all that the store I bought the yarn in is going to have any left in my dye-lot . . . not ten months later. I thought about calling to ask, but really, it seemed pointless so I didn’t bother. An internet search didn’t help that much, either . . . there doesn’t seem to be much of my color (#23 Plum) available (has it been discontinued?)–though I did find some at Fuzzy Mabel‘s. But, yeah, I really, really don’t expect to match the dye-lot.
But here’s what occured to me. This sweater is a raglan, and I’ve got the back, the fronts, and most of the side panels done in my original dyelot. Obviously, starting the sleeves in this dyelot and changing mid-way to a different one could be awful–that dreaded horizontal demarcation between old and new. But, I asked myself, what if I knitted the entire sleeves in the same color, different dyelot? There would be a minor discrepancy, I’m sure, but what with the raglan seaming, you could think that it’s your eye, not the yarn . .. right? Theoretically?
And certainly, it couldn’t look worse than the two-color version, courtesy of KnitPicks. (I mean, really, this is a stunning sweater pattern, but in two colors? Ugh. But maybe that’s just me. But at least this picture makes it easy to see the separate pieces….) But, heck, if the knitter of this version could do vertical stripes of color, why can’t I do marginally different versions of the same color?
Again, I’ve got the front, back, most of the sides, and the cabled “hood extension” up from the center back over the top of the head done. The plan is that the sleeves will be knit in the new dyelot in their entirety. And then the sides of the hood? Well, we’ll see where I’m at, how the colors match, how much of each yarn I’ve got, etcetera, etcetera when I get there.
Please tell me that this doesn’t sound like it’s going to look horrible. It makes a certain amount of sense, right? Or, you know, be honest and tell me if you do think it will look horrible–I encourage honesty–but be gentle. Because I ordered more yarn from Fuzzy Mabel. Six skeins, which should be more than enough. And if I have extra? I have some of the same yarn in Green and I love purple and green together, so there’s some potential there, anyway.
Either way, though, wish me luck! Now, if only I could somehow be knitting faster…. It sure would be nice to wear this on vacation in May . . . (Please, let this be done in two more months!!) I wouldn’t have believed it possible, but this is taking even longer than my Union Square Market Pullover. It’s almost enough to make a girl want to knit with bulky yarn.
Now, let’s see, in other news…. It was a beautiful day today. Mid-seventies in March is not something that comes around every year! It was so nice, in fact, that we took Chappy out for not one, but two walks today, so now he’s exhausted, but very, very happy.
Our neighbor’s surgery (that I mentioned yesterday) went well. Her husband called us around 2:30 to say she was in recovery, though we haven’t heard anything since, so we’re assuming all went well. Thank you all for your good wishes! I’m sure they helped, and I KNOW she’ll appreciate it when we tell her later on.
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Tannenbaum.
House Calls
Go for the new dyelot – sounds perfectly reasonable to me.
How aobut putting a stripe of green before you start the sleeves. Just to sort of demarcate the edge? That way the 2 colours won’t be right up against each other….
I like your raglan-dyelot plan. Dyelot, schmye-lot!
You may get lucky on the dyelot… I’ll keep my fingers crossed, because stranger things have happened! I love Fuzzy Mabel, they are fantastic.
I also like Carol’s idea! That would totally work!
sounds like an excellent plan. as long as the two different dyelots don’t vary hugely (and i can’t see that they would with the volume they probably do), you should be fine
we had that delicious weather yesterday. it cooled down today, and only got to 56.
and glad to hear all went well, here’s to an excellent recovery! they let my mom go home 2 days afterward, and she was on blood thinners! (she had a valve replacement in 86, and still kicking!)
I used to work at a yarn shop (well, have worked at two different shops, actually), and this is one of the solutions we would suggest for this particular problem. The eye almost *expects* the sleeves to look a little different from the body, so even if the dyelot change is actually noticible, it doesn’t stand out.
From the looks of the KnitPicks picture, I’d suggest trying to make the hood out of the original dyelot, but I doubt it would matter.
You realize that in the original pattern in Inspired Knits, it’s two colors as well? Very similar colors, but two colors. Thankfully unlike KP, Fiona Ellis actually chose two colors that went well together instead of invoking seizures due to the hideousness.
My Mom actually works in Morristown and was amazed at the weather today up there. She was warmer than we were in Florida. But true to why I moved from NJ, it’s suppose to snow tonight! Good luck with the crazy NJ weather!
Jen
I like your plan – and it’s a reasonable option. I say go for it.
Since we have a little storm watch going on for us Northwest NJ residents – ahem, but you may get a little more knitting time in tomorrow….
I think it could work. But I’d still check with the yarn shop first. I thought I was going to run out of yarn for Dale’s vest and I called the yarn shop where I bought the yarn a YEAR ago and they still had it in the dye lot. So you never know.
Your plan sounds like a good one. And it isn’t just you, the KnitPicks version of the sweater is horrible. Totally turned me off.
Have you tried posting a plea for help on the Knitter’s Review board? Someone, somewhere may have just what you need.
I would also check with The Mannings. They have all kinds of orphan skeins of Silky Wool in lots of colors. They just might have your dye lot!
Pooh, I am mad at Fuzzy Mabel. Next week I will be one island away from the bricks-and-mortar store that is closed and moving to South Carolina.
Oh well, guess I will have to settle for 3 yarn shops in Savannah.
We often have the same dye lot left after a year –it all depends on the yarn and how popular it is. I’ve seen Silky Wool all over this week in my travels, so you might just find the dye lot at the original store. However, having already ordered some, I’d say your suggested solution is a pretty good one. You also could blend in the new dye lot by making imaginary two row stripes from old lot and new. Either way, I’m sure it’ll look gorgeous.
I think your plan of knitting the sleeves in the new dye lot sounds capital. Even if there is a visible difference, it’ll look shadowy, planned, very nice.
Lucky Chappy!
Glad to hear that your neighbor’s surgery went well. Hugs to all.
I think it’s a good plan, using the different dye lots on the sleeves.
I’ll have to check my stash, I think I might have the same color and could check the dyelot. I bought it a year ago at Webs with one of Wendy’s patterns (simply marilyn I think) in mind.
By any chance are you looking for dye lot #23873????