Blue Sand is the sweater I’m planning to knit in January and anyone who wants to knit along, is welcome to join. In this post, I talked about my knitting plans for 2015 if anyone wants to follow along and knit with me. The plan is that on the 15th of each month, I’ll talk about the upcoming projects but since Christmas is coming and ordering yarn on the 15th of December might not get it to you on time, and since Eat Sleep Knit will hopefully be having a Black Friday sale next week, I’m going to mention January’s projects a bit early.
One thing I’d like to ask – for those who are doing the KAL with us, or those who have done whatever pattern we’re working on, if someone posts a question, please jump in and respond. It’s sometimes hours before I get back to the computer and it’s awful to be stuck, wanting to knit and not be able to proceed. Also, if you THINK you know what to do, but aren’t sure and just want some reassurances, feel free to post a question (and if you want to stick your question on whatever blog post is most current — when I see it, and you’ve already gotten your answer, I’ll move it to the right post).
One word of caution: Some folks mentioned that the sleeves were tight and I definitely did not want that so I went up one size on the sleeves and they were great. When buying your yarn, you may want to add just a tad extra if you’re planning to go up a size for the sleeves.
The sky is the limit as to what you can do with this pattern. You may have to have a Ravelry account to see these links. It’s free so if you’re interested and don’t have an account, just sign up.
Here’s the one I made Nicole and she loved it. You can read about the finished project here
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Nicole’s Blue Sand
It’s a great sweater for wrapping up and staying warm. I was concerned that, because I’m short, the length of the sweater would make me look even shorter (and rounder), but I didn’t feel that way when I tried on Nicole’s sweater. This is a sweater I can see me knitting again when my first one wears out.
For new knitters, the striped pocket and the I-cord bind off may appear threatening but both are quite simple. There’s a lot of knitting simply because it’s long, has long sleeves, and has a wide ribbing down the front but it’s pretty much mindless knitting. You can do it! For someone who knows how to knit, but maybe has never done a sweater, this pattern would not be too hard, especially if several of us are doing it together and you can ask us questions.
Looks like Dorni did most of hers with plain stockinette, except at the bottom. Her’s is here.
CarlyinStitches did her stripes differently and they are gorgeous! Her’s is here.
Figolilo has a cool striped pattern here. (Her story in the comments section is pretty interesting too!)
You can see that you can do whatever you wish with the stripes. I will go ahead and make mine by the pattern.
As far as yarn, the pattern calls for DK weight. For Nicole’s, I used Amy Butler Organic DK by Rowan, which has been discontinued. I did like it a lot. This is the yarn I have for mine. I bought these a while back and am kind of surprised that I chose those colors but I will love it .. even without lime green! There are 6 skeins of Smokestack, 2 skeins of Stovepipe and 3 skeins of Night Bloom. So, if you look at Nicole’s, the light gray will be where her’s has tan, the dark gray will be where her’s has orange and the pink will be where hers has aqua. Or:
Main Color: Smokestack (light gray)
CC1: Stovepipe (dark gray)
CC2: Night Bloom (pink-ish)
Yarn for Blue Sand
As far as yarns, I would recommend that you stick with mostly solid colors so as not to create too much “busy-ness”. Yarns that I think would work:
- Wollmeise DK – Of course, it would take a miracle to be able to get the right colors and enough of them!
- Tanis Fiber Arts Yellow Label DK
- ShibuiKnits, Maai
- Cascade Ultra Pima – this is 100% cotton so I’m not sure I would use it, though several did and you can find them under “projects” on Blue Sand’s page.
- Juniper Moon Findley DK – love that this has 50% silk and lots of solid colors.
- Knitted Wit – This is an etsy dyer and all of her colors can be done in her Victory DK. I have ordered from her several times and I love her deep, intense colors. She’s prompt – especially since I think she dyes after she gets your order.
That should be enough to get you all ready to start knitting on January 1. This is not a time project or a contest so if you want to start knitting sooner, that’s fine. If you have no intention of getting this done in one month . . that’s fine too. Just join us if you can.