Brick. House.

One of the drawbacks of Heretical Knitting is that in the process of doing things one's own way, there are sometimes surprises.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to make an Elizabeth Zimmermann Tomten jacket.  Even though the entire nature of this garment is based on its being worked in Garter stitch, I decided that I would fly in the face of tradition by knitting a Stockinette Tomten.  I feel that I can attempt this with impunity because Elizabeth, herself, was the original Heretic. If anyone would have encouraged me to go on and do things my own way, it would have been EZ.  And while I was feeling defiant, I elected to make my Tomten a trapeze silhouette, rather than straight like the original.  Since stockinette would change everything about the row gauge, I figured I might as well throw caution to the winds and really play with the shape.

And if all that weren't enough, I even messed with the yarn, using a windfall I love, by plying thin yarn into fat yarn.  Therein lay the first surprise:  Fat, cablespun yarn, knit at a firm gauge, makes STOUT fabric.  And by stout, I mean just this side of bulletproof.

I've met Persian carpets with more drape.  KT felt it, and pronounced it a Bomb Shelter.  She's not wrong.  But rather than frog it and mess with the gauge, or Heaven forbid, change the nature of the yarn I've re-spun, I altered my expectations.  Rather than a sweater, I've begun thinking about this piece as a real live winter coat.  The fabric is so stable that I think it could even support some Afterthought Pockets, and what could be more Zimmermann than that?  

It's also really big, here at the bottom where I'm working.  Which means that it's likely to get correspondingly long, as I decrease my way up the body.  Yet another reason why this is no longer merely a sweater, and now more of a winter coat.  Who knows? Maybe I'll even install a lining!  Fur-trim around the hood?  Sky's the limit my friends! 

Or else, disaster.  Equal likelihood exists that I won't be able to bend my arms in it at the end. 

Dontcha just love a good adventure?