Have You Any Wool?

Remember when I hatched the cunning plan to knitalong to Janet Szabo's F.L.A.K recipe?  Looks like there are quite a few takers.  And I *may* have invited one or two (or a hundred) more to join in, while I've been out and about teaching.  And if you've been reading the comments, you know that the one-and-only, real live Janet Szabo even dropped by to register her approval and offer support.

YAY.

As for the timeline, I won't be able to start until late summer or early fall, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't immediately start considering yarn possibilities.  That's right, Gentle Readers: I'm advocating a little Retail Recognizance.  Let the yarn shopping commence. You're welcome.

Our yarn has to meet certain criteria. Such as:

Lots Of It
The FLAK workshop suggests between 1600 and 2500 yards of yarn, depending on the size of your sweater.  Cables, as you know, gobble up scads of yarn, and you'll also want to do some fairly assertive (large-scale) swatching, in order to choose your cables/combinations.   And I won't insult you with speeches about consistent dye lots.  'Nuff said.

The Right Weight
Target gauge for the FLAK is 22 sts & 28 rows = 4"/10cm over Moss st.  So a medium-weight worsted seems like a good bet, (CYCA symbol 4), or something like it.  Janet's original was done in 100% wool, so if you are substituting another fiber or blend, make careful decisions, such as:

• Compare the weight per 100 yards/meters.  If the yarn you are considering is vastly heavier, proceed with caution.

• Do your math.  Count actual yards/meters, not skeins/balls.

• The original yarn had 3 plies.  Change the roundness/number of plies only after considering the possible outcomes.

And of course; Fiscal Impact.

If the sky's the limit for you on this one, God Speed and off you go.  If not, I have happy news.  I did a little shopping for us.  Just one more service I provide.  To Wit:

elann.com, sponsor of the original FLAK has some dynamite values on full bags (10 balls) of yarn.  My pick for the project is A-Series A01 Pure 28 Micron Punta Arenas Wool.  CLICK HERE to see the gorgeous colors.  Did you notice it's only $28 US for a full bag of 10 balls?  It's made in Italy and has 5, count 'em, 5 plies.  That, my friends, is some round yarn.  Stitch definition, anyone?

Got Mine:

At 87 yards per ball, I went for the quintessential Three Bags Full, which will give me 2610 yards to play with.  More than enough for a dream sweater, and still well south of the $100 mark.

Oh, and it *may* have brought some of its friends:

Dreamy! Creamy! I think it should be a prize for some lucky knitter in the KAL.  You game?  

How about now? 

Yeah, I thought so.  I'll give away the yarn in plenty of time for the winner to use it in the KAL, so stay tuned for the contest.  Who knows, maybe some other fabulous prizes will accumulate between now and our start date...

And The Winner Is...

Thank you, thank you, Gentle Readers! Your input is always spot on.  I *may* have spent the last two days down the Ravelry Rabbithole.  Every time I'd tell myself to get back to work, another comment would come in and I'd drop everything to go explore that suggestion.  Not a bad way to spend time, you understand...

I was delighted to find how often your favorites and mine are the same.  Each time one of you reported in on something you're making, I'd look it up and think "Oh I always meant to make one of those!".  Great minds think alike, no doubt.

Here's the project I decided on:

This is (one version of) Janet Szabo's Follow the Leader Aran Knitalong ("FLAK").  See it HERE.  Rather than a regular knitting pattern, it's a series of 8 lessons for how to knit your own traditional Aran, from the top down.  You can make a cardigan or pullover, any neckline you want, and substitute any stitch patterns you like.  You can work it flat or in the round, seamlessly or in pieces.  The only constants are: top-down construction, shoulder straps, peasant sleeves, and cables that more or less get along (compatible row-repeats).  This has just the right appeal for me: I get to make and learn from my own design decisions, but still follow steps mapped out by a pro.  I've taken Janet's classes and own her books, but I never explored the FLAK until now.  For a really well-spent day hour or two, hop on over to Ravelry and have a gander at the 147 FLAK projects there.  Guaranteed mind blow.

And now, A Cunning Plan:

I noticed in Janet's Ravelry group that there hasn't been a knitalong of this pattern in quite a little while.  Are any among you interested in staging a revival with me?  Send a comment, along with your desired beginning date if you have one, won't you?  I can't think of a better way to learn than by sharing the process with my favorite knitters:  YOU!

School Me, Please?

In order to justify all the spinning I've been doing (as if!), I've decided to actually knit a sweater.  Or possibly two (Did I mention, lotsa Cormo?).  I think it wants to be a deeply-textured, cabled Aran.  Something uber-traditional, with a wide center panel, and shoulder straps...maybe a turtleneck...

And then I realized that I have never knitted a real live Aran sweater.  Sweaters with cables, sure, but never what I would consider the the real deal.  I've bought books, been to classes, queued patterns, and never once actually done the deed.  Not sure why not, but there it is.  Knitting is always full of things we've never done before, thank God.

So it seems to me that a bit of practice is in order.  I'm going to take the unusual step of knitting somebody else's pattern, before I strike out to design my own.  But which one?  I'm having trouble narrowing it down.

Here's a beauty by Marie Wallin.   I do love me some knots and crosses.  And that funnel-neck is super cool - I dig the way the cable sort of crawls up the sides of it.

And one by Hayfield, whose designers clearly know exactly what they are doing.  Nice, restrained use of bobbles.  This company scares me to bits because there are no charts.  Really?  What century are we in?

Or how about this one, by Friend of the Blog, Sandi Rosner?  Totally dreamy.  And the sweater's not bad, either.  Particularly that shoulder strap/sleeve situation.

What do you think makes a cabled sweater design really special?  I especially love it when the cables/elements continue into the edgings, such as in Kathy Zimmerman designs.  I also love it when the cables are positioned to enhance garment shaping, like Nora Gaughn does.  What/who are your favorites?

Aside from design specifics, what technical elements do you think make a great cabled knitting pattern?  Do you feel that charts are essential?  What designer/publisher uses the clearest symbols?  Who has the best size range?  Most intuitive instructions?

Share your opinions, won't you, Gentle Readers?  I gotta get some more know-how!