Morning Glory Pullover

I have been enjoying some mindless knitting this week.  I originally started this pullover as a top-down, but didn't get very far before I changed my mind and decided to knit it bottom up.  I started on the body last week.  I got a lot done on Sunday.  We went to Charlottesville to watch our daughter dance and I knit in the car on the way there, and during the performance, and most of the way home.  There was another Mom across the aisle from me who told me that she wished she could knit.  I told her it wasn't that hard.  I don't know why people defeat themselves without even trying.

This has been a very enjoyable knit, for a somewhat crazy week.  The yarn is wonderful, 70% Extrafine Merino, 15% Silk, 15% Cashmere.  A real joy to knit with, and fondle.  I love the colors, the way they are striping, and pooling just at the top of the sleeves.  I really like the cuffs with the purple and green chevrons in the ribbing.

Morning Glory Pullover - Update

I finished up the neck, body and sleeve increases today and started on the body proper.  I am very pleased with the fit and the way the colors are mixing.

Morning Glory Pullover

Of course, now that I have finished the Cleopatra Tank, I needed another easy project to carry in my work bag.  This year Fiesta Yarns started doing a Flower of the Month colorway each month with three different yarns, complete with patterns to go with.  I have collected all of the colorways but haven't done anything with them, partly because I have way too many projects in my queue.  The yarn is so beautiful, however, that it has been calling to me, so I finally broke down and pulled out the September colorway.  The yarn is Ballet, and it is 50% Superfine Alpaca and 50% Tencel and comes in 350 yard skeins.  It knits up at 22 stitches and 28 rows to 4 inches on size 6 needles.  This is the first time that I have worked with the yarn and I am liking it.  I haven't really worked with Alpaca before, and I am finding it a bit hairy (I like smooth yarns - no mohair or angora for me).  I have woven with Tencel, but never knit with it.  Tencel is a cellulosic fiber created by humans as a replacement for silk.  It gives the yarn a nice sheen.

For this project I created a top-down raglan pullover in my Sweater Wizard software.  The pattern that came with the yarn is a lace pullover that I thought was just too busy when you combined the lace stitch with the colors of the yarn.  I am letting the yarn pool if it wants to rather than working from two skeins as is usually recommended.  Frankly I feel that when you try to prevent the yarn from pooling you end up with a chaotic color effect that I find disturbing.