Beth Skwarecki

Since I haven't done anything truly nutso lately, I figured it was about time for a challenge. For the Knitting Olympics, I'll be casting on during the opening ceremonies (or, um, later that day) and the project will have to be finished by the time the torch goes out.

I found an ugly sweater in a beautiful Shetland wool at the Salvation Army. Actually, it's not that ugly, it just doesn't fit me. But the wool is a variegated multicolor that I think is really gorgeous up close. (from a few feet away, it'll just look like a boring brownish pink. Who cares? I'm never a few feet away from myself.) I'll unravel this yarn as I train for the olympics. I plan on doing a gansey with some sort of stunningly amazing knit/purl pattern. Something like Aberlady, perhaps.

You have to admit, $3 for a sweater-and-then-some worth of yarn is a really good deal. :D

In other news, I've begun learning to spin yarn by hand, on a drop spindle. (pictures coming soon - I'm not happy with my spinning skill yet, but I love the, ahem, "novelty yarns" I've been producing! I get better with each spindleful. So far it's just been wool roving, but I also have some wool/silk top, some silk hankies, and a bag full of pete fur. Pictures coming soon.

UPDATE: here's what I have to do to train for the Olympics:

• Unravel the salvo sweater. Measure the yarn's weight and, if possible, yardage. Wind some or all of the yarn into balls.


• Design the sweater. The hard part will be unventing a tesselating pattern, a celtic key pattern, or ... something else. It will be knit/purl and repetitive enough to not require constant reference to a chart. "Designing" includes having some idea of how I will handle the sleeves and neck shaping.


• Make a gauge swatch. Decide on needles, and if necessary, acquire the needles.