Knitting inertia

The smoke ring progresseth. I've been working at it on and off over the weekend. It's at the point where I can pick it up and work on it mindlessly while talking or watching a movie, or in the car. The progress is steady but not too exciting, as its the second one I've made. There aren't any surprises to the pattern on the second go, so it's just a matter of deriving satisfaction from seeing the length of the tube grow.

Other than that the smoke ring, I've made no attempts at progress on anything. I spent some time swatching for the Danish Nattroje from IK. The two yarns I'm auditioning are Blackberry Ridge fingering weight wool in crimson (the two top swatches) and Frangipani Guernsey wool in claret, on the bottom.

Back to the issue of my mental blockage on sweaters -- here's the situation with the two yarns. With the BBRidge, I could easily get too tight on the gauge. Its a very spongey fingering weight; it looks nice but I think that it could easily be too thin. However, the hand is excellent, very soft. With the Guernsey wool, its the opposite. It requires some attention to get gauge (7 spi for this pattern), and results in a very tough fabric. The 5 ply guernsey is on the stiff side, and not really next-to-the-skin fabric. However, the Guernsey will last forever, which would be a plus for a sweater with this much work in it. Also, if my gauge were a little bit looser than 7 spi, it would enable me to make it slightly larger than the smallest 33.5" size, withough worrying about a fabric that was too open or loose.

The pattern in IK has a sidebar article about changing size by varying gauge. In the context of this sweater, which has a very large pattern repeat, its easier to vary the finished size by adjusting gauge than by adding or subtracting pattern repeats. I'm leaning towards the Guernsey wool because a slightly looser gauge won't look flimsy with this wool. And I like the idea of making something that will take a very long time to wear out.

It doesn't seem like many people talk about longevity when they discuss their yarn choices. But it seems to me that many of the very soft yarns out there won't wear very well. As much as I love the hand of some of the buttery soft yarns I've seen, I really wonder how well they're going to hold up.

Am I being too practical? Have I spent too much time knitting tight gauge socks? Am I nuts to wonder why this isn't more of an issue with most people?

Call me obsessed. I dare you.

Comments

[Norma]

Nope, not nuts. We'll talk more about that wearing/lasting issue. I actually have, over time, seen some bloggers talk about various aspects of it, but wouldn't it be nice if there were a real solid resource on the subject? Maybe we should write a book together? But girl, I just adore your color choices -- ALWAYS.

[roggey]

Fine, I'll be a pot calling a kettle black - hey there "obsessed..."

And if y'all (y'all = you + Norma) put together a book, well, damn I'd buy it in a heart beat, because I'm with her on the resources need.

[Dorothy]

Ok, your obsessed! LOL But aren't we all? A book would be nice. I'll put my 2 cents worth on Dale Baby Ull - an incredibly soft, fine wool. One of my favorite sweaters is made from it and it has held up very well, no pilling and other than an unfortunate encounter with a moth (or as EZ says, a m***H), no problems.

[Margene]

Wear is a consideration and the more tightly knit garments will wear longer. But we're talking hard wear here. Are you going to use it for sitting in an office chair or working in the garden. Most likely you'll be long sick of the sweater before it wears out completely. All the choices look very nice, too.

[Susan]

No contest; go with the Blackberry Ridge. Their yarns are fabulous and I like the color better. Remember I was right about the GEMS merino.

[adelaide]

The smoke ring progresseth at a fasth clipth, I would say. I like the claret Frangipani Guernsey, but since you are making such a small size, why not do two sweaters using both yarns? That way, if one wears out you'll have another. Or if the winter is very cold you can wear them both at once. To anyone out there who may read this, I saw the Hyran Randalin shawl in person on Saturday (see *finished items* in the sidebar). It is fantastic. And it looks very nice on small Cassie. Sometimes I think that shawls only look good on taller people, but it sure works for her.

[Johanna]

Cassiana, I think fiber length has a lot to do with basic durablity. It's true of flax...cold weather flax has longer fiber length, which binds together with other fibers more durably in the spinning process (you know this)...& I'm going to assume the same is true of wool too. Merino, for all of its butter, I think is a longer fiber, & therefore probably more durable.