Speaking of owls...

Oddly enough, I have another owl project to share with you today. I actually finished the Owls sweater (by Kate Davies) for my teenager about a month ago. The short review: I love it!

Cammy loves her owl sweater!

This pattern had been in my Ravelry queue for quite a while. I hemmed and hawed about making myself a pullover because it is just not practical for someone who works in an office. There are two temps at my place of work: freezing or boiling so cardigans are generally my sweater of choice. I was bummed because these owls are so damn cute! And then my teenage daughter saw the pattern, and fell (like a ton of bricks) in love.

I ordered the yarn spec'd in the pattern, Rowan Purelife Sheep Breeds Chunky, in Steel Grey Suffolk from Webs, one of my favorite online yarn resources.

I got the package of yarn in the mail and tore into it - ready to get started on this fun pattern. Immediately, I loved the color...then I noticed...the smell. Yeah, when they say natural, undyed yarn, they ain't playin'. This stuff smelled like a barn. I was sort of horrified that I spent so much money on yarn that stank up the house and, while I figured I could handle working with the stuff, I couldn't imagine my daughter being willing to smell like a farm animal. I'm pretty sure her boyfriend wouldn't appreciate it either.  So, I called the good folks at Webs at told them my dilemma. They hooked me up with a fiber expert who explained that this particular yarn could be a bit "sheepy"(yeah...they aren't kidding) and that I had two options: I could exchange the yarn for something else, or, I could keep it and wash my finished garment in Dawn dishwashing liquid. I decided to take my chances with option two and I'm glad that I did.

This yarn knits up like a dream. It feels great in your hands and, after blocking, relaxes into shape beautifully. Best of all, the Dawn dish washing liquid did the trick - it took away about 85% of the smell. For what it's worth, I prefer to use a more environmentally friendly soap for my dishes but, in this case, I needed the degreasing power of Dawn to break down the lanolin so I relented and bought a small bottle just for this purpose. If anyone has any suggestions of a more "natural" soap that would have the same effectiveness as Dawn for this use, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Regardless, once the smell was minimized, I can honestly say that I would use this yarn again in a heartbeat.

I love these clever owls!

The Owls pattern itself is so much fun. First of all, who doesn't love chunky yarn and size 10.5 needles? I made good progress every time I sat down to knit. This sweater was done a lot quicker than any other I have knitted. The pattern itself was clear and easy to read, there is no wonder it is so popular on Ravelry (4226 projects listed!) If I make this pattern again, I might go down a size. The sweater is supposed to be form-fitting and it ended up a little roomier than expected on my daughter. But, she loves it and I loved knitting it.

So, you might be asking yourself, what took me so long to write about this? Well, blame it on the weather (we blame a lot on the weather in Wisconsin!) It's not easy to get a teenage girl to model a chunky wool sweater outdoors when it's 95 degrees. But today it is only 85 which means...picture time!

I made my child model this sweater in 85 degree weather.

Overall, for me, this project was a love-fest between the yarn and pattern. I definitely recommend it to all my knitting friends out there. If you are looking for a warm, cute pullover...give this one a shot.

Have a great weekend!

–Cassandra

Sheepish

Unlike Alex last week, I am actually thankful for one more week of brisk air. No, I’m not crazy. I do adore all things summer and have been [loudly] complaining about the cold since February. The problem is that I have 2 large wool projects on the needles that I really want to finish.

This will be a cute sweater very soon...no really, I'm serious.

Normally, summer weather doesn’t keep me from knitting with wool. I have the luxury of central air conditioning pretty much everywhere I am. But the sweater (Owls by Kate Davies) I am knitting for my teeneage daughter is done in Rowan Purelife British Sheep Breeds Chunky. Anyone who is familiar with this yarn will tell you that it is heavy as heck and frankly, smells like the sheep stall at State Fair. Even the best central air can’t really fight those two monsters.

I am now well acquainted with the smell of the Steel Grey Suffolk.

The sweater body and sleeves are finished and have been attached by the yoke that I have a pretty good jump on. I am hoping to have this sweater done this week if all goes well. And then I will need some good non-humid days to get this sucker to dry after blocking (yesterday would have been perfect!). A smart girl would probably wait until fall to wash and block this sweater...I, however, am an impatient control freak who needs to have closure. I’m pretty sure I will have a finished sweater that took 2 weeks to dry in this humidity (and still smells sheepy).

It is actually very strange for me to have 2 knitting projects going at the same time. I am a start...finish a project...start another one girl. (This phenomena only occurs in my knitting world btw.) For a whole host of reasons I decided to get this sweater out of the way before I finished my Vineyard Wrap. It is not as heavy as the Owls sweater...but it is growing by inches every time I work on it and it is 100% wool. I think it’s probably halfway done. I would really like to get this cast-off before I start something summery...we’ll see if that happens.

My Vineyard Wrap about 12 inches ago...

I’m dreaming about knitting things small and practical. A whole pile of dishcloths maybe?

–Cassandra