Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Whale Sweater

When your yarn works against you...I wanted to make a whale sweater for Connor, with the vision of a whale swimming along in the water, arching up and across the back, and his tail splashing back down on the front. It took me a few tries to get the shape right - it kind of wanted to look like an alligator! - and to graph the design. Being cheap, I found some discount yarn online and decided to try it. GAH. I've never had a yarn that literally unravels in my hands as I try to knit. It wouldn't hold a rib, and it had no shape to it. I'm not very happy with how the final design turned out, and I think it could have been a much cuter sweater with a different yarn. Lesson learned. C refused to hold still for pictures - in fact, he seemed to think it was a game to make me chase him around the living room with the camera - so I only have one blurry shot of his back. The rest are from before the sweater was assembled. Here are the back two whales;
And here is the front, pre-assembly;

It's okay, but not great. I'd wanted to put the pattern up on ravelry, but I don't think this sweater made in this yarn really showcases the design. I didn't even bother to embroider a mouth or eyes on the whales. Ah, well. Next time I don't cheap out on the yarn. - D