FO: Quarry

Oh my word this sweater is so fun. I love it.

Yarn Used: Brunswick Germantown in Flame Orange, Dale Garn Heilo in Grey

Needles: Size 8 Addi Turbos 

Pattern: Quarry by Andi Satterlund for Twist Collective

Raveled here. 

Typically I gravitate towards more traditional colorwork motifs. Fair Isle, Icelandic yokes, Norwegian designs, etc. But when I saw this piece that my friend Andi put out I fell head over heels for the modern, graphic lines. I'd also been planning on making one of her pullover for awhile - since getting lots of wear out of the cropped cardigan I made first - and was initially leaning towards a Chuck. Well, in the end my love for colorwork won out over my love for cables in this case and I went for Quarry.

The original design is in black and white. And I kinda love that and wouldn't mind another in that color scheme. This orange is so good, though! As someone who doesn't shy away from color it shouldn't surprise me that I love this bright yarn so much, but I really have been surprised by how much I love it. I've seriously worn my flame orange cardigan a ton. I knew I liked it but I was a little unsure about how many outfits I would be able to make with it. As it turns out, flame orange actually goes with everything. Just trust me. Or maybe it doesn't and I don't mind "clashing".

Anyway, I had a vision of this in orange and grey, and I think it turned out great! The grey is some deep, deep stash yarn that I scored at some thrift store somewhere. It's been so long I can't even remember where. I was happy to pull it out in keeping with my goal for this year of working through ye olde stash (a yarn fast I have recently broken a couple of months early in order to buy a couple of things I'd been planning to acquire at KnitFit). I didn't make any modifications, but due to my gauge being slightly longer in height than recommended it did come out slightly longer. Which is fine with me. And keep in mind as you review these photos that I'm wearing high-waisted pants. I also realized I need to work on my stitch picking up skills for making top-down sleeves. There's sort of a weird faux-shoulderpad thing going on with one of the shoulders because I think I picked up too many stitches along the top, and from a row that was too far in. For my next sweater with this type of construction, I'm going to review this blog post, which seems to have some really good guidelines for this sort of thing.

(This is my "it's so bright but I'm still trying to look cute" face)

The only big thing about this sweater that makes it not perfect - at least in Seattle - is how warm it is! It's because the Dale Garn yarn is super toasty. Thus, even though I finished this sweater last February, it hasn't gotten a ton of wear yet. Last winter was super mild overall, and by the end of February it was already a bit too warm most days for this guy. So, just this past weekend I FINALLY took some photos of it on one of our first clear and crisp days of the season. Here's hoping we get lots more of them before Spring! It also didn't hurt that we just happened to be taking the ferry to Bainbridge Island, aka a super good photo-op opportunity.

The reason for the Bainbridge trip was three-fold. 1) Go to the Madison Diner for some killer hash browns. 2) Visit the Local Color folk at the Saturday farmer's market. 3) Buy some Loft to at Churchmouse to eventually turn into this sweater. Ohmygoodnesssomanylinks. It was such a beautiful day!! After two previous weekends of straight rain, the blue skies and sunshine were a welcome change. Sure, it was pretty chilly on the ferry. But who cares when you get to wear all the woolens!!!

Here's a shot of my lovely hubs and I at the diner, plus our equally lovely breakfasts. Mmmmmmmm hash browns. They're seriously some of the best in the greater Seattle area.