I have a finished project to talk about. Wicked was my project for the 2008 Tour de France KAL. I am pleased with how this sweater turned out. I put in bust darts which was the first time I have done so in a sweater. Initially I was a little bit confused about how to do them, mostly because I was trying to figure it out late at night. But once I stopped over analyzing the process and just started knitting it worked out and made more sense. I find that is what I need to do with most knitting if I am having a confused knitting moment. The bust darts gave me about an extra 1.5″ length in the front. I will be incorporating this knitting modification into pretty much every sweater I do now. I also did the shaping that the pattern suggests with increasing for my hips so it is not snug.

I loved the yarn. The wool silk blend is beautiful but the fact that one skein was so poorly dyed was disappointing. Basically, the gray was more of a gray/peach color. Its hard to explain but I’m sure you can envision it. Anyways, I wasn’t about to send the yarn back as it would have delayed in finishing the project. I was on a time limit after all. Instead, I used gray dye that I had in the house. After soaking the sweater for a half an hour in luke warm water, I placed the dye directly onto the portion of the sweater with the discolored yarn. Then I added the sweater to a dye bath of gray and “cooked” it for an hour on a very low setting. I did not want to felt the sweater which I know can happen from previous experience in working with a wool silk blend.

All in all the sweater turned out great and I am happy with it. I am wearing it today as the Calgary weather isn’t that warm and our office is cold with the air conditioning. If you want to see more pictures and are on Ravelry, the project page is here.