02-12-2009: Buttons by La Mode style #26764 (40% off!) from JoAnn Fabrics and this concludes October Frost. Officially my ‘barn jacket’ since within 2 minutes of buttoning it up I was overheating. Now all I need is a barn and we’re set.

(update: button holes reinforced to tighten them up. Buttons were popping free but I didn’t care for the look of larger buttons so just made the holes a little ‘tighter’ with matching yarn.)

02-10-2009: Update- Spun out nearly dry in the washing machine and I want to hug the new color. More of a rich chestnut (and a bit lighter) than the top pictures show and I love it! I used a whole bottle of Rit Tan dye with about 10 grams or so of Landscapes Dye in Currawong for 2 pounds of wool. Tone is evened out but enough variation to keep it looking handspun (didn’t want it too perfect- just ‘more’ perfect).

Also: A little dry feeling so ‘conditioned’ it with Nature’s Gate herbal hair conditioner. Don’t know if that’s good or bad but it made sense at the time.

On a button quest now!

P.S: The Llama created an exquisite ‘frosty’ halo once the sweater had completely dried post-dye, which is more evident in the button photo than in the others.

02-10-2009: Finished. Well, almost. No buttons yet and even after changing the arm increases (after reading other ravelers success with only increasing to 94 stitches) the upper arms were too baggy so sewed and cut then sewed, and sewed, and sewed again to make sure they didn’t unravel. Removed about two inches of total width on each sleeve at the widest point. Currently have the sweater in a dye bath to try and even out the tone. Used one single bag of continuous roving but the color changed drastically and left big blocks of odd shades of brown/grey (more brown wool, less white llama and vice-versa). A test piece showed the dye wouldn’t fix the problem completely but does make it less noticeable.

Mistake cables in the back bother me more now but not enough to rip it all out and re-knit.
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02-08-2009: Slightly felting down the larger sleeve (plus aggressive blocking) was successful.
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02-07-2009: Second sleeve is big and floppy from the middle on up through the saddle and today’s goal is to shrink it down a little bit. I’m almost out of roving so spinning enough to re-do the sleeve might be out of the question.

Big sections of the sweater look like completely different dye lots from completely different sheep breeds spun by completely different people. Have tan Rit dye and also have a container of Landscapes dye in Currawong (black but has an almost reddish undertone on the test piece) to try and even out these colors somehow.

01-30-2009: Completed back, left & right fronts, 1 full plus another 1/2 sleeve. Unblocked pieces are a little crispy but after some firm finger hugs during the soaking this llama creates a soft ‘cuddly’ fabric.

Still glad I made the reversed reverse-stockinette mistake at the beginning. I do like the way the small side cables grow directly out of the normal stockinette.

Changed cuff to only two inches of ribbing. Yarn came out too heavy for a folded cuff.

Closer to a ‘heavy worsted’.

Heavy-handed with the yarn washing. Fuzzed it up quite a bit. Decided that was a good thing.

Use thinner (whoops) batch for collar. Lay better?