This sweater is mostly 1) to string together three colorways of Manos del Uruguay Maxima that I bought on impulse, 2) to experiment with marled/ombré knitting, 3) to push myself to make bolder color choices and 4) to finally knit a sweater.

But OHMYGAWD I was so nervous that it wouldn’t turn out since it was my first sweater but I LOVE IT!!!!

I knit the torso portion in the round by removing one selvage edge stitch on each edge (i.e. I cast on 120 in the round instead of CO 62 front and CO 62 back as written). I divided the length from the CO edge bottom of the ribbing to the arm shaping evenly for the 12 blocks of color I had, which meant I worked each color block double stranded for 1 1/3” (6.66 rows). Every other color block is marled, where I knit two different colors double stranded to support an ombre-like transition. In the front and back arm/neck sections of the torso, I worked my next three color blocks for 13 rows, 13 rows and 16 rows, respectively. Since knitting in the round leaves the torso without seams, I bound off the shoulders using a kitchener stitch.

For the sleeves, I cast on 26 in the round to adjust for the selvage edge and followed the pattern from there in the same way, with 8 1/2 rows for each color block.

This sweater knit up so fast! The pattern is a bit confusing and vague on many instructions (generally I like a lot of direction), but ultimately I’ve figured most of it out and so far the fit is perfect.

05/22/2015: Documenting this story for my later amusement. I brought this project to a rehearsal to knit on the bus ride. During rehearsal, someone swiped my bag, with this work-in-progress sweater being the only thing in it. That said, it’s actually quite a bit of good quality yarn. But apparently the thief didn’t know that - after combing the nearby alley, we found the perp had dumped my bag, the project still on the needles and all the yarn, and I didn’t end up losing a single stitch! Now I just have to clean off the yogurt that exploded onto it…