Can you feel it?

I'm unashamed to admit that I 100% jumped on the Feel the Bern bandwagon and knit the sweater that Caitlin Hunter designed based on the now infamous mittens that Bernie Sanders wore during the Biden/Harris 2021 Inauguration Ceremony.

Upon the glowing recommendation of my super cool coworker, Deanna, I had been meaning to check out the Royal Bee yarn shop down in Pacifica.  Knitting this sweater was a great excuse to see if they had the yarn to meet my needs and I was beyond sated.

The owner of the shop was so friendly and helpful!  She dyes the shop's Royal Bee yarn herself in a variety of weights.  I bought all worsted 100% merino wool yarn in the following colors:

Judy loves the Catcher in the dark rye - 003 (dark brown)

Ger say let us pralines - 005 (medium brown)

The Pacifica Coastside Collection (no other colorway info listed on the ball band)- (ecru & beige)

I also bought this hank of Sincere Sheep Napa Valley sock yarn to pair with Rich Hill Maymont sock yarn from RVA to knit the Hollingbourne stranded colorwork socks pattern from 52 Weeks of Socks.

I started this sweater a couple weeks ago back when it was raining a lot on and off.  I knit size 3 of the sweater.  I didn't make any modifications.  The overall design and layout of the pattern was very similar to the Stagecoach sweater I knit almost exactly a year ago.

I love how the sweater just looks like a wrinkly piece of shit before it's blocked.

And even while it's blocking it leaves much to be desired.  Because of the weather, it took about a week to dry.  But I was so excited to wear it to work on Saturday, that I put it on while it was still damp and proudly wore it without even weaving in the ends.  

This is only the 2nd stranded colorwork sweater I've ever knit.  My floats aren't the greatest but I am confident that my skills will improve over time.

I love the natural combination of these colorways but I am also anxious to knit a totally obnoxious high contrast neon version of this sweater.

I really love the zig zag pattern on the chest.

Most of these motifs were a pleasure to knit aside from the rows where you have to alternate 3 different colors simultaneously which can be a bit tedious.

Yesterday it was bright and sunny and in the 60s so Irina took some great photos of Xena and I outdoors in the Dogpatch.

While many people might consider a short sleeve worsted weight sweater to be a ridiculous invention, it's actually the perfect garment for "winter" in SF, where the weather is constantly changing and it is almost always guaranteed to get chilly and/or foggy at some point.

This sweater has a loose and comfortable fit but I think I could also fit into size 2 for a snugger cropped look.

 

ATM, I have no shortage of WIPs and potential projects in the works.

These are a few of the yarns I plan to be working with soon and I'll talk more about them when I'm ready.  Posting them here just helps me to get organized.

I am also expecting a very special package of the most extraordinary yarn in the universe to arrive soon and I promise to share images of it as soon as it arrives!!!