The Boat Sweater: Project #2

I can wear sweaters in the dead heat of summer. I always need one when we are on the beach in Panama City every summer. I play in the sun all day and by nightfall I am usually pretty cold. Sunburns will do that to me every time.  Then there is nightfall on the water. Out on the boat. There is always a cool breeze on the water and when I have been out in it all day, I get a chill when the sun goes down, yes, even in August. 

My husband thinks I am nuts, but I never leave the house without a sweater, no matter what time of year it is. 

And this sweater just has Boat and Beach Sweater written all over it.

Tho that is not the name of the pattern, I look at it and I think about cool spring nights and weekends on the boat fishing and hanging with friends. 

Isn't that what you see?

                                                 

                                                              

I decided this would be perfect for all that extra Pure Wash Merino I ended up with from the Stonewall sweater.  It is the softest yarn once it is washed and if I'm going to end up with a sunburn, soft is always a good thing.

I really love this sweater and couldn't wait to cast on and get started yesterday. There's just one small problem. 

Reading this pattern is the very definition of muddling through. 

I always try and go through a pattern one good time before I cast on. Just so I know what is coming up before I get there.  Even that didn't help. 

You really have to have a clear understanding of top down knitting and sweater construction or don't even bother starting this project. There is nothing about this pattern that allows for a new knitter. 

Maybe that was the authors plan, I don't know. 

I have read lots and lots of patterns that have way to much (in my opinion) technical information. Turning a 3 page pattern into a novella. 

That is not the problem with this one. 

I think the pattern is well written, it just jumps all over the place. 

So if you have never made a top down sweater. Don't make this one your first. 
By all means, after you knit a sweater or two and have a feel for the process, make this sweater. It's bound to become your favorite.

I am not saying this pattern is not doable, it is. And I think once I am finished it will quickly become one of my favorites to wear.

Maybe not to re-knit, but to wear. 

On the good side, she has the King Charles Brocade written out as well as charted, which saved me some time, because I would have had to write it out myself. 

Once I muddled through the beginnings of the pattern, it started flying around the needles. 

It really is going to be a nice sweater!

Dealing with all this wool has really dried my skin out. Especially on the finger that the yarn runs across. My skin actually cracked and started bleeding last week. 

This has now become a huge part of my nighttime regimen.  We won't even talk about what age is doing to my skin. It's the wool!